Over the past year or so, the online nutrition/health community has seen quite the influx of former vegan influencers abandoning veganism and transitioning into fat based diets that focus more on animal product consumption. Naturally, many of their followers have followed suite, which has contributed to the increasing popularity of ketogenic and high fat low carb diets. But why? Leaving veganism is one thing, but why make such a drastic leap to the opposite end of the spectrum?
Why are so many vegans switching to keto? The reason why most of these people are leaving the vegan diet in the first place, is because they have experienced some sort of decline in terms of their health and well-being while following a vegan diet. The reason why so many of them are switching to the opposite end of the spectrum rather than simply adding some animal products into their plant based diet is because 1. Plant based diets are typically very high in carbohydrates and mixing animal fats and proteins into a high carb diet is not a good idea and 2. Animal based diets such as keto or high fat/low carb have proven to be a sustainable long term option for human beings.
Why leave the vegan diet in the first place?
As I said before, the reason why many of these people are leaving their vegan plant based diet in the first place is because they are simply unable to maintain optimal health while on such a diet. Although this point is enough to drive most vegans mad, this is the reality of the situation for many people. These people have no personal agenda to push. They Are not paid by the meat industry to intentionally push people away from veganism. Their health was deteriorating on the vegan diet and now they are simply just doing what is best for them and their health.
This is something that many of the vegans out there are refusing to accept. This is a matter of health. Do you really think that these people are completely changing their diet and lifestyle just because they want to? No, they’re not. Many of them are deep into their vegan beliefs and making such a change to an animal product based diet is often leading to identity crisis. Personally, although I was never really sucked into the morality argument of veganism, it was very tough for me to finally accept the fact that I had to leave the lifestyle that I had invested so much time and passion into. I didn’t want to leave my vegan diet. I needed to leave in order to be healthy.
Why keto?
There are a couple main reasons why so many people are going from one spectrum to the other and transitioning from vegan to keto. The first reason is a matter of food combining. Eating a diet that is high in carbs and high in fats at the same time is a nutritional recipe for disaster, especially for anyone dealing with any gut related issues. Therefor, once these people start including more animal fats in their diet, they soon realize that they must start limiting a lot of the high carb plant foods that they were previously consuming on their vegan diet.
This is the exact reason why many people have success healing and improving their health while following a well put together version of one of these “extreme” diets such as plant based vegan or keto. By choosing to lean heavily to one side or the other (carb or fat consumption) and strictly limit or eliminate the other macronutrient, you are making it easy on your digestive system to efficiently assimilate and process these foods. This then begs the question of whether or not the diet is sustainable?
In terms of the plant based vegan diet, the answer tends to be no for most people statistically. Although many people including myself achieve great healing results short term on a vegan diet, what many of us are learning is that we cannot fulfill our nutritional needs without eating nutrient dense animal products. These are the foods that are woven deep into our ancestry and in turn, our biology and have proven to be sustainable through millions of years.
This leads into my second reason why so many people are taking the large leap from vegan to keto or some moderate version of high fat/low carb. People are attracted to the sustainability of the diet. If an animal based diet was not sustainable, we would not be here. Human beings have been surviving, evolving, and progressing on such a diet since the beginning of our existence and their are millions of years of proof to back up this sustainability.
Do what is best for you and your health
The goal of this post was not to sway anyone towards one side of the other. At the end of the day, people just need to do whatever makes them feel good and operate efficiently. If you are following a vegan diet and feel great doing so, then good for you. I would not try to convince someone to change their diet if they aren’t having any issues with it.
With that said, one thing that I have noticed is that many of the vegans that I have interacted with are not able to truly assess the impact that their diet is having on their health due to their inability to see past their vegan ideology. They have this idea beaten into their head that eating meat is bad and they are not willing to entertain the opposite argument no matter how much evidence is brought before them.
Be real with yourself. If you’re thriving on your diet, then keep with it. But if you have started to notice a decline in your health, it’s time that you put all dogma aside and determine what foods you need in order to progress. If you’re struggling with psoriasis, eczema, or any other gut related disease and are seeking natural healing information, click here to be directed to my Instagram page. The goal of this page is to provide nutrition/lifestyle information as it pertains to natural healing and optimizing health.
