Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian and the Conventional Diet...

Hi all,

First things first I will describe (from research) the types of foods each diet roughly consists of (you can correct me if I'm wrong).

Paleo: 

• Grass-produced meats
• Fish/seafood
• Fresh fruits and veggies
• Eggs
• Nuts and seeds
• Healthful oils (Olive, walnut, flaxseed, macadamia, avocado, coconut)

Vegan:

Anything that isn't an animal product.

Vegetarian (not 100% sure)

• Grains
• Fruits and Vegetables
• Dairy
• Eggs
• Nuts and seeds
• Sometimes fish?

Conventional Diet

Pretty much the mainstream health diet that your doctor/dietitian would recommend.

• Grains
• Fruits and Vegetables
• Dairy
• Eggs
• Nuts and seeds
• Meat

I'm curious as to whether anyone has experimented with any of these diets and noticed any side effects whether that be positive or negative. I'm not asking for which one is better but rather the experiences of individual people.

Feel free to post your own modified diet and describe any side effects if you want.

Also, could we please keep this respectful as well, I don't want people to claim that their diet is better I'm just curious to hear peoples experiences.     

I've been a vegan since May. Some benefits I've personally had are:

- More energy throughout the day and after each meal (instead of wanting to take a nap)

- My skin cleared up a lot.

- I get full a lot quicker.

- I get to eat a lot more

- Groceries still cost around the same as before, but I'm able to buy the same amount of food, if not more.

- Lost 11lbs

I haven't noticed any "side effects", but a few things I have to deal with occasionally and may set some people off are:

- Not being able to go out to eat with family/friends or just not eating if I do go.

- It's a very restrictive way of eating in today's society.

- It can get annoying at times to check the ingredients of everything you eat, but you eventually get accustomed to doing so.

- Occasionally, I may get cravings for ice cream.

Thanks for your response:)

I have had positive experiences with a vegan diet like @Malik Blasingame has.

I have been eating a vegan diet for 1,5 years and vegetarian 3 years prior to that. I can highly recommend it! 

On the sales page for Thrive it says that meat is part of a optimal diet, and I would highly disagree. Just check out Patrik Baboumian, Rich Roll and Frank Medrano for more inspiration. You can also check out Nutritionfacts.org if you are interested in the science.

In general I find vegans have a leaner physique. It seems like it is easier to lose weight than gain weight, so if you are interested in relative strength I can highly recommend you give it try. This is just my personal experiences with a vegan diet and I can't back it up any data.

Uhh...by "leaner" do you mean emaciated?

18 minutes ago, Jeff Serven said:

Uhh...by "leaner" do you mean emaciated?

You're right, this guy is really emaciated and his vegan.

His also really weak.

I am a vegan… actually, I want to call it plant-based… because even vegans can actually eat "unhealthy" as long as the food is not animal products… a vegan can theoretically eat processed foods, muffins, ice creams… name it… as long as it is free of animal product. 

I think a whole-foods plant-based diet is better than vegan. 

I mostly eat fresh fruits, vegetables, some sprouted legumes, some nuts and seeds. No processed, no packaged… everything is close to the nature, sort of. I also eat the majority of my foods raw (uncooked). 

I feel like I have a lot of energy, no mood/energy swings, I recover really well from my training (7 days a week). I stay lean and muscular. I feel light all the time, even though I eat 3,000+ calories. I am 51 years, feeling 20 years younger. 

@Malik Blasingame regarding your ice cream cravings, there are yummy vegan ones… or also my favorite is frozen blueberries (or any other berries), and I pour over a "banana milk" — a banana blended with water… the blueberries defrost in that "milk" and the "milk" freezes. So it is a delicious ice cream consistency, yet super healthy and great for you  

Based on the initial descriptions I'd say my diet is essentially Paleo + dairy + fermented foods of many kinds. Lots of fish and chicken, not much red meat. Also low-sugar high-fibre breakfast cereal and olives, jalapenos etc. that come in jars.

