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Ep 32: Vegan Doesn’t Mean Healthy - How Veganuary Can Support, or Sabotage, Your Health
54 Plays1 month ago
Veganuary isn’t about perfection, it’s about curiosity. In this episode, we break down what Veganuary actually is, why it can be powerful for health, and where people often go wrong. From the real benefits of increasing plant diversity (better gut health, reduced inflammation, improved food awareness) to the dangers of ultra-processed “vegan” convenience foods, we unpack the difference between vegan, plant-based, and truly nourishing. As Registered Holistic Nutritionists, we share how a vegan approach can be healing, or damaging, depending on how it’s done, and why vegan doesn’t automatically mean healthy. This episode sets the foundation for eating more plants in a supportive, intentional way, without labels, trends, or health washing.
Where to find us:
IG @whatsmyageagain.podcast / FB - What’s My Age Again Podcast
Email us at: wmaapod@gmail.com
Where to find Tanya:
IG @tlcholistic / FB @tlcholistic
Book with Tanya: https://tlcholistic.janeapp.com/locations/tlc-holistic
Join the TLC Community: https://www.patreon.com/tlcholistic
Where to find Kim:
IG @kimdesmarais.nutrition /FB @KimDesmarais
Book with Kim: Complimentary Connect Call
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'What's My Age Again'
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to What's My Age Again, the realest podcast for women who are done chasing trends and ready to feel empowered. Hi, I'm Kim. And I'm Tanya, holistic nutritionists and childhood best friends who've been there, done that, and bought the collagen.
00:00:16
Speaker
more than once. Each week we provide actionable steps that you can start today to help you thrive through every decade to
Mission and Purpose of the Podcast
00:00:23
Speaker
come. We're cutting through the wellness noise to bring you honest conversations about aging, hormones, health, beauty, mindset, and everything in between.
00:00:33
Speaker
You see, we're also on a mission to age gracefully one WTF moment at a time. Backed by research and real life, we're here to share what actually works, what's a waste of time, and how to truly thrive through the messy, magical midlife transition.
00:00:49
Speaker
We're so happy you're here.
Everyday Humor: Sneeze Story
00:00:51
Speaker
Let's dive in. Hey everybody, what is up? Welcome back to the podcast. How are you, Kim? I'm good, Tanya. How are you?
00:01:00
Speaker
I'm good. I'm having a little chuckle. Just listened to last week's episode a little bit late. Love the episode. Things I think we need to address here.
00:01:13
Speaker
One, the term of the 1980s chime doorbell. that was mine That was my biolorentical homeopathic order coming in.
00:01:25
Speaker
Did anybody hear, did you hear Pat sneezing? Oh, i heard the pat I heard Pat sneezing. Definitely heard that. Can anybody else relate? Like that was one floor up, okay? That was, my my door is closed. I'm in an enclosed room.
00:01:44
Speaker
That was in another part of my house. And yet you could still hear the sneeze. I swear when my kids were little, I used to get so angry. I would just put Owen down for a nap because Pat and I both work from home.
00:01:56
Speaker
I put Owen down for a nap. All of a sudden I would hear this ginormous sneeze and he would wake up. I was like, what the actual, like how, how can you not sneeze quietly? I don't understand. i i like, it boggles my mind.
00:02:11
Speaker
It boggles my mind. And if you missed it It was like a and I was in the middle of talking and Kim, cause we can see each other was like waving her arms. Like what the actual, I'm trying to stay composed. So if you didn't listen yet, listen for those things. And in real life. Yeah.
00:02:33
Speaker
Real life people, um we actually don't have $100,000 recording studios. You know, we're just kind of plunked in our homes here. But another thing that thinking about last week, I feel like...
Intentional Drinking: Alcohol in Midlife
00:02:47
Speaker
Me and you discussed it, Kim. And me and Kim are transparent. And we really are you know also just women going through lives, going through life, doing our best. And I didn't want to insinuate, and I know Kim was the first to say it as well, we didn't want to insinuate that we are completely alcohol-free, that we are completely sober.
00:03:10
Speaker
And you know what? We didn't exclusively say we were, but we didn't really talk a lot about our personal, you know, drinking these days. So I'm the first to admit now and again, have a little Amaretto and Zevia Cola.
