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What is Angelina Jolie’s biggest beauty secret?
By her own admission, a thick, juicy steak!
In interviews prior to the release of her film Salt, Jolie says that she was vegan for a long time and that it “nearly killed” her.
“I found that I was not getting enough nutrition,” says Jolie.
Thankfully, Jolie wised up in time before her health and teeth were irreparably damaged. Many vegans are not as lucky. The fact is that some of the most critical nutrients for health, vitamins A, D,and B12 are simply not found in an exclusively plant based diet.
Vegans cite beta carotene as a plant based source of Vitamin A, but at best, human digestion can only convert a very small percentage of beta carotene into true vitamin A.
People with any sort of gut imbalance, which would be the vast majority of people today, generally cannot convert any beta carotene to true Vitamin A!
Vegans also claim that getting vitamin D from the sun or mushrooms is all that is necessary, but during winter months, it is crucial to be consuming animal based sources of vitamin D, else one is a sitting duck for flu and other wintertime illnesses.
Because the original source of B12 in nature is bacteria, some nutritional sources confuse the issue by maintaining that beneficial B12 is synthesized by gut flora in the colon of humans.
While this may be true, the B12 that is produced this way is not in a usable form as very little if any of this B12 is able to be absorbed across the walls of the large intestine or colon. The reason is that the bacteria produced B12 in the gut is not attached to the “intrinsic factor” (IF), a special protein that is secreted in the stomach.
B12 must attach to an intrinsic factor protein to be absorbed effectively. This happens when B12 that is consumed binds with the intrinsic factor that has been broken down by pancreatic enzymes in the small intestine. The tightly bound B12-intrinsic factor complex then moves through the gut to the Ileum or lower portion of the small intestine and attaches to cell receptors for absorption.
B12 Not Available in ANY Plant Foods
Contrary to claims by the vegan community, usable B12 is not available in algae like spirulina or tempeh (a fermented soy product). The B12 found in these foods is similar to true B12 but not exactly the same thing. The B12 in Brewer’s yeast is due to factory fortification, in other words, it is not naturally occurring in the food.
Studies have indicated that the B12 analogues in algae and tempeh are not bioavailable to the human body – blood levels of the nutrient did not change even after algae or tempeh were added to the diet.
Even worse, these B12 imposters can actually inhibit the absorption of true vitamin B12 as the result of a competitive situation in the digestive system. This puts those that avoid animal foods at an even greater risk for deficiency!
For these reasons, even die-hard vegans who are well researched admit that B12 supplements must be taken when one is on a vegan diet for an extended period of time.
How could a diet such as veganism possibly be a good idea if supplements are required to prevent serious deficiency?
The final nail in the coffin for the vegan diet is the travels of Dr. Weston A. Price back in the 1920’s and 1930’s. For over 10 years, Dr. Price traveled the globe only to discover absolutely no native vegan cultures whatsoever. Even the vegetarian cultures Dr. Price examined had poorer health compared to the meat and seafood eating cultures as evidenced by higher dental caries and lower immunity to degenerative disease.
No ancestral society ever ate vegan!
Why? The culture would have died out in a generation or two from lack of nutrients, low immunity to infectious disease as well as rampant infertility.
Even reviews of What The Health, the popular vegan documentary, point out that the film failed to cite a single healthy vegan population that has stood the test of time.
From Dr. Kaayla Daniel’s article Do Vegetarians Really Live Longer? on vegan tall tales of spry centenarians supposedly living on a plant based diet:
In reality, the Hunza and Vilcabambans consume some meat and raw dairy, and the Okinawans eat far more pork than soy. What’s more, there’s no anthropological evidence of healthy, happy fruitarians sunning in gardens of eden prior to the hunter gatherer eras. Indeed, leading anthropologists present convincing evidence that meat helped us evolve from big bellied, tiny-brained primates to big-brained humans able to leave all-day “grazing” behind and spend the time developing civilization. In other words, eating animal products made us human.
In truth, veganism is a modern phenomena – a political statement against animal abuse and confinement as practiced by CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations).
Not that vegans do not have a good point – eating meat from CAFOs is not a good idea at all! The good news is that one can find humanely raised, antibiotic/steroid free, grassfed meat from locally based family farms. No need to reject meat and animal foods in their entirety by going vegan if you sympathize with the political arguments against eating animal foods!
So find a local farmer you trust and eat your meat, eggs, and dairy with the confidence that humans are omnivores not herbivores and that animal foods are clearly necessary to achieve your best health!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Angelina’s statement that veganism almost killed her is misleading. it should be poor nutrition almost killed her. Veganism cannot kill you unless you’re not nutritionally educated. How will you explain several generations of vegan families all over the world who happen to be healthy? How will you explain the existence of vegan athletes/olympians? How will you explain diseases reversed through a plant-based diet? Angelina thought that she just had to memorize a script, and she’d be ok. The article should’ve interviewed nutritionists/dietiticians since it’s a health related story. I couldn’t help but think you’re on the meat industry’s payroll. Sorry.
