Vegetarians avoid meat and should have less exposure to ExPEC, but no study has examined whether vegetarian diets reduce the risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs). A study published in Scientific Reports found that vegetarian diets high in fruits and vegetables contain phytochemicals that can curb the growth of bacteria. However, some vegans may have weaker immune systems due to eating too many processed foods, not eating enough calories, or other issues.
A study published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention and Health looked at vegetarian and plant-based diets and the incidence of COVID-19. Researchers tracked UTI incidence rates for 9,724 vegetarian and vegan individuals. Vegetarianism may be linked to a lower risk of UTIs, according to researchers who say it reduces exposure to harmful bacteria. A vegan or plant-based diet cannot prevent a person from developing COVID-19, but it may help support a healthy immune system. Chicken and pork are a major reservoir of Escherichia coli, a bacteria that commonly causes UTIs.
In conclusion, while a vegetarian diet may not prevent a person from developing COVID-19, it may help support a healthy immune system. Factors such as age, female sex, diabetes, urine retention, and the presence of Escherichia coli in chicken and pork can impact the risk of UTIs. It is important to consider these factors when deciding on a vegetarian or plant-based diet to ensure a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
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📹 Are vegetarians less prone to a severe COVID-19 illness? | COVID-19 Special
Could what we eat be the difference between life and death – between a light fever or a stay in intensive care? We know that …
As a vegetarian I can speak on real health issues I had before being vegetarian, I was anemic and always suffered from cold hands and feet for probably my whole life. I’ve been a vegetarian for only 5 years and I will never go back to eating animals. I’ve gone to the doctor many times and I’m always negative on being anemic. I’m healthy as a horse, I hardly ever get sick. Both of my parents are meat eaters & can’t believe my doctor results. After having to struggle with low iron levels my whole life. Being vegetarian has only been a positive experience for me & I don’t ever see myself changing my diet. I recommend for everyone now that plant based is more accessible then ever before. 💚 power of plants 🌱
I wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you for your fantastic care of my son and whole family. Your quality and integrity as a doctor and, more fundamentally, as a person, shine through. We cannot thank you enough Dr Obaz for the excellent care you have provided. From the moment we met you, we were certain God had led us to you👏.
It’s not even half 0.66 compared to 1.0. Still 7 out of 10 in chance. Being vegan doesn’t sound like a miracle cure. And then on top of that, vegans tend to eat no sweets or drink alcohol. That’s not counted in the non-vegetarian diet. Whereas non-vegetarians tend to be split in healthy non-vegetarians that do not consume refined sugars and alcohol, and then the majority that does. This research is not conclusive. And I would suggest to add a control study where refined sugars and alcohol was not consumed.
Gary Taubes has been accused of using “selective selection” himself. I admit that it would interest me to know whether there are sufficient long-term paleo eaters to participate in studies such as those cited here, the way that there are long-term vegetarians of vegans. Time will tell. In the meantime, there’s one way to find out how accurate a reflection of medical reality this article is, without assuming that it’s slanted: Look up the studies and see what they actually suggest.
Great article Dr. Greger! I have a quick question… Without having to go through all of your previous articles because of time constraints… With all of your current information, what type of diet (Including supplements) would you suggest someone to strive for? Please, as specific as your time will allow for! 🙂 Again, thank you so much Dr.
im a former vegan. Im now vegetarian and only consume free range eggs and goats products. Im confused about it all. One minute I read a traditional animal based diet is best next its full on vegan lol. Im middle road. But I have stage one hypertension and want off pills so should I go vegan again? Does it lower blood pressure?
Informative article but we need to go deeper. Fries and coke three time a day is also vegetarian but we can all agree that this would be unhealthy. There must be some molecules in some food people are eating that improve the immune response against covid. Discovering those molecules is key. In the meantime why not take small portions of fresh food of good variety coupled with reasonable exercise to improve your odds.
The very bizarre thing about this for me is a few months after having covid and losing my sence of smell I found that my sense of smell and taste altered so I couldn’t eat meat. It tasted awful. I ended up eating only vegetables, fish, eggs and lots of mushrooms. My sense of smell and taste is more normal now but I’ve dramatically reduced the amount of meat in my diet (I didn’t eat much before but eat even less now).
Remember India has a very big population, actually their Covid death toll is low compared to many other countries “290 deaths per 1 Million population”, compared to Peru who has “5784 deaths per 1 Million population” and the UK has “1879 deaths per 1 Million population”, the USA has “1867 deaths per 1 Million population”.