00:03:23
Speaker
And I do it though with intention. I did it on New Year's because I wanted to have that little drink and I did it and I enjoyed it and I knew my intention behind it.
00:03:35
Speaker
Totally. i agree. And i it's interesting because I, loved, I love wine. I really do. I still love the taste of a nice glass of red wine at dinner.
00:03:48
Speaker
And i enjoy, my husband makes a killer margarita. And i also enjoy that. And i enjoyed the social aspect of it. So I found it very hard at the beginning. I really sort of was intentional about cutting back on alcohol, examining like I said in the last episode, my relationship with it, and I'm still sort of examining it. I definitely don't consume alcohol all the time. Like there are occasions where I will, just like you, Tanya, with intention. And I'm still kind of figuring out if I even need it in my life at all. But as of right now, like you, Tanya, I will enjoy a margarita or a glass of wine now and again too. so
00:04:31
Speaker
See, just and it's also hard for me to just have one. I will tell you that as well. I'm still old Kim. Old Kim. oh what But, and I still go back and forth with examining because let's face it, and I was serious when I said this, I sit with a glue group of women and I'm like, oh, should I have a glass of wine or am I going to sleep tonight? Like it it is absolutely affecting my body in perimenopause for sure. So- I will continue to examine my relationship with alcohol. I definitely, it's it's more few and far between now. um But who knows, I might actually consider, you know, becoming sober, depending on, you know.
00:05:15
Speaker
But I don't know. I'll keep you updated. Yeah. Keep us updated on that. I love it. See, you just literally two ordinary 45 year old gals who used to, let's say, get rip-roaring drunk in the forest.
00:05:28
Speaker
Look at us now, Kim. All I to say about that, Tanya, and then I know we need to get on with the episode, but all I have to say about that is think, like us 80s babies, man, we don't have like a footprint online, like the kids nowadays. Like I remember our 16th birthday, Nicole and Kath, I hope you're
Generational Differences: Social Media and Birthdays
00:05:49
Speaker
listening.
00:05:50
Speaker
Actually, they know this, but for my 16th birthday, we all, the girls slept over, including Tanya, and we snuck out and met everybody at like, I think it was a construction site near my house. We called it the desert. We called it the desert. It was definitely a heap of a heap of dirt by your house. Yep. The desert.
00:06:09
Speaker
Yeah, but I wrote a note for my mom. If you find this, we are at the construction site. So I was still a conscientious girl, but we went, literally drank two liter coolers. And then my sister snuck us back in, who was what, 12?
00:06:25
Speaker
Love you, Carrie. She was, oh my God. Yeah. But again, like no social media presence. Like I don't think kids, like we, I, people can't get away with it these days. Like we used to.
00:06:37
Speaker
You know, the only thing that gave us away wasn't the social media. It was the stained ring of purple around our lips from chucking two liter growers.
00:06:49
Speaker
Oh my God. Yeah. or maybe the smell of campfire. i don't know if our clothes reeked the next day of campfire. Probably. Anyway. Browned out by cigarettes, but hey. Times have changed.
Veganism: Health Aspects and Offense
00:06:59
Speaker
health pod is cast So let's talk about health.
00:07:03
Speaker
um So here's another topic, actually, that you're like, girls, it's the end of January. Why are we talking about this? Because I feel like it's still timely. Kim was in agreeance with it. So we're pushing through, talking about today, veganary, which is every single January in the vegan community. It's this global push of awareness that towards veganism, plant-based eating, and everything that that can encompass. But I think that it's, again, really important to preface, like we did for dry January, that we want to talk about this today as holistic nutritionists.
00:07:51
Speaker
We want to talk about it in terms of health. So yes, we are slipping it in at the end of January, but we want to also talk about how changes and this subject is important any time of the year.
00:08:06
Speaker
And I think it's also important to put it out there that this may be an episode that can offend certain people who are living a devout vegan lifestyle, which we completely respect, but it would be impossible for us to have a podcast to encompass the scope of veganism without just zeroing in on health.
