How many are whole food plant based for longevity?

#13

Nuts are … ————————————

#14

I have to laugh at posts like this. Just imagine how long the list would be if you included every meat eating elite athlete. Every single ultra elite athlete, (e.g. Jordan, Ali, Bolt, Lasha, Merckx, Pele, Kipchoge etc) were omnivores.

Btw, Carl Lewis didn’t go vegan until the 90s by which time he’d already won 6 Olympic gold medalists and Kendrick Farris never got within 20kg of a World record (snatch, clean or total).

I think the methionine restriction studies are compelling though I still get most of my protein from animal sources (collagen). Arguing about diet is like arguing about religion, a complete waste of time because no one ever changes their mind.

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#15

I should apologize for derailing this thread which was supposed to be about whole plant based diets and the advantages. I looked up Kendrick Farris and he is an impressive athlete. He does mention eating veg. Lasagna though. If refined carbs are allowed it is a bit easier to get the calories up. Same thing if eggs or dairy are allowed. The advantages of whole plant foods are numerous. There a bunch of threads on bodybuilding forums about getting adequate protein while vegetarian. Paying attention to the individual amino acids is important, and a lot of these guys seem to use whey protein supplements.

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#17

I kinda suspected high level athletes must be ingesting a bunch of calories somehow. The whole plant diet seems ideal for longevity if followed strictly. We have all met an insufferable twinkies, chips, and oreos vegetarian. I guess whole means nothing smaller than a pea goes in the pie hole. So chickpeas are allowed, but no hummus, and no bread to spread the hummus on anyway. No peanut butter, oatmeal, or pasta. Lots of whole and filling vegetables. This may be the only diet that fills all nutritional requirements, is calorie deficit, and keeps hunger at bay. Hungry? Eat 5 more pounds of cauliflower and you won’t be. Jason Fung is big on fasting, but fasting can be tough for a lot of people. We would all like to be more insulin sensitive, and that means caloric restriction. After I meet my training goals, I intend to try whole plant for a couple weeks. I don’t think I will ever be full time whole plant, but a couple months out of the year seems like a good idea.

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#18

I really don’t understand above @Maveric78

And to be honest I don’t feel in this specific instance that you with such statements approached things in a constructive way.

Help me understand where I (or others) did anything(s) wrong

  1. A member (@Victoria24) creates a new topic and clearly states in both (a) the title of the topic ”How many are whole food plant based for longevity?” and (b) in the topic’s introductory post ”Anyone else plant based/vegan or pescetarian perhaps?” that she is creating a space to talk about plant based/vegan and pescatarian diets

  2. Another member (@Rayk) asked questions ” I am not a vegetarian, but I do have a question….” that (a) is in the scope of the topic his question was posted under and (b) seems coming from a place of wanted to look into and understand something that he was not sure if possible/feasible (high calories and protein on plant based diets)

  3. A third member (@Neo), takes time to write out an answer, provide avenues that @Rayk could take to perhaps learn more about his questions - entire introduction to my post was ”Might be helpful to look into the practices of some of these athletes”

  4. The member who asked the question (@Rayk) gives the response a heart :heart: label

Above seems to me like a great way for this overall community to work and operate:

  • someone creates a topic of general scope
  • anyone interested in that topic can read and if they want engage (staying roughly within the topic scope)
  • members can crowdsource input from other members on questions they have relating to the topic that they have
  • other members can volunteer their time to see if they perhaps can try to help others

Is above a ok description how things can work well here on the site? If not what is bad? If so, was there anything done wrong vis as vis that description?

—

Note:

I did not say that I believe that plant based is best for high calorie/high protein diets (which I don’t)

I never said I was vegan (which I am not)

I just

  • heard a question “is it possible”
  • thought one way to figure that out COULD be too looks into people who must have given it a lot of thought - with teams around them with a lot of knowledge - who I believe professional athletes are
  • tried to provide some sources of such people he could look into more research (several have opened restaurants and at least one has written a book)

—-

With regards to “Arguing about diet is like arguing about religion, a complete waste of time because no one ever changes their mind.”

A1. Personally that has really not been the case. I have for instance for multi-year period been each of a carnivore, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian and pescavegan.

