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Drawdown.org places "Plant-rich diet" as the 4th most effective change we can make to combat climate change. http://www.drawdown.org/solutions-summary-by-rank

Drawdown.org places "Plant-rich diet" as the 4th most effective change we can make to combat climate change. http://www.drawdown.org/solutions-summary-by-rank http://www.drawdown.org/solutions-summary-by-rank So there's a good deal more at stake here than just optimal protein digestibility uptake rates. Anecdotal, but I recently placed first in my age group and 5th overall in a trail marathon on a nearly vegan diet. Two other the other four in front of me were vegans. In another recent half marathon with over 1,000 runners, a near-vegan diet helped secure 4th out of 90 in my age group, close to the top 10% overall. I wasn't counting calories and certainly not protein. I did lose to close to 30 lbs while also getting faster. I used to have an "afternoon slump" at work, but that's rare now, even when running 7 miles before work. For more interviews with scientists, the Cowspiracy movie (bad name) helps explain why animal agriculture has ended up as a top cause of climate change, and the newer movie "What the Health" interviews a number of doctors and scientists about the relationship between plant-based foods and health.

lesiva 9y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the original author was not arguing that we should eat meat for our protein. They were suggesting that if you get your protein from plant sources, you should make sure to hit a complete amino acid profile and you should understand that digestibility is also lower for plant-based proteins.
hokkos 9y ago
Cowspiracy has some bad science, but What the Health is pure lies. You should never get your science from documentaries they are all bullshit. https://www.quora.com/How-accurate-is-the-movie-Cowspiracy https://www.quora.com/How-accurate-is-the-movie-Cowspiracy https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/25/16018658/what-the-health-documentary-review-vegan-diet https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/25/16018658/wh... Even vegans agree : https://www.vegan.com/posts/vegan-dietitian-review-what-the-health/ https://www.vegan.com/posts/vegan-dietitian-review-what-the-... >As a vegan health professional, I am sometimes mortified to be associated with the junk science that permeates our community. And as an animal rights activist, I’m disheartened by advocacy efforts that can make us look scientifically illiterate, dishonest, and occasionally like a cult of conspiracy theorists.
toasterlovin 9y ago
> Drawdown.org places "Plant-rich diet" as the 4th most effective change we can make to combat climate change. This seems to be a point of confusion for a lot of people: the thing you want to pay attention to is not plant vs. animal, but the amount of inputs that went into providing a calorie. If you use calories per dollar as your metric, and I think this is an imperfect but quick and dirty metric, you’ll see that chicken, for instance, is an order of magnitude cheaper per calorie than most leafy green vegetables. I wrote about this in detail here: http://www.thinkfundamental.org/why-kale-is-actually-terrible-for-the-environment/ http://www.thinkfundamental.org/why-kale-is-actually-terribl.... So what you really want to eat, if your goal is reducing your environmental impact, are grains, legumes, and plant oils. But eating a lot of kale, broccoli, and spinach would negate any gains from avoiding animal sources.

lesiva 9y ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the original author was not arguing that we should eat meat for our protein. They were suggesting that if you get your protein from plant sources, you should make sure to hit a complete amino acid profile and you should understand that digestibility is also lower for plant-based proteins.

hokkos 9y ago

Cowspiracy has some bad science, but What the Health is pure lies. You should never get your science from documentaries they are all bullshit. https://www.quora.com/How-accurate-is-the-movie-Cowspiracy https://www.quora.com/How-accurate-is-the-movie-Cowspiracy https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/25/16018658/what-the-health-documentary-review-vegan-diet https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/25/16018658/wh... Even vegans agree : https://www.vegan.com/posts/vegan-dietitian-review-what-the-health/ https://www.vegan.com/posts/vegan-dietitian-review-what-the-... >As a vegan health professional, I am sometimes mortified to be associated with the junk science that permeates our community. And as an animal rights activist, I’m disheartened by advocacy efforts that can make us look scientifically illiterate, dishonest, and occasionally like a cult of conspiracy theorists.

toasterlovin 9y ago

> Drawdown.org places "Plant-rich diet" as the 4th most effective change we can make to combat climate change. This seems to be a point of confusion for a lot of people: the thing you want to pay attention to is not plant vs. animal, but the amount of inputs that went into providing a calorie. If you use calories per dollar as your metric, and I think this is an imperfect but quick and dirty metric, you’ll see that chicken, for instance, is an order of magnitude cheaper per calorie than most leafy green vegetables. I wrote about this in detail here: http://www.thinkfundamental.org/why-kale-is-actually-terrible-for-the-environment/ http://www.thinkfundamental.org/why-kale-is-actually-terribl.... So what you really want to eat, if your goal is reducing your environmental impact, are grains, legumes, and plant oils. But eating a lot of kale, broccoli, and spinach would negate any gains from avoiding animal sources.