00:08:33
Speaker
So today we talk about veganism as an opportunity, an opportunity to increase plant diversity and to increase plants in our diet and to become more intentional with our food choices for whatever reason that is. So for anybody that, you know, this may offend, we apologize in advance, but please also note that we're talking about it in terms of health.
00:09:05
Speaker
Tanya, you said that so eloquently. That's absolutely... um i couldn't have said it better myself. That was absolutely eloquent in the way you put it. And I think before we dig into it, let's just... I think it's important to define vegan, right? To to talk about what vegan actually is. And so a vegan diet has no animal products at all, right?
00:09:31
Speaker
No meat, no dairy, no honey, I also see it like we we we talk about it as a diet, but in fact, veganism is actually more of a lifestyle, right? It's it's a lifestyle like de develop vegans don't have leather products, for example. You know, they're they're not wearing leather shoes, handbags, car interiors, couches, all of that sort of thing, too. They look at their cosmetic products, the products they use, make sure that they're consuming everything without animal products. So as much as it's a diet, it's also very much a lifestyle. And so for somebody like, like as Tanya just mentioned so eloquently, we're coming at this from a diet perspective, but the lifestyle perspective is another topic altogether. And there's so many wonderful reasons. I mean,
00:10:21
Speaker
We can dig into the treatment of our animals in this society, all of those things. There's so many reasons that one can choose to become vegan. And today we're going to really focus on the diet side of it.
00:10:34
Speaker
Absolutely. Basically, we're going to talk about why we would want to increase plants' in our
Benefits and Challenges of Vegan Diets
00:10:44
Speaker
diet.
00:10:44
Speaker
So like, as Kim mentioned, vegan diet is completely devoid of animal products. Anything that comes from an animal, we're talking even butter, eggs, anything having to do with that animal. And I think it's important to state that I was vegan for, i don't know that no one's going get the receipts. Like I don't even know my brain. I want to say for six to eight years. Okay. And I did the lifestyle as well. And to a certain degree right now, I actually still do the lifestyle proponent. But the reason that I chose to go plant-based initially is interesting. It's when I had a health crisis and my holistic nutritionist told me, rightly so, that a shift to a vegan diet at that time in my life
00:11:42
Speaker
is what would really help me heal and deal with what I was dealing with at that time. And what she was talking about is what me and you talk about every single day, the benefits that we can see when a vegan diet is done, for lack of a better term, right with whole foods the way it's meant to be.
00:12:05
Speaker
And I think it's important too that we keep saying a vegan diet, a vegan diet, because you had mentioned this earlier, Kim, and it's so valuable. Being vegan isn't necessarily like really a diet per se, the vegan diet, you know, the paleo diet.
00:12:23
Speaker
I think that it's important that vegan, when we're looking at just the diet, is talking about really at the end of the day, just skyrocketing our intake of variety in plant-based foods because they are so healing.
00:12:37
Speaker
Mm-hmm. We love that, Tanya. I know. It's actually, it's interesting because- ah So many things are just going through my head right now. So I got to break it down. Well, first of all, you mentioned vegan diet done right. And I think one of the reasons that we we were really talking about doing this episode is because there is a big push right now um to being becoming vegan. And actually, it's this be okay the top two questions I get from everybody when it comes to when people talk to me is number one, what protein powder should I have? And number two, should I become vegan? And my answer is always like, it's an end it's it depends, right?
00:13:19
Speaker
um And I loved how you said, you know, you became vegan for a certain amount of time because it was a right- diet choice for you then. But it might not be right for all.
00:13:33
Speaker
And the second piece that was kind of digging into my head, which maybe we could kind of go on a little bit about now before we dig into the benefits of a vegan diet, is how so many companies, because becoming vegan is becoming more and more popular,
00:13:47
Speaker
From an environmental side as well and a lifestyle side, more and more companies are coming on board and splashing the word vegan on it. And vegan doesn't mean healthy. And I think in this day and age, there's so many health wash, natural. Well, we talked about this. You look at the ingredients.
00:14:06
Speaker
it doesn't look like there's natural ingredients in there. Vegan, it turn it around, look at the ingredients, what's actually in there. Or even in your cosmetics, I see it everywhere. Vegan. And then you turn around, it's all these chemicals. Vegan doesn't equate to health.
