My anecdote: I've been eating a vegan high carb diet for the past 8 years and, even though I exercise a lot less than I used to, my health has improved dramatic

My anecdote: I've been eating a vegan high carb diet for the past 8 years and, even though I exercise a lot less than I used to, my health has improved dramatically in terms of not getting sick and feeling more energy. I also never had to worry about constipation or being overweight anymore. Before changing my diet, I used to get sick at least 4 times per year (sore throat, sinus infections, headache). Now it's extremely rare. In fact, since 2008, I got sick only once, which I attributed to stress, since it happened a couple of days after I broke up from a long term relationship. The core of my diet consists of beans (mostly black beans, Brazilian style) and brown rice. I add potatoes or sweet potatoes for certain periods of time, specially when I'm working out consistently and want more fuel. For breakfast I have either a simple smoothie (banana, peanut butter, spinach, almond milk) or oatmeal with berries. Since I'm vegan for ethical reasons, I don't obsess over what I eat. I eat what I eat because it's convenient (my batch of black beans lasts 5 or 6 days), inexpensive and tastes good. I do eat some processed comfort foods, mostly on weekends, like vegan meats, pizza, ice-cream, veggie burgers, grilled "cheese", etc., but I don't notice any negative effect when I do. If I'm out of town and eating on restaurants a lot, I notice that my energy levels drop and my BMs get messed up.