You must have heard or even tried Vegan and Paleo diets before. And you may or may not get the results you wanted! But how about you combine these two diets to expand their benefits?
Introducing the Pegan diet for beginners.
This hybrid diet includes whole foods such as nuts, grains, fruits, vegetables, and meats while following a plant-based diet. We know it sounds contradictory when you have meats and plant-based on the same sentence, but as a Pegan diet practitioner, you can get 25% of your daily nutrition needs from animal sources. All in all, you need to get your nutrition from wholesome and nutrient-rich foods that are sustainable. However, you cannot consume dairy products or gluten.
The Foods You Can Eat
The Pegan diet is essentially about choosing a list of foods depending on their glycemic load and how rich they are in fats and protein.
The glycemic load measures the glucose per serving and the rate at which the food increases blood glucose levels.
Here are the following foods you can eat when following the Pegan diet:
Fruits and Vegetables
Make sure you comprise 75% of your diet with fresh fruits and vegetables. According to Dr Hyman, who came up with this diet, eating at least 2-3 servings of veggies per meal is recommended.
American Diabetes Association or ADA shared that most fruit type has low GI because these are filled with fiber and fructose. This is apart from pineapple, melons, and some dried fruits, such as cranberries and dates, which have medium GI.
On the other hand, nonstarchy vegetables have low GI. These are asparagus, arugula, collard greens, baby corn, beetroot, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, eggplant, cucumber, green beans, mushrooms, kale, peppers, onions, romaine lettuce, tomato, spinach, zucchini, and turnip greens.
Seeds and Nuts
Add seeds and nuts because you need to get the most of your daily recommended healthy fats and protein from a plant-based diet. Dr Mark Hyman’s Pegan diet food list includes chia, flax, hemp seeds, and nuts apart from peanuts.
Whole Grains and Legumes
The Pegan diet doesn’t encourage consuming certain legumes (peanuts) and grains as these influence blood sugar levels. However, few gluten-free legumes and whole grains can be eaten in limited quantities. But make sure you do not consume more than 1 cup of legumes and ½ cup of cooked grains daily. You can eat quinoa, black rice, amaranth, teff, millet, oats, chickpeas, lentils, black beans, and pinto beans.
If you are a diabetic patient or have any other medical condition influencing blood sugar levels, restrict these foods altogether.
Healthy Fats
To meet your daily recommendation of healthy fats, add omega-3 fatty acids from hemp, oily fish, walnuts, coconut, nuts, avocado, and saturated fats from sustainably raised or grass-fed animals. If you have cardiovascular issues, you should portion control saturated fats like coconut oil.
Fish, Meat, and Other Animal Products
Despite following the Pegan diet meal list, which is a plant-based diet, you can add meats and fish as additional ingredients in meals or condiments. Eat vegetables as your main meal and animal products as a side dish. But make sure that all the eggs and meat you eat are grass-fed, organic, and sustainably raised. The fish should be low in toxins and mercury, like anchovies, sardines, and herring.
The Foods You Should Avoid
Certain foods that might be healthy otherwise are not permitted to be consumed by Pegan diet practitioners. These are:
Dairy – Dairy lovers, this is terrible news for you as all kinds of dairy products are a no-go in this diet. However, you can consume foods made with goat and sheep milk in a limited portion. You can also have grass-fed butter.
Gluten – Don’t eat gluten-containing foods.
Sugar – This is not a surprise, as sugar, refined or not, is not a healthy food item. You can use natural sweeteners, but with caution.
Refined Oils – Just like refined sugar, refined oils are also a strict no-no in this diet. Soybean, canola, corn oil, and sunflower oils should be avoided.
The Potential Pegan Diet Benefits
Coming to the cornerstone of this article. Is the Pegan diet genuinely beneficial? If so, what are these benefits?
Weight Management
The first and foremost advantage of this diet is weight management. If you want to maintain a wholesome diet without eliminating animal protein sources, this is the best approach. Exercise or be active throughout the day to see great results.
Chronic Disease Prevention
A solid reason to give this diet a try is due to its capability to prevent medical disorders. Several studies have found that this diet could prevent diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, depression, and certain cancers.
Good for the Gut Bacteria
Because you will eat a lot of non-starchy vegetables and fruits filled with fructose and fiber, the good bacteria in your gut will thrive. Your gut health will soon improve, and you can prevent obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.
Lowered Inflammation
The plant-based Pegan diet foods have been proven to lower inflammation in the body because they focus on fruits and vegetables. And lower inflammation is connected to reduced obesity.
Drawbacks of the diet
Even though the Pegan diet is more flexible than a vegan diet, there are also some unnecessary restrictions on certain healthy foods. Restrictions on certain whole grains, legumes, and dairy can make this diet difficult to follow for some people. Due to this, some people might give in to their urges and, hence, fail to get the benefits of this diet.
Some foods are also not widely available. Foods like grass-fed meat, organic eggs, or other such items might not always be accessible or can be costly for some people. Restriction on common processed oils makes it more difficult to prep a meal on a daily basis. Moreover, the practitioner might start to avoid social gatherings for the same reason, suffer from stress, and feel isolated.
Takeaway
You can try this diet if you have been following the paleo diet and want to change some things.
But make sure that you do enough research on your own to prevent unnecessary issues that may arise. Practice caution at all times. Best of luck!