00:14:24
Speaker
That is one of the most important points I think that we can even bring up at this time. As someone who is still a primarily plant-based eater who doesn't eat meat, um I cringe every single day, whether I'm walking through the grocery store or seeing things online or on social media.
00:14:46
Speaker
about the vegan health washing and vegan being healthy. And a lot of things that I see in my practice are, you know, when we're going through diet or whatever, and somebody's plant-based and they're telling me what they're eating and not understanding exactly the word vegan doesn't give it a free fall for health. Because guess what?
00:15:05
Speaker
Impossible meat is vegan. Beyond sausages are vegan. The Yeves chicken nuggets and all the other brands. And this is the scary thing to your point, Kim. I can't even tell you all the brands. Maybe three years ago I could have because there was a handful of them.
00:15:25
Speaker
There are so many vegan meat, fake meat, ultra processed food brands that are made of all refined carbs, seed oils that I don't, I can't even name them anymore. So there is a big difference in,
00:15:44
Speaker
between healthy plant-based veganism and I'm going to say health destroying veganism. And I don't like to say this out loud, but I bet you in 10 years when we are still doing this podcast, we're going to have an episode about the new wave now of vegans who are diabetic, the increase of cardiovascular disease in plant-based diet eaters because
00:16:15
Speaker
There's a big difference between whole food veganism, which is so ultra supportive of our bodies because it's whole foods and ultra processed veganism. And that's what's happening right now with the trend and the push, you know, like you said, politically, all of that to eat plant-based foods.
00:16:33
Speaker
Love that, Tanya. And I think that where my mind goes right after you said that is with any diet change, any diet change, there needs to be some prep work.
00:16:45
Speaker
There needs to be some work done. Otherwise, it becomes very difficult. So if you are somebody who consumes a lot of meat in their diet, a lot of animal products in their diet and think, okay, Veganware, Veganuary, I can't even say the word properly, but I'm going to cut that out for the month of January.
00:17:04
Speaker
It could be difficult to eat a balanced meal if you're not used to it. It's not, yeah I mean, there's some shifts that have to be made. There's some planning. There's some prep work that has to be made. Otherwise, it can quickly turn into that sort of fast food vegan, like you were mentioning, Tanya, where you go to the store and you pick up those Beyond products and those in the freezer section, all of those plant-based that you see vegan items that, again, have those refined ingredients in them.
00:17:34
Speaker
I don't even know how to formulate my thoughts for everything I want to say to this. So let me just try to use my words. A, you couldn't be more right because it's not a seamless take out the chicken breast, put in the vegan breast. there's it's not that It's not that seamless when you don't you know what you're doing and you're new.
00:18:00
Speaker
B, as you're also removing vital proteins that you might have had in your plant beit i sorry in your diet that included animal proteins, it's not seamless also to open that freezer section, like you said, and toss in all these vegan things. Because again, most of them actually don't have protein because they're made with oils and carbohydrates. So now you have a problem. You've taken out healthy protein that your body needs, and you're seemingly replacing it with not only unhealthy ultra processed foods, but to most of them, which contain no protein.
00:18:36
Speaker
So prep is the word when it comes to being plant-based. We need to learn What are the actual plant-based whole foods that are going to be providing us protein and sliding in where we need them?
00:18:54
Speaker
Yeah, I love that, Tanya. Because, and I mean, you show it for all of you out there. Follow Tanya on Instagram because she shows how to balance a plate when it comes to being vegan. She shows how easy it can be But as you said, it's different than just taking out that chicken breast and putting out something.
00:19:16
Speaker
It can be delicious. It's nourishing. But as you said, the goal here, actually one of the big benefits of the vegan diet is anti-inflammatory, right? it's It's decreasing the inflammation, increasing that fiber, supporting that gut microbiome. But if you're replacing it with super inflammatory foods, like we just talked about, you're doing the opposite. It's actually better to to keep that meat in your diet.