A2. Another example is that I am currently experimenting with higher protein than I believed was optimal just a year ago (partially because of arguments people have made in this forum and partially because of sources on this forum that people have pointed too)

B. From this sub-topic on the site (that people have selected into) others seem to also have changed their minds on diets and the very question from @Rayk was from a non-vegetarian about potentially eating more vegetarian

—-

Finally, learning if X is possible is very different vs teasing out whether Y is better than Z.

For instance, human civilization knew it was possible to fly across the Atlantic when Charles Lindbergh finished the first flight, to land on the moon when… and so on.

To get a sense for whether Y may be better than Z requires (outside of math/physics types of contexts) sample sizes and statistics.

The examples of the athletes I pointed to were whether it may be possible. I did not intend to say it was better.

Please do let me know if I’m misunderstanding how this site works and what scope of questions and answers are suitable for this specific topic and/or if there is anything else I did wrong.

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#19

Based on the theory that food is medicine, I’m a happy vegetarian. Since switching from a Mediterranean Diet, which included chicken and fish, my numbers have risen dramatically. I am not exaggerating when I say it saved my life.

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#20

Hi. I created this thread because I was curious how many of us here have chosen this way of eating for longevity.
I tried to phrase it carefully so I would not provoke a debate about whether or not it is the right way.
:carrot::smiley:

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#21

Well, vegetarians do fart more and pollute the atmosphere. :sweat_smile:

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#23

Have you ever tried buckwheat as substitute for rice? It’s delicious if cooked with a clove of garlic and mixed with veggies (shredded carrots, beets, onion, pieces of asparagus).

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#24

Hmm I will try that, I did eat it previously without salt but that was hard I didn’t mix it with anything though. It’s one way to get whole grains. I can’t do whole grain rice because of arsenic, and it would be helpful to diversify my carbohydrate sources.

#25

I love rice and olive oil, which makes a savory combination with vegetable broth and fried tofu. My favorite is black-and-white Forbidden Rice, available at Whole Foods.

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#26

When you cook buckwheat, it’s 2 parts of water to 1 part of buckwheat for the best results.

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#27

No, I wasn’t responding to you. I was charting my evolution. If your diet appeals to you, I’d be silly to object.

#28

Been Vegan for three years. Did so after both my parents passed (aggressive prostate cancer and stroke). Have been in the best shape of my life. I had my hip resurfaced 3 months ago and tried pescatarian to see if it would aid in healing and bone growth. I did it for two weeks and stopped because I felt like worse and researched wound healing. Fasting and veggie have a lot of science that supports faster healing.

I was a 5 year paleo heavy carnivore prior to
Going vegan and was also in good shape then. My blood bio-numbers were good then and better now. Just have to supplement with some bcaa and b12 and keep an eye on carbs. Acarbose helps there if you are not disciplined.

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#29

WFPB, with a small amount of fish 2x/wk as only animal food, since 2012. Light on animal for many years prior. Agree on the science. Not that it means much but my Levin Phenoage consistently puts me in low 50s last couple of years since I started using it. Just turned 69. I have some age-related issues though, so just consider this one of many markers to track. Exercise moderately almost every day, including a minimum of 5 miles of walking, which I think needs to go along with a good diet. TRE 16/8 for over 7 years, and more recently more disciplined about not eating within 2 hrs of bedtime (3 is ideal for me) and very little alcohol last couple of years, both of which has improved sleep (my Achilles heel) a lot. I look forward to trying Rapa soon, once I figure out what markers to measure and settle on a dose.

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#30

You’re right about farting more on a vegetarian diet. It helps to take five or six enzyme tablets at the start of every meal. But for every steak or burger I don’t eat in a year, there’s one less cow releasing methane gas. I do like Dr. Praeger burgers, one of which has a hefty 20 grams of protein.

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#31

Longevity studies are hard to track, @Victoria24, but there is widespread agreement that vegetarians have one of the healthiest diets, which should correlate with longer years.

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#32

Thanks Tim, I’ve never tried those. Is it this one?

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#33

I didn’t want to get into stuff like this, I just wanted to see how many of us here are plant based.
Studies, the science is pretty solid. For example the adventist health study. The vegans of Loma Linda have exceptional healthspan and are a good group to study as they are ethnically diverse.

We also have the track record from the blue zones who are all heavy plant oriented.

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#34

If, however, farts are substantially more H2 than other gases and there is an advantage to having molecular H2 from the perspective of neutralising the HO• hydroxyl radical should we not aim to increase intestinal gas as long as it does not smell.

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