What is a Pegan diet?
The pegan diet is a hybrid of the paleo diet and a vegan diet. This diet plan takes some slight modification to follow but it can result in improved health over either of these diets alone. We will run down the basics of each plan then learn how they may work together.
Vegan diets
A typical vegan diet focuses on avoiding eating any animal-based products. How this differs for many vegetarians is that vegetarians may also consume eggs and dairy whereas vegans avoid these products. While this approach seems healthy, many plant-based products found in stores are highly processed. Especially replacements for your favorite meat-based foods.
Paleo diet
The paleo diet is also known as the caveman diet or the paleolithic diet. This is because dieters focus on eating only what cavemen or hunter gathers may have consumed. This means there are no processed foods but meat is still an option in this diet.
Can you be Vegan and still follow the Paleo diet?
The idea of being Paleo and vegan at the same time sounds like a contradiction. However, chef Alan Roettinger said you can be Paleo on a 100 percent vegan diet and enjoy natural weight loss and optimal health.
In interviews, Roettinger has said the Paleo and vegan diets have a lot more in common than most people think. In his cookbook Paleo Vegan, Alan combined the Paleo diet’s emphasis on dairy-free, gluten-free whole foods with the vegan focus on meat-free, nutritionally-dense ingredients.
Roettinger co-wrote “Paleo Vegan” with vegan advocate and fitness coach Ellen Jaffe Jones. She tackled the part of the book that discussed the weight-loss and health benefits of the hybrid diet, while Alan came up with the recipes.
Pegan Diet: Paleo and Vegan Diets are plant-based
Despite the strict culinary parameters, Roettinger said it wasn’t hard to create Paleo-vegan recipes because he’s used to accommodating people’s dietary restrictions as a former personal chef.
“As a private chef, I’ve almost always been given a set of parameters to work within — preferences, likes and dislikes, dietary rules — and my job has always been to create something wonderful within my clients’ guidelines,” said Roettinger.
Alan said the fundamental principle of a Paleo diet is 99 percent identical to his own approach to a vegan diet. The approach adheres as much as possible to nature’s standard for food: fresh, whole, raw, organic, local, and diverse. The Paleo diet also excludes dairy and processed foods (especially sugar and refined oils).
“Where we differ is minimal: a vegan diet excludes meat, and includes beans and grains,” said Roettinger, who also wrote Extraordinary Vegan in 2013. “So aside from the meat, we’re really on the same page — and that’s something to celebrate!”
Alan has been a vegan for the past six years, and said he has never felt better. Most people think you can’t get enough protein on a vegan diet, but Roettinger said this just isn’t true.
“The main sources of protein on a Paleo-vegan diet are nuts, seeds, and protein-rich vegetables” he said. “Hemp seeds and chia seeds alone are a plentiful enough source to build and sustain tissues, even in athletes.
Unlike meat, which offers little more than protein and saturated fat, seeds contain protein plus essential fats, fiber, minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients, with very low amounts of carbohydrates. The Tarahumara of northern Mexico are known to routinely run 100 miles on a handful of chia.”
Celebrities turning back the clock
Both the Paleo and vegan diets have huge celebrity followings: famous Paleo’s include Tim McGraw, Adriana Lima, Megan Fox, Robin Wright and Kellan Lutz.
Celebrity vegans include Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Clinton, Al Sharpton, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jared Leto. They have all credited the plant-based diet for giving them more energy, helping them lose weight, and staying youthful-looking.
Experiencing easy weight loss and improved health on a vegan diet isn’t surprising to medical experts like Dr. Joel Fuhrman. “The more greens you eat, the more weight you will lose,” said Fuhrman, author of The End of Dieting.
Dr. David Katz, author of Disease-Proof, agrees. “If you shift to a diet more about plant-based foods, you are likelier to live healthier and experience less chronic disease,” said Katz.
The Pegan Diet: Merging Paleo and Vegan ideology
On the surface the Paleo diet and a Vegan diet may not coexist well together due to certain differences.
Vegan diets permit beans, grains and processed meat substitutes commonly found in grocery stores but exclude meat, dairy and eggs. On the other hand, A Paleo diet permits anything that can be picked or caught through hunting and fishing but excludes anything processed.
Finding a happy medium may seem challenging at first but with some planning it is possible.
The primary challenge of combining both diets will be getting enough protein and vitamin B12. This is because sticking with a strict Pegan diet would exclude all animal sources of food and beans and grains. This challenge is why dieters following the plan may modify the diet slightly to include either meat, eggs, dairy or beans to compensate.
On the other hand, certain nuts and vegetables have a decent amount or protein. Almonds contain almost 6 grams of protein per cup and makes a healthy snack that is easily portable. Brussels sprouts also contain almost 6 grams of protein per cup and can be eaten as a side dish or as the main meal.
If you have the desire to prepare, this diet may end up being healthier overall than either of them alone.