00:19:44
Speaker
A thousand percent. I couldn't agree more. And I think this is where we see... an issue when people go plant-based and they don't have the prep work, they don't have the foundation and they don't have the knowledge and that's okay. they The average person shouldn't because it's not their career. It's not their job. The average person is working their career, taking care of their kids. They need somebody like us, you know, like a nutritionist to guide them. So where we see a plant-based diet that can be so healing,
00:20:20
Speaker
You know, even if you're just doing veganary, take a nosedive is going at it with no prep. And that ties in with like no education. What we touched on upon earlier, removing foods and not realizing that you're also removing nutrients, micros and macros and not replacing them. So then you're ignoring your protein. We're losing minerals. We're losing healthy fats. And like those are actually all available in plant-based foods. But if we're not prepared for it, like you said, and we don't have the education, we're
00:20:53
Speaker
and we're grabbing things from the freezer aisle, something that could be positive for our health becomes absolutely detrimental for health. Absolutely. No removing those macronutrients. We need that balance between our proteins, our healthy fats, and our carbohydrates. All of those macronutrients are important part of our diet. So for somebody who also is like, okay, I'm just not going to have the meat, but I'm going to have the sides that I serve my family – you've got to replace that protein.
Health Benefits of Plant-Based Eating
00:21:22
Speaker
um And you're right, Tanya, what does that look like? Can we talk about quickly, i don't even think we talked about yet the benefits of a vegan diet.
00:21:33
Speaker
Maybe we should touch on that quickly. I think one of the big, big benefits of a vegan diet or even just increasing that variety and um amount of plants in your diet. Like I always talk to clients, no matter what diet they have, no matter no matter what, I always say half your plant half your plate should really be plants, right? When you're looking at your plate.
00:21:57
Speaker
So a benefit one benefit is increased fiber. which is excellent for your gut health. You might start to see yourself becoming regular if you don't have regular bowel movements. Tanya and I usually, I think I can say for both of us, like within the first five minutes of having a conversation with a new client, we're talking about bowel movements. ah We're talking about poop. I'm talking about poop.
00:22:18
Speaker
Yeah. We have a lot of discussions about that. And this is going to help um increasing those plants to your diet, better gut health. Right. And with better gut health and the word fiber, the F word that I'm allowed to say on the show, fiber, um comes better blood sugar balance as well. And not just attaches to a gazillion different things, as you know, from episodes past, from hormones to mental health, to energy, to all of it. And you touched upon earlier, Kim, a lot of times we want to go plant-based to decrease inflammation. And that's exactly that. plants have a, fit a but none than that let's try that again, a plethora of phytonutrients is what I was trying to say, right? And these are different than macronutrients. These are nutrients and enzymes and things that you might've never even heard of. There's so many. And guess what?
00:23:13
Speaker
Our body needs all of them. When we don't get them, the body finds a way to carry on. But when we get them, the body starts to thrive and do what it actually needs to do and lower systemic inflammation. as it's thriving.
00:23:25
Speaker
Love it. And i I just thought of something to go back to gut health for a second too. Like whether it's vegan or whatever type of diet you are eating, increased variety in plant foods increases that prebiotic food as well. And so like if you're taking a probiotic and you're inoculating or you're having a lot of fermented food to inoculate your gut with that healthy bacteria, if you're not feeding it, that bacteria is just going to go away. You could take the best probiotic probiotic ever. So that diversity of plant foods is going to feed that healthy bacteria and keep your microbiome diverse, which is the foundation of health.
00:24:08
Speaker
Absolutely. And another foundation of health, especially in TCM is digestion. And it's no secret that concentrated proteins, so animal proteins,
00:24:21
Speaker
are very hard. our i should Well, yeah, they're harder to digest, right? So when we have somebody that has compromised digestion and we're constantly giving our body the hardest thing to digest, the body's like, please, like I can't do this. I'm falling behind. And we get a whole bunch of issues from compromised digestion, especially when we're not breaking down proteins properly. Not only are we not getting the amino acids Our body needs to do a zillion things, but we're also probably contributing eventually to food sensitivities, large chunks of protein, making it into the bloodstream. So having a plant-based diet, whole food, um can be a wonderful way to give the digestive system a break and a reset as you work to strengthen it. It doesn't mean it's a forever thing, but it's such a beautiful thing to have when you have compromised digestion.