I would really enjoy seeing photographs and reading the stories of these “generations” of vegan families, of which you speak. I would love to see what most the vegans I’ve come across are doing “wrong.” I have only met young vegan children of mothers who were not raised vegan (only one was raised vegetarian, but had been vegan for some time).
Simply from the teeth and bone structure of these children (both a raw chef/educator mom and normal low sugar/normal grains type vegan) that I’ve met, I would highly doubt that any “several generations” of healthy vegans exist. In the first generation the low sugar ones have crowns and serious caries. The raw one has less severe cavities, but the narrowing of the jaw is amazing considering the beautiful straight teeth (no braces they say) of the parents. The raw children are also extremely small considering how tall of parents they came from. They are smaller than children many years younger than them. It’s hard not to worry about them.
I counter your ONE single vegan family with my ONE single vegan family and cancel yours out. Both of my vegan since conception children have always been healthy weights (8lbs, 1 oz and 7 lbs, 10 oz at birth, respectively). My first has been in the 98%+ for height since aged six months. My youngest is in the 75%+ for height. Both are well above the 50% for weight and are healthy, active children. Neither one of my kids are loaded with cavities or have ever had crowns. My oldest might be headed for braces, like MOST of her omnivore friends…but let’s just blame that on all veganism, right? Perhaps this one single family you referenced isn’t particularly careful about their dental hygiene? Oh, no… it must definitely be veganism, because you just know it.
Read Weston A Price – Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. Their jaws are not growing, probably because of a lack of human growth hormone caused by excessive carbohydrates.
My son was raised on a varied diet, with dairy, eggs, meat etc, I ate as an omnivore while pregnant.
Yet, his bones aren’t good, his teeth have caries.
So what is the link between vegan and teeth and bones??
I was raised on a meat based diet with loads of dairy.
Yet, I have bad joints and bones…
Yet, I have vit. D3 deficiency.
Yet, I have Always had auto imune disease.
Now I’m switching to vegan.
I was vegetarian for a while,with a slip here and there.
But, I’m sure as hell more healthy now, don’t need many more supplements compared to two years ago,feel overall much healthier and better.
My son doesn’t eat much candy either, so that’s not the reason for his caries.
Sarah, I am actually quite sadded to read this post. I was starting to like your website. I think its unfair of you to quote a celebrity as a reason for not going Vegan. When in truth many vegans like angelina jolie are probably not eating a well balanced plant based diet. Most modern vegans only see the ethical part of being vegan, which dont get me wrong, is a FABULOUS place to start. However swapping vegan cream cheese and vegan bacon and living off tofu, tofurky and the majority of other processed “vegan” foods is just as bad for you as eating bacon and turkey. I would agree, if you are going to eat meat, pick a local, grass fed, organic, pasture raised and humanely treated animal for consumption. But as a person who eats a mainly 90% plant basd vegan diet, I am perfectly healthy, not pale and sickly and feel the best I have ever felt. My body feels alive and I dont need to eat animals to do it. I would also encourage you to expand your knowledge and read things such as the the recent Harvard University study which shows eating red meat WILL decrease your life span. Or read articles from Michael Greger, M.D., (http://nutritionfacts.org/) who breaks down medical fact, or that of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, of the world renown Cleveland Clinic, or his son Rip Esselstyn of the Engine 2 diet, or Dr. Colin Cambell author of the China Study, watch some recent and informative documentaries such as Hungry for Change, or Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, or if you only watch one, please watch Forks over Knives. In closing, please don’t site Angelia Jolie as a reason humans are supposed to eat meat.
My cousin is a reasonably successful actress/model in hollywood. I have seen the kind of dieting she has to do to remain saleable/solvent. It is horrible, and she really is not even that bad relative to most celebrities. The fasting/diuretics taking prior to shoots, the constant over exercising and low sodium intake, etc. can wreak havoc on your body, just to mention some of the more stand dieting trends there. Angelina Jolie, with all the scrutiny she attracts is surely not immune to these unhealthy trends.
Humans were not designed to eat meat, but we can after some unnatural processing. Vegetarian/Vegan diets are healthier because of our body design in relation to food. Human intestines, like herbivore intestines, are significantly longer to digest plants and were not designed to digest meat. Carnivores have much much shorter intestines so that the meat does not stay in the body too long and start to poison it as it rots. The canine teeth in humans are very misleading. Look at the gorilla- (note: primates are the closest in body design to the human body) they have very large canines despite being vegetarian animals. These teeth are better suited to bite into fruits and plants than animals. In fact, carnivores have claws that they use to hunt which are vital in catching prey. In addition, carnivores have very few molar teeth if any. Animals like horses and humans, have many flat teeth intended for grinding plants. Carnivores swallow more than chew meat. They need the canine teeth to tear meat, not chew it. Humans don’t tear meat. They first cook it (no other animals does this to food, therefore unnatural) then they cut it with an tool like a knife (there goes your whole canine theory) then they chew the meat, not swallow it whole. Then the meat stays in the intestines too long for it to be healthy. That’s why vegetarian people have a significantly reduced risk of cancers related to the colon.
