I’m the first person who will tell you that going vegan is an astronomically beneficial decision for the planet, other humans, certainly the animals, and your health…sometimes. There are so many ways to eat vegan that in reality it doesn’t always equate to glowing health. Still, vegans abound who have seen profound improvement in their health through dietary change and athletes who’ve seen significant improvement in performance and recovery. But are these success stories based in science? Or can we be just as healthy consuming animal products? Well my guest today has a unique take on the matter as a vegan ultra-athlete and Registered Dietitian. Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. Nothing gets people up in arms so much as the debate on the perfect way of eating, especially when you get into all the various factions of vegan dietary approaches. It gets intense and health claims abound along with conflicting advice. Well endurance ultra-athlete and Registered Dietitian Matt Ruscigno holds what is rather controversial view, at least in vegan circles, that eating vegan isn’t necessarily the only way to be healthy. If you missed my first video with Matt where he shares what he eats, be sure to check it out up there or in the description. So let’s hear from Matt about eating vegan for athletic performance, and in general, as well as the importance of not exaggerating health claims: Matt, I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to be on the channel. I’m honored to be here. Thank you for having me. Can you speak a bit to, I mean, we talked earlier about kind of what you eat and your philosophy with your own food but can you speak kind of as a registered dietitian about eating vegan for athletic performance, like what, what’s really the, of course there’s not “the” ideal but what is something that people should try to trend towards as athletes? Right, great question and it’s something on my mind especially right now having been at Vida Vegan Con in Austin where I gave a presentation on why we shouldn’t exactly exaggerate health claims in vegansim because being healthy and being vegan aren’t the same thing and the science is very complicated and you know when I’m wearing my professional hat, the truth is you can eat animal products and be healthy. You know, there are people who do it, there are people who have had great results from Paleo. You know, they’ve lowered their cholesterol levels to which we vegans say “No, they’re eating all that meat their cholesterol’s going to skyrocket”. It’s like well there’s some published research that says they’re actually lowered cholesterol levels eating Paleo, and we have to be realistic about these results and that they exist. It’s naive to think the only way to be healthy is to be vegan. Now that said, of course, I’m an ethical vegan and my stance is that you can be just as healthy while being vegan. And we have actual research that says people who eat more plant foods live longer, they have lower rates of chronic disease, all that stuff that’s based on good, actual peer-reviewed research. And that’s great to have and I think it really gives strength to our argument but to say that you have to be vegan to be healthy I don’t think is true. And so for athletes, it’s the same sort of thing where you can perform just as well and we have the examples you know, we have Scott Jurek, Rich Roll, we have the whole PlantBuilt team, all those folks that are really kicking ass while being vegan but to say that you have, that you are better to be vegan is, well, we don’t quite have the research. We just have a lot of people who have given their own personal stories. For someone who is interested in athletics or already is an athlete and is interested in transitioning to a vegan diet, what would you recommend as far, because a lot of people have fears about, you know, well, how am I gonna get this how am I gonna get that which ends up not being quite as complicated, I think, as people think but what would you tell someone who is looking to that and wants to make sure they can maintain their level of performance? Yeah absolutely, what I do, I get a lot of clients like this that are very intelligent and they’re vegan-ish or an athlete-ish and they say “I read all these books what do I actually do?” and my philosophy is you need to start where you are. You know, do you really wanna be raw and 80/10/10 or did you just read the book and you think it’s great. Is this this really practical for you, do you have reasons to believe that this is better than any other way of eating. So it’s all about starting where you are. You know, can you veganize the stuff that you’re already eating and see how that feels. If you like broccoli and you’re familiar with cooking broccoli, add it to more things, eat more of it. If you want to do some meat substitutes for a little while, go right ahead. If you want to keep doing them, go right ahead. Just make sure you are indeed eating actual fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans are very important for vegans and especially athletes, you know lots of nutrients, lots of protein, all those amino acids, it’s really an important part of a healthy vegan diet in my opinion. You read about how they have kind of anti-nutrient agents and if you soak them then it takes that out, is that something that you ascribe to or that you know much about? Do you do that with your own? I think a lot of people are concerned about these anti-nutrients and phytates and what not and when it’s true, those are present in some plant foods but really the research shows that people who eat plant foods aren’t getting nutrient deficiencies from these so-called anti-nutrients. So on paper yes they’re there but in reality it doesn’t seem to matter for most people. When we get into like young kids or someone who needs to restrict their diet for a certain reason, sure, maybe you want to look closely at it but for most people it’s really not an issue. We really get hung up on these very fine points and I think that that’s one, confusing and two, difficult for people who just want to eat well, you know and I get a lot of people who come from sort of a normal US cultural diet and they’ve never heard of any of these things and those of us who are kind of seasoned in it are like well you can’t eat GMO, it has to be local, it has to be organic and no you shouldn’t eat kale because it has goitrogens and it’s like what the heck are you talking about, I just want to eat more fruits and vegetables so you know let’s keep it simple. Let’s keep it simple and not get hung up on these very fine points. Alright well, Matt I just want to thank you again for taking time out of your schedule to be with us and for sharing your knowledge. Yeah absolutely, and thank you for having me. It was great to talk with you. I love talking about all this stuff and thank you for all the work that you do. I hope you enjoyed hearing from Matt on his approach to simplifying vegan nutrition. While I completely agree that we vegans need not and should not falsely inflate the health or any other benefits of eating vegan, the astounding devastation of eating animals makes doing so completely unnecessary. As I’ve said before in my videos, we don’t have to make things up—they’re bad enough as it is. For me, it all boils down to the fact that whether or not we can be just as healthy consuming animal products, doing so remains profoundly devastating to the environment, diverts global food and water resources, and most importantly violently ends the lives of trillions of beings every year. And that is not up for debate. I’m interested to hear what you think of Matt’s approach. Do you think it’s possible to eat animal products and be healthy? Do you think there is or needs to be an “ideal” way of eating vegan? Let me know in the comments! Be sure to check out the links in the description to connect with Matt at this website where he offers nutrition counseling services, and at his own vegan athlete video series Strongest Hearts where be profiles incredible vegan athletes. If you enjoyed this video, give it a big thumbs up. If you’re new here, do hit that big red subscribe button down there for more awesome vegan content every Monday, Wednesday, and some Fridays and to not miss out the on the rest of the Vegan Athlete series. If you want to help support Bite Size Vegan, check out either of the support links in the video description below or click on the Nugget Army icon or the link in the sidebar. Now go live vegan, keep nutrition simple, and I’ll see you soon. I do have to admit that we vegans can get a little carried away with exaggerated health claims. When you go vegan, you’ll never get another pimple! If you go vegan you’ll never fart again! You’ll be able to run a marathon tomorrow! Being vegan means never having to blow your nose again! Did your head come off? Go vegan and it will pop right back on! Nothing cures decapitation like a healthy vegan diet! When you go vegan, you’ll be a better dancer! A better lover! A better friend! You’ll rule the world! When you go vegan, you’ll never have body odor again!