Good steady energy levels, digestion and recovery. Two days of sick leave since 1991, both times because of food poisoning from pre-cut fruit :-).

I think there are many ways to compose a healthy diet, as we can see from the responses here.

Fish is probably the healthiest meat.

@Suzanna McGee definitely agree that whole plant foods are where you will find performance and longevity :-)

c'mon, with Patrik and other "vegan superstars" is just not right. Yes, he adopted vegan when he was already big and strong and doing all kinds of lifts and feats, but he didn't started his career being vegan. You have to look from different perspective, when and how did someone started his vegan diet, just like with many olympian or high sport athletes: with their many years of training and precise nutrition(meat, dairy, supplements...) one does not just become super saiyan when changing to loving compassion vegan diet. be objective, get your facts straight. 

He claims his strength increased when he went vegan.

And nobody said that he became super saiyan when he went vegan. His strength increased and that is a fact.

Nobody said that they became super stars because of a vegan diet - I just pointed out that they are thriving on a vegan diet and has done so for many years. 

The NIH working group report (Innovative Research to Improve Maintenance of Weight Loss, published in the journal Obesity in 2014) studied a number of popular diets and concluded that adherence is a better predictor of weight loss than the actual diet. Most diets will work if you stick to them. Compliance – not protein, fat, calorie content or other factors – is the key. Each individual has to pick a diet that he or she can live with. For me, a plant-based, whole foods diet works best. No refined carbs, moderate high quality protein, lots of vegetables, a little fruit and dairy.

I've been eating a Paleo diet for almost 6 years.  I lost 30lbs in the first year and haven't put any back on.  When I started GST I found I felt better more carbs than I was getting so I started eating more white rice, potatoes, and legumes. 

I think the main thing to focus on is everyone agrees that you should eliminate processed foods, and focus on whole foods and quality.

Currently on a Ketogenic/Carb Restricted diet. It's pretty much Paleo based on your description along with some low carb dairy.

Benefits:

-Very, very rapid initial weight loss due to clearing out my system the first week. 10 pound drop.

-Don't have to eat nearly as much/frequent to feel full and sustain energy throughout the day. Many times my stomach will physically be empty, but I am not in the least bit hungry for hours after.

-My strength has improved as far was weights are concerned. I don't count foundation so much since it is bodyweight training. Yes I'm getting stronger, but losing pounds also helps as well.

-I'm more flexible cold. Diet tends to dump water out, so it's not stored in glycogen in the body. My range of motion feels a little more open all of the time.

That's all for now, I'll report back when I find more. I got on this diet for the purposes of becoming fat adapted and that takes awhile. 3 weeks minimum to get 70-80% of the adaptation, then sever more weeks for the following other 20-30%. I'm sure having a cheat day once a week slows it down xD. I'll be measuring my testosterone level after a few weeks as well as a few other biomarkers. Currently at 17.2% bodyfat. Free testosterone is inhibited once you get over 15%, so I'm expecting a bit of a spike from that as well.

7 hours ago, James Coppola said:

He claims his strength increased when he went vegan.

He likes yams in every form lol. In all honestly, I think very very few strongman are natural.

15 hours ago, Luka Kopusar said:

c'mon, with Patrik and other "vegan superstars" is just not right. Yes, he adopted vegan when he was already big and strong and doing all kinds of lifts and feats, but he didn't started his career being vegan. You have to look from different perspective, when and how did someone started his vegan diet, just like with many olympian or high sport athletes: with their many years of training and precise nutrition(meat, dairy, supplements...) one does not just become super saiyan when changing to loving compassion vegan diet. be objective, get your facts straight. 

I'm not defending a vegan diet but your point makes no sense, if his diet were not enough for him to begin in the sport, them it would not be enough for him to maintain his strenght at the current high level he has, and the fact there he gained strenght means that the diet made him improve, if his diet is enough for him to perform at such high level, then it would be enough for him when he was a begginer and not training at such high level.