There is nothing really natural about eating meat. Yes, we can, but our bodies are probably not intended to do so. If you add all the evolutionary evidence and science around the issue, you will start to see that humans are not intended to eat meat like we do. Vegetarianism is healthier and makes more sense regarding our body design. In fact, multitudes of studies of a RAW vegan diet has reversed and Cured people of Type 2 Diabetes, Cancer and many other serious and debilitating illnesses.
Hi Sarah, I just would like to say that you talk like your God, like you are a creator and therefore know how our bodies are supposed to work. There are so many scientific studies to prove and disprove everything, science is always going back and forth so as soon as you think something is correct, they find out more information and everything has to be re-evaluated. I listen to my body, as a nursing mother I have to eat some sort of animal protein in my diet. I have tried eating only organic vegetables that I’ve gotten local and super fresh, some cooked and some raw, and I ate a big serving of them and by one or two hours later I felt awful. I was weak and dizzy and no matter how many times I’ve tried different combinations of the healthiest vegetarian meals I can think of I feel like I’m going to collapse without any meat. I really do think this is due to nursing, because when my body isn’t producing breastmilk I don’t feel fatigued in that way when I consume any type of diet. So should I do as some researchers suggest and eat a raw vegan diet and feel like collapsing when I try to take care of my kids? I’m trying to provide the best milk for my baby and if I feel awful after those meals SOMETHING has to be missing! It comes to the point where I can’t really consider all the research, I just have to listen to my body and my body says to go eat some meat!
I’m a nursing mother too and I feel amazing. My son was 24 pounds by age 5 months and he’s very healthy. We both have tons of energy and my pediatrician said he is growing like a weed. My son has never been sick and he’s 14 months now. You can be vegan, nurse, and provide the best milk. I also produce a ton of milk and have never lost my milk production. Eat the right vegan foods and you’ll never lack anything. Sorry if it didn’t work for your body, but I highly doubt it was just from being vegan. I continue to eat right and the 8 years I’ve been vegan, I’ve never ever felt like collapsing. I would go get blood work and check to see if it’s tied to something else.
I raised my kids on a very conscientious basic (no junk food) vegetarian (vegan for awhile) diet. I thought it was the healthiest way to eat at the time. Now my grown children are all having fertility issues. Since I grew up on an omnivorous diet, my body could get by on vegetarianism for awhile and I myself had no fertility problems. I didn’t realize though what I was doing to my children. We are all recovering now by eating pastured organic animal foods and our health is improving. My experience: just because you feel good and have good energy right now doesn’t mean there won’t be a price to pay later for overriding traditional dietary wisdom.
Soo…we weren’t designed to eat meat, and yet we have the teeth of an omnivore?
I think Dan, Adam and VeggiesRTasty are being paid by the vegetarians to poke their ideas onto any site/blog talking about the value of meat, dairy and eggs in the diet. They can say what they want, but calling meat sub-optimal just tells me they know nothing about the kind of food we’re talking about here. If you guys are going to criticize the article, please read and try to understand what you’re reading first. Just saying that you know people who have lived a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle with no supplements and they’re healthy means nothing. I know many of those types who are terribly unhealthy. So what?
I must admit, I don’t understand the interest in a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, but I don’t intend to subject my body to that kind of insult so it really doesn’t matter. What bothers me is these people stick up for a lifestyle which is clearly lacking in major health components, even though they refuse to admit it. Just skip over their posts as if they weren’t here — that’s my advice to newbie readers. Our brains need animal fats in order to function properly and they are obviously missing those good fats.
I’m a vegan, and I’m pretty sure that I could out-run the majority of meat-eaters to the SAT test…beat their score…and then proceed to beat the crap out of them while they puke and vomit taco meat. This and all other vegetarian-bashing is total nonsense. Keep eating your lousy sub-optimal meat and looking for excuses and rationalizations, I really don’t care.
wikipedia is not research.wikipedia can be written and posted by anyone. i do not mean to sound rude.while one offering may be completely true and backed by footnotes to peer reviewed research, wikipedia is not fact checked. it is not peer reviewed. never reference wikipedia as a point in a debate.
I have been vegan 10 years, my wife vegan for 21 years. Never taken supplements and never been deficient. We just take care to eat a balanced diet.
some of the healthiest most energetic and kindest people i know are Vegans,. and they don’t take vitamin b12 supplements, in fact they don’t take any supplements at all, just lots of fresh fruit vegetables, nuts and seeds, are you on some sort of meat and dairy payroll?