00:25:18
Speaker
Totally. And I think like another little benefit that comes from this that like might be kind of a side benefit is it does take work, right? To prepare beautiful whole food ingredients in any diet. But when you're changing your diet to something like this, it's going to take thought. It's going to take planning. And, and you know, even if you're doing it for 30 days, getting yourself into that habit can be really, bet will will be really de be beneficial for your health. It's going to give you more awareness. It's going to give you a better relationship with that food. You're going to have an understanding more about your body um and what nourishes you. So I think, you know, this exercise could have a number of little side benefits here.
00:26:05
Speaker
Yeah, and to piggyback onto that, when I was personally, you know, ah someone who ate meat, that was basically cut and dry for me. I'd have the meat, you know, with, well, if I was lucky back then, but let's say in theory, veggies and like your rice or your potatoes or whatever,
00:26:25
Speaker
I never thought to go outside of that. So I never had things like lentils and legumes and tempeh and tofu, all of these other concentrated sources of proteins, plant-based proteins. I wasn't exposed to those and I was not getting the plethora of nutrients, including the F-word fiber with that. So when you are making a change, whether again, you're just making a commitment to have more plants in your diet, maybe you're just going to do the meatless Mondays. You're going to start to expose yourself and expand your relationship with different ingredients. And that's really going to start to fill your
Personal Experiences and Dietary Changes
00:27:08
Speaker
cup as well. And this is why this diet can be so ultra health inducing and supportive.
00:27:15
Speaker
Absolutely. And I love all of those things that you just said, the tofu, the soy-based products, the lentils, so good for our hormones. Absolutely so good for our hormones. the best One of the best sources, actually the best sources um is soy, you know clean soy, whole soy, like tempeh, tofu, um even flaxseed for those phytoestrogens, especially for us in midlife. And for me,
00:27:42
Speaker
i'm not good I'm going to be so honest. It's those estrogen, those phytoestrogens, I'm sorry, in soy products over the last, I'm going to say decade, but at least for me in the last two to three years, that completely helped me ah big part balance my estrogen levels and helped me diminish a lot of symptoms I was having with perimenopause.
00:28:06
Speaker
Yeah, I love, I i literally like, um actually when I was estrogen dominant, ah how many years back and getting migraines, I included lentils at least three times per week in my diet to support my estrogen and help me. yeah know it it actually It was one of the tools that I used, obviously, was my diet. And that was definitely something I added to my diet during that time.
00:28:34
Speaker
Right. So there's just so many benefits. And I think last week, how we said, you know, building a case for why it's always a good idea to take a pause on alcohol. We're really building a case here with all of these different things as why it's really a good idea to examine um a diet that includes more plants. And I think it was important to me personally at this time to include this in January because I think, you know, with the word vegan and veganism, as we said, there's so many different aspects. It's not a diet. It's also a lifestyle. But here we're talking about the food. There's that pressure to go zero to a thousand and do everything. um And that's where I think things can get muddy and confusing and overwhelming. But if you're really serious about transitioning into more of a plant based lifestyle, um there's some important things that you know, you need to consider beyond transition.
00:29:35
Speaker
prep to make sure that you're actually supported and it's supporting your health and we're not falling into that vegan health washing, that trendy vegan bakery on every corner and vegan lattes and all of these things that are completely different than the kind that me and Kim are talking about today.
00:29:53
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. And I think maybe this, like, I feel like this could be a two-parter. I feel like we can dig into this in the next episode. I think I agree with you, Tanya. It's like...
00:30:06
Speaker
um I personally, I'll just tell you my, like, I was vegetarian, not a strict vegan, but I was vegetarian for many years. um And I did it for ethic, like I did it from, for the lifestyle side of it, as you did, just like, you know, eliminate the down, the down products and the, and the other products that like we're wearing too, from an ethical standpoint.
00:30:32
Speaker
And then for my health, my health shifted and my health needs shifted. And I slowly started bringing animal food products back into my diet and actually felt my health change for the better. But I think what I learned from all of this is that balance piece. And I continue to put plants first on my on my on my plate, but I've integrated some animal products. So I'm no longer a vegetarian.
00:31:01
Speaker
But, and I also think like from very, the very beginning of this episode, when when we talked about vegan as a diet, and that's the second question people ask, should I go vegan? It's like, maybe, because as we talked about, there's so many health benefits, it might be appropriate to be vegan, or it might not. It depends on your constitution and your needs. Right?
