The Case For Eating a 90% Plant-Based Diet
By: Julia Blum
Tags: Sustainability, Wellness, Food, Diet, Health

The Case For Eating a 90% Plant-Based Diet

Don’t let conflicting advice and binary labels get in the way of making healthy changes

Photo by Chantal Garnier on Unsplash

What are we really supposed to eat?

Whatever you want the answer to be, you will find an expert advocating for it. Whether it’s Paleo, Keto, Vegan, High-Carb, or Low-Carb — there is supporting evidence for everything.

Outside of diets for weight loss, there is also no consensus on the ideal diet for life. And by diet for life, I mean a diet that takes into account not only health, but also our values, convenience, feasibility, sustainability, and so on.

At nutrition school, I am currently learning over 100 dietary theories, and each has its own pros and cons. What works for us is highly individual. Yet, the ambition to generalize remains, because clarifies and simplifies things.

In “Food Rules” Michael Pollan tries exactly that — to generalize and simplify. He summarizes his findings in a simple phrase: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” There is a lot of wisdom in this sentence. By food, he means real rather than processed food. Not too much refers to healthy portion control. And plants — well that’s pretty self-explanatory.

So, in line with Pollan’s findings, I want to make the case for a primarily whole food, plant-based diet.

I’m not advocating for strict veganism, but rather want to introduce a more inclusive concept: the [90%] plant-based diet.

A plant-based lifestyle is much less restrictive than veganism, which not only excludes eating all animal foods but also wearing all leather and other animal products. Plant-based, however, is more flexible and looks different for each person: some are almost vegan but will still eat honey, others will have the occasional egg or organic, wild-caught fish, or even high-quality meat.

I believe the binary perception of veganism by most vegans and non-vegans does more harm than good. It certainly created a lot of confusion and back-and-forth for me for a long time. I was drawn to veganism for what it stood for, but sometimes found it hard to manage the restrictive nature of the diet in my everyday life. And at times, after eating vegan for a while, I would feel drawn to incorporate a little egg or fish on occasion. When I honored the craving, I would usually notice an improvement in how I felt — even if subtle.

To get the benefits from plant-based nutrition we don’t need to be “all-in or nothing”. Depending on our intention, we can be plant-based and still enjoy animal products on occasion, whether it’s because we otherwise find it too restrictive or because our body tells us it needs more than just plants to thrive. As with most things, quality over quantity is key.

So, what are the key benefits?

The three main reasons to eat plant-based: health, environment, and ethics

Argument #1: It can improve your overall health and performance, and prevent (and reverse) chronic disease

Countless studies are beginning to show some of the health benefits of plant-based diets. When you eat fewer animal products, you’re automatically inclined to eat more plants (because, what else would you eat?). Most people end up discovering an abundance of plant foods they didn’t eat before, so they naturally diversify their nutrient intake. Plants are nature’s medicine and good for your body and mental health, you won’t find anyone denying that.

Some interesting findings that extend beyond this common wisdom:

a. It can prevent (and even reverse) lifestyle-borne chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and type 2-diabetes.

b. It can improve your overall health by stabilizing your weight, increasing your energy, reducing systematic inflammation, and promoting longevity.

c. It promotes a healthy weight, individuals following a plant-based diet have a lower BMI and are less likely to be overweight.

d. It can increase your athletic performance by improving blood thickness, which helps get more oxygen to your muscles, which in turn improves performance. And by increasing our intake of antioxidants, which are highly prevalent in plant-based diets, we reduce free radicals that curb muscle fatigue, thus improving recovery.

e. It may increase our sexual health as demonstrated in Netflix’s recent documentary The Game Changers by improving blood flow and serotonin levels (more research to be done here though).

Argument #2: It’s the most powerful way to practice conscious consumerism and protect the environment

The effects of animal agriculture are disastrous and one of the best-kept secrets in our modern economy. Most people know that taking a plane is bad for the environment, but not too many are aware that the burger they are eating wastes more water than two months of showering.

So, how exactly does eating plant-based help the environment?

a. It reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of GHG emissions, more than all transportation combined. Plus, a cow’s methane emissions are 25x more potent than carbon dioxide.

b. It conserves land and water usage. Livestock and livestock feed occupy 1/3 of the earth’s ice-free land and are responsible for 80–90% of US water consumption. It takes 18x more land to feed a meat-eater than a vegan.

c. It combats species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution, and habitat destruction (see Cowspiracy’s research for details).

Argument #3: It promotes animal welfare (and, if you believe in it, your karma)

This argument is less scientific but rather ethical/spiritual.

Some thoughts:

a. Current practices of factory farming are inhumane. In the US, 99% of farm animals are factory-farmed. Animals are grown unnaturally fast and unnaturally fat. As a result, they easily get sick, which is masked by an excessive use of antibiotics. Whether it’s animal slaughtering or the fact that cows in dairy farms are artificially inseminated for the majority of their life to produce milk, or that male chickens are slaughtered in egg farms because they don’t yield eggs — there are plenty of reason’s to avoid animal products out of compassion for animals.

b. As all religions and spiritual traditions teach: treat others how you want to be treated. Whether that translates into the karmic laws in Buddhism, the concept of non-violence (Ahimsa) in Yoga or Jesus’ famous words “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Even if you don’t believe in karma or religion: What gives us the right to domesticate another species? We are all one universal organism. We share 80% of our DNA with cows.

c. In a scientific sense, everything is energy, as proven by quantum physics. If we believe this energy also carries spirit (or however you’d want to call it), we’re facing an additional dilemma: By eating animal products, one could say that we eat the energy of dead beings. If we talk about a chicken who had a wonderful life in a lush farm, this might not be too disturbing. But most of the time it’s more likely that the animal you’re eating was treated terribly. And you are exposing your body-mind-soul to that energy.