I've not met a healthy vegan or vegetarian...perhaps it is not that they don't exist but I've not met one. I have existed on a vegetarian diet (not by choice) and it didn't work well for me, but that could have been any number of factors at the time, life is rarely so simple as to be able to identify one factor. I feel better eating meat and eggs and cheese and fish and all that animal stuff. but if vegan works for you do it and enjoy it.

I have done dairy free and not felt any better. I feel better when I have a higher proportion of dairy. perhaps its not the dairy, perhaps it is simply that I enjoy it so everything feels better when I am enjoying myself. If dairy free works for you, do it. If it makes you happy, do it.

I have gone without bread and gluten at different times. I can say with all honesty I have never felt any difference. But I do enjoy bread and bread products. I like to make my own. I love crusty bread with butter or oil pepper and herbs, or balsamic vinegar and oil. Peanut butter loves bread and I love peanut butter. I don't eat much bread but I could say I feel better and perform better after having it (I usually have it on the weekend) but I could equally, as a cynic, say I only perform better after it because the day I have it is a rest day.

Bottom line for me and based on purely objective facts. Since doing Thrive, I have not been sick. Since doing Thrive I have never seen such a rapid and consistent improvement in my performance across every exercise, mental acuity and I have never looked better. Since starting Thrive I have not been able to maintain this level of activity without a crash. Meat, fish, dairy and occasional gluten, heaps of veg and a good dose of carbs. That has worked for me. If it doesn't work for you, then find something that does, paleo, dairy free, gluten free and enjoy it. I have never needed to lose weight so all the diets focussed on weight loss are a waste of space for me. I want performance and I have it at the moment. but everyone finds their own trigger for performance and it could be for any number of reasons. As i said above, life is rarely so simple as to say it is one factor.

everyone has a different perspective and everyone has a different experience. enjoy yours, accept others, opinions are simply that.

For me the best diet is one that can maintain short and long term health, met our needs and suit our goals. If one can met his needs and thrive in a vegan, paleo, atikins or however, this is what matters. There is no super diet, no super food, if u can mantain your fisical and mental heath with a certain type of diet and it suit your needs, then stick with it.

In a general healthy diet ( whole foods, meat, eggs, fish, vegetables, fruit, grains etç), it's more easy to met one's nutritional needs, every one know's that, special diets like paleo, vegan, vegetarian, etç need carefull planing to be successeful  or the one who is following them might run in some type of nutrient deficiency, nutrient deficiency is dangerous and can be deadly, eating meat, eggs, milk, whole grains, fruit, vegetables is not deadly in the majority of times, aside if one has a serius food alergy.

There's not "one diet fits all",a certain type of diet that is good for you may not be for me and in the end, everyone is doing what they want to do, maybe my diet is not optimal for my goals, maybe it is, i may chose to do what's optimal or i may not. Everyone has their right and their decision to do what they want and what is best for them we are all free, but remenber, consequences will follow.

I think that every one would do better if they were to search and find whats best for them, instead of complicating things and entering  in long, tedious, meaningless and complicated discussions about things that are not fully understood when people just want to defend their own points and are not open to change their minds or their actions

If i would to follow a certain type of diet or workout method i would do so and do my best, if it did me no good and did not met my needs, i would change to other thing that works, but that's just me.

We should remenber that every person that is healthy is doing what works for them and not blindly following others advice or practices.

Sports are about building a better body, if u want better u have to do what's work for you, if something is damaging your body/health, then stop doing it, if u continue doing it u not building, u are destroying. There are a lot of people that after starting a new type of diet see their healthy and body going down hill and are not willing to change, some time's it's not about what u believe or want's, it's about what is and about what works and needs to be done, we should learn to live with it, because it's life.

That's my opinion

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I think very very few strongman are natural.

That is a big assumption.

I feel great on Thrive, I am continually getting stronger without excessive soreness, avoid every cold going round, and I keep pushing back taking an 'after' picture because I look better each week.

That's basically discussion done for me. Carry on fellas