What is the Ideal Diet?

Three or four months ago I read the China Study and was thoroughly convinced by the arguments.  Since then spouse Gail and I have been on a fairly strict vegan diet.  A particular problem for me is my morning cappuccino.  I've tried a lot of different soy milks, rice milk, etc. and finally settled on a brand of oat milk called Oatly  that I can find in our local supermarket.  This produces a good foam and doesn't taste terrible.

I do miss the real thing though, and I'm not sure it is necessary to go the whole way to veganism if you have no major health issues. 

I was supported in this approach by the recent dietary targets contained in the report Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. 

My take-away from the report:

  • Most food you eat should be Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) consisting of fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, consistent with the China Study.
  • There is no evidence presented in the report that a strict vegan diet is any better than a diet with very small amounts of fish, chicken, dairy products, in fact a diet containing a small amount of fish may be the most healthy of all.
  • Red meat of any kind is definitely harmful and should be avoided.
  • Eat Less!

I would qualify this.  For anyone with cancer or cardiovascular disease there is a lot of evidence supporting a strict WFPB diet with no animal protein. This has been shown to stop and even reverse the progress of these diseases in some cases.
For more information please review the Nutrition and Weight Control course.

The table below is a summary of the Lancet 2019 recommendations for the balance of nutrients for an ideal diet (30 grams is approximately 1 ounce).  You can read the full report here.

Dermod Wood

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