00:31:25
Speaker
Yeah, and I couldn't agree more. And we've said it before, too. And I've said it so many times in my lifetime in my practice. Labels are so damaging. So even, you know, when just now when you're like, you know, I'm not vegetarian anymore. And I use the label to you know what I mean? I don't even know what I'm labeled anymore, because I don't eat meat.
00:31:45
Speaker
I eat fish once a week because I know my body needs it. I don't necessarily enjoy it. So what am I even? It's so weird when I think if someone eats everything, but they go somewhere and they're like, you know, any foods that you don't have. Oh yeah, I just don't like tomatoes, um eggplant and...
00:32:03
Speaker
cheese, who doesn't like cheese? Who doesn't like cheese? Why did that come to my mind? But you know what I mean? Then the way, you know, your house, the person's like, no problem, waiter, wherever, whoever you're telling. But if I'm just simply not eating, let's say chicken, pork, beef, like, cause I don't eat meat.
00:32:21
Speaker
I come in and I feel like I say I'm vegetarian. And I do say that, but like, why don't I just say, you know, I'm, oh, I'm good with everything except for beef, chicken and pork, you know? Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to name all the animals, but it's so weird that certain things make us feel like we have to have a labeled way of eating. And if we do, I don't know what mine is, to be honest with you.
00:32:41
Speaker
for the mom We could dig so far into that topic. We are a society that loves labels. However, I will say... That for somebody who is a vegan because of lifestyle and who is proud of that, that label is very important. And I get that completely. That is an identity piece for for that person. And I completely understand. But like, as Tanya said at the very beginning, we are strictly looking this from health. And my, my values and my beliefs in regards to health is it's not a one size fits all. I can't say veganism is healthy for all.
00:33:23
Speaker
It's like I can't say that, I mean, definitely wouldn't say that keto is healthy for all or whatever diet that you're referring to. It's a nuanced for each individual person and not just an individual person, but also the stage of life they're for their health issues at this time. Like there's so many different um nuances to diet.
00:33:47
Speaker
For sure. Nothing is a one size fits all. Don't tell me, Kim, that we're going to go to the store and that shirt is a one size fits all. It's going your frame and it's going to fit my frame. Don't even tell me that. So exactly the same thing. There's not a one size fits all diet. Circumstances change everything. Mine sure did. Yours sure did.
00:34:08
Speaker
And I think that we should continue this conversation on next week. And I'm happy to share how circumstances have changed my diet and how that's actually been difficult for me because I had a lot of ethical ties to not eating fish or not eating you know anything from an animal such as grass-fed butter. um And then also in addition to that,
00:34:33
Speaker
We can really talk about the components that we believe are going to set you
Conclusion and Teaser for Next Episode
00:34:40
Speaker
up for success if you are someone who is looking to add more plants into their diet, whether it's to be vegetarian, vegan, or more plant-based. We want to help you and give you a little bit of guidance on what are some pillars that like you know that you want to see and what are some things that you should definitely want to avoid.
00:35:02
Speaker
Love that, Tanya. Okay. Okay. Join us next week, guys. We're going to dig into this topic a little bit more, and we're going to really talk, as Tanya said, about that diet piece and how, if you want to become vegan, things to think about and how to include more plants in that diet overall.
00:35:20
Speaker
And just like that, one episode becomes two because when it comes to food, we can't stop talking. We can't. And there was no sneezes during this episode, Tanya. Oh, my God. I don't think my doorbell rang either. So look at us.
00:35:34
Speaker
ah Pat's not home today. So there you go. All right. Thank you, everybody. We'll see you next week. Bye. Okay. Bye. Hey guys, thanks so much for hanging out with us today.
00:35:47
Speaker
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00:35:58
Speaker
If you have a topic you'd love us to tackle or want to learn more about something we talked about today, send us a message. We got you. Stay connected with us on social media at what's my age again dot podcast for even more knowledge and inspiration between episodes.
00:36:16
Speaker
Kim and I aren't doctors or your healthcare practitioners. Everyone's body is unique, so always consult your own healthcare provider before starting something new.