She said “ok, so it’s not all that bad,” when the guest shared that she ate some animal products but mostly plant based. The judgement was not good journalism and immediately throws into question the validity of the reporting! However, the takeaway for me is still that mostly plant based is a good and very doable goal in terms of diet.
I eat meat once a week and rest is vegetarian, I don’t know how healthy my diet is but I haven’t got covid yet.whether you are vegetarian or non vegetarian, make sure you eat different foods so you get all the nutrients you need and do your daily exercises to stay fit. You don’t have to leave being non vegetarian, just add vegetarian food in you diet.
Our elementary canal resembles that of a herbivores, our teeth lacks long canines to tear raw meat. If we were carnivores, we would have been able to eat raw meat like cats and dogs so all our bodily attributes indicate towards us being vegetarian but you see common sense is apparently the most uncommon commodity. After millions of years we have not figured out what is good for us to eat when other animals just know it by a single sniff.
People don’t focus on what they eat and relay on the sayings which are 100 years old. Like “meat is healthy” or “use much butter, so you don’t get hunger fast”. But it’s about what your body needs. Most people don’t know anything about proteins, vitamins and stuff. And I can’t blame them. I didn’t learn anything in school and didn’t care until I got hashimoto and had to research a lot of things. I guess education in these part is very important. I’m a vegetarian, mostly vegan as well. I had covid-19 back in april and it was like a light cold besides the fact that I still can’t smell and taste like before 🙈
From reading thru the comments people are making assumptions and choosing sides meatarians vegetarians and vegans! I know as humans always DO the opposite of what they are told or the right thing to do over the years smoking was cool until of late and being vegan is currently ridiculed and laughed at but as the world changes, very soon it will be the deciding factor of either you live or die other dangerous diseases cancer alzheimers etc are thriving because of what we eat.
Humans have eaten meat for hundreds of thousands of year. So nothing wrong in eating meat particularly from grass fed animals. The main problem today is that too many people are eating to much processed food (high in sugar) and not enough fresh fruit, vegetables and meat locally sourced.The jury’s out on whether a plant based diet is really best for us. Time will tell. In the meantime I stick to a balance diet.
For all my Western Friends, India have poverty yes and nobody can deny that. But as an Indian i can positively say that it’s not as bad as your media shows you. I am 100% positive that even poor Indians have better diet and are more happy then most of the westerners. Its not money that makes you happy and buying vegetables and living happily with your loved ones is not that costly.
India has passed thru a 1st and 2nd wave of corona. With population over 130 billion, the infection rate and fatality rate we’re quite low despite medium level medical facilities. This quite because eating habits, where as in America and Europe, the percentage of infection and death we’re quite high, despite good medical facilities and so called eating habits. What more required, veg are best.
Regarding India, the fact is people are predominantly eating western diets, Mcdonald’s and even if they are vegetarian they are consuming huge huge amounts of adulterated vegetable oils in hugely fried foods, and tonnes of sugars are snapped in a single day like a festival lol.. and there are 100s of festivals in a year.
OK, despite excitement of vegetarian about such “studies”, the real life experience of India, the country with highest population of vegetarian, indicates the conclusion is not accurate. While I appreciate the benefits of plant based diet, unfortunately, vegetarianism has turned into a cult which tries to impose its values on others.
I went Vegan back in March 2018. Had the UK variant back in Feb. – a very mild sore throat for 4 days. Would not have mentioned it to even the wife if not for all the news, it was so mild In April had 1st jab – Moderna – no problems June had the 2nd jab – Pfizer – This was worse than covid-19 itself. Next day I was in bed and it lingered for about 4 days. Fine now. The single most beneficial action an individual can take for their own personal health and that of the planet is to EAT VEGAN.
“India where vegetarian diet is so much more widespread” Well, at 30% Indian are more vegetarian than your average Western country but not that much. The stereotype of Indians being vegetarian isn’t true. Also in India most “vegetarians” consume milk and some don’t consider eggs as non-vegetarian. There are also small communities which consider fish- eating as essentially vegetarian.
Here in Iceland we eat a lot of meat and dairy. Yet we have one of the healthiest population in the world and one of the the longest life expectancy . You want to know why? Our food is not processed, it’s clean and not full of hormones and other things. And we also walk a lot and are active. There are also a lot of other components, like a good healthcare system. I don’t believe for a second that meat is dangerous or not good for us, it’s the way the animals are treated and what food they are given that makes meat in many countries unhealthy.