The 90% [or 80%, 87%, 92%] rule is your ticket to feasibility & sustainability

So now you may be convinced that eating plant-based really is the way to go.

Your next thought will probably be: “But I could never not eat cheese again.”

And I’m telling you, you don’t have to give up anything to make a difference.

We want food to be pleasurable and joyful. If we restrict for the wrong reasons, it’s always a temporary fix. Restrictive diets don’t work, UCLA (and many other researchers) found that most dieters gain back the weight they lost. You’ll certainly find people in the vegan community who are using strict veganism as a form of controlling their diet, and that’s often not healthy. This is not what we’re going for here with the more intuitive and flexible mostly-plant-based eating approach.

If we want to make plant-based nutrition sustainable, we can’t neglect the psychological aspects of eating. We’ve all heard the saying “one unhealthy meal doesn’t make you fat, just like one healthy meal doesn’t make you healthy.” I’m suggesting we apply the same concept to veganism. One plant-based meal doesn’t make you a vegan, but one non-vegan meal also does not make you no longer a plant-based eater.

I get it, people like labels.

But what people like even more is freedom.

Give yourself that freedom! You can make a tremendous difference in your health, the environment, and protect your morals by eating this way, most of the time. And you can still have cheese, your favorite ice cream, or your grandmother’s home-cooked stew, on occasion.

It really depends on your intention. If animal welfare is on top of the list, you might decide to only eat eggs from your own chicken. If it’s mostly for the environment, you might be inclined to incorporate products from regenerative farms. As for health, there are certainly proven health benefits to some high-quality animal foods like wild salmon and eggs.

From my experience, once you start eating more plants, your body will also crave more plants naturally. When you start out it’s important that you don’t go into it with black-or-white thinking. We don’t want you to throw out all good intentions and dismiss the possibility of you ever being plant-based the first time you cave and have a croissant.

The most important piece of advice is to always listen to your body. I’m a firm believer in intuitive eating and leveraging our bodies’ cues as the guiding force to our nutrition. But I also believe values and genuine intention can play their role in reacting to cravings, as long as we don’t feel like we’re jeopardizing our health by denying ourselves nutrients the body is clearly asking for.

The 90% is of course illustrative, hence the brackets. Eating should be flexible, not rigid. Whether 80%, 85%, or 98% is what works for you — the number doesn’t matter as much as the concept and the intention behind it.

How to transition to a (primarily) plant-based diet

1. Transition gradually

If you try to go from yogurt-loving chicken fanatic to 100% plant-based from one day to another, you’re making your life harder than it needs to be.

Some people manage to do it this way, but for most a gradual approach is much more effective (adapted from James Clear’s Atomic Habits):

Step 1: Start by cutting out animals that live on four feet (cow, pig, etc.)

Step 2: Cut out animals that live on two feet (chicken, turkey)

Step 3: Cut out any other animal flesh (seafood)

Step 4: Cut out and replace any other animal products (dairy, cheese, eggs)

And to reiterate, when I say “stop” I mean “stop [90]% of the time”.

2. Be kind with yourself

Don’t beat yourself up if you’re having a hard time or are not following through as much as you want. Change is already hard as it is, judgment will only make it 10x harder.

Instead, approach every opportunity you don’t stick with it (even if you planned to) with curiosity: Why did you not manage to eat as intended, was it too inconvenient or not available? Then come better prepared next time. Did you feel like you didn’t want to miss out on something? Then find better alternatives.

Investigate and learn.

3. Remember your intentions

When you question yourself, always bring it back to why you do what you are doing. In fact, I suggest explicitly clarifying your intentions for yourself before you start out.

I’ve given you many good reasons to eat more plant-based above — find what resonates with you and hone in on those arguments, leave out what doesn’t feel relevant to you.

4. Listen to your body

Your body will let you know how it’s feeling about the changes you are making. Many people report having more energy and feeling more vital after only a few weeks of eating primarily plant-based.

Others may find their body craves animal products.

When you have a very specific craving, always listen to it. If you crave eggs, have eggs. There’s a reason your body is asking for it, and unless it’s a craving for a chemically-manipulated food you can assume that it’s a biological craving that your incredibly intelligent body is sending in response to a lack of nutrients.

5. Find your sweet spot

As mentioned, 90% is illustrative. Find a balance that works for you. Some weeks it maybe 99%, other weeks it may only be 80%. Look at it over the months rather than days and weeks.

Some models that work for people: Eat plant-based during the week and incorporate non-vegan foods on the weekend. Only cook plant-based at home, but have animal products when you eat out. Have a certain number of meals per day or per week be plant-based. And so on.

On a final note, if you’ve been keen on making these changes for a while — now is the time. Many of us are cooking as much as never before, which makes it so much more feasible.

There are endless options — go out explore and play with it!