The human colon is too long to digest and expel a diet high in animal protein. When the diet is very high in meat and low in plant food containing roughage, constipation happens and the amount of toxic poop builds up which means that the food is rotting and still being absorbed. How can this keep you healthy enough to keep your immune system strong enough to protect you against any opportunistic disease? I went vegan 10 years ago and now I am 68 but look younger and feel better than I did at 58. Most Americans are either overweight or obese. The ones who are most often at their ideal weight are vegans. If you want to be there for your spouse and children and grand children, to take care of yourself makes sense and saves money in the end. But your family will be less burdened if you are well or sick as little as possible.
KJV Genesis 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by our Creator. These foods, prepared in as simple and natural a manner as possible, are the most healthful and nourishing. They impart a strength, a power of endurance, and a vigor of intellect that are not afforded by a more complex and stimulating diet. The ministry of healing chapter 23 by E.G White Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” Hippocrates.
It’s a big BS as most of the conclusions about health benefits of being vegetarian or veganism. Most vegetarian or vegan people are also taking their health very seriously, so they don’t smoke, they regularly exercise and they are not overweight. Also, they usually take lots of supplements to compansate for the missing nutrients in their diets, like vitamin B12. It’s not correct to derive a conclusion just by looking at the diet.
My father is 94y, he’s got no cholesterol problem, all OK, just slight high blood and chronic back pain from a lifetime of bad posture (habit) and he eats a very wide range of foods, that’s including fresh and/or frozen meats, fish, poultry and lots of leafy greens and fruits, plus rice of course (white). He don’t know what organic or whole foods are, just what’s on sale at the wet market or the local supermarket mostly…Just no highly processed and preserved foods. We should not glorify or demonize some foods over others. Just eat a varied healthy diet with not much and or avoid additives and preservatives.
Salt, sugar and red meat avoidance as recommendation accordingly to personal health issues are to be followed strictly . Fashion vegans are as bad as any other one sided. Balanced diet was at risk for quite some time . Extremism is the one blamed for most of people’s conditions. Weather and Physical as well . We need to understand the combination of those factors and how much of each to apply.
I am a queer woman who is also a vegetarian, I dont drink alcohol and soft drinks, dont smoke. Only drink fresh juice and water. One of my housemates tested positive, but I am still negative. I am the one who go out for shopping, travel, interacted with many people, still I am negative. I think, eating healthy food boast immunity. 😉
Well I thought this is true fr covid during the first wave in India, which mainly is a home cooking vegetarian food but after second wave this belief is shaken a bit. But I must admit that if Indians eat vegetn, but lots and loads of fried food lots of oil, perhaps this was reason for poor heart capacities. Also as the speaker mentioned distance plays an important part in covid infection .
Not everyone in India is a vegetarian it’s a popular misconception.Only the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat have a majority of vegetarians while on the other hand in eastern states like west Bengal and Bihar almost everyone is non vegetarian.Indians are as much fond of chicken and mutton as any westerner,at the same time Indian food is generally extremely spicy and as such not very healthy
Also eating dairy is not going to help the immune system. I know from experience that since I have stopped consuming any dairy produce, I have felt much healthier, less severe hay-fever/rhinitis too. In India the Hindus and Jains may be vegetarian but they do eat a lot of dairy which can be linked to many diseases. Scientific studies have been showing this for years – The China Study, Upsala University study on diary just to name a couple, or check out Nutrition Facts – Dr Greger.
I’m 26 years old, I’m eat non veg for 5-6 meals a week (3 meals a day), so my diet is predominantly vegetarian, I was 68kgs on 21 March 2020 my height 5’10 I played basketball and bicycled on a daily basis until the lockdown came, now more than an year later I weigh 85 kegs (no physical activity whatsoever for a year)up until April 29 2021 I smoked 5 cigs a day. On may 2nd 2021 I was infected with covid with a very high viral load, I barely had any symptoms but I knew something was wrong with my body so I got tested and it came out positive, I checked again the same result, but my health never deteriorated, i quarantined at home ate good food took all the medicines my doctor prescribed had ample rest and never strained my body, 14 days after my +ve result I got tested again and I tested negative, I am free off covid. I no longer smoke, I started cycling. What might be the reason for me not having severe symptoms.
I am a vegetarian since I was a child and I’m so happy. My love for animals made me do it even going against all family because none of them wore or are vegetarians and fought that I would be not healthy and many other things . I felt peace and happiness not eating no creatures because I love them all very much. Now about covid19, well, not sure if by having this kind of diet can help, but I hope so. Really I never fought about it.I just can wish that much more people change their mentality and stop eating meat.
I started the anti-inflammatory diet several weeks ago, because I was still having issues with my digestive system (despite being long-term vegetarian). I suffered congestion and indigestion a lot. My joints were becoming very stiff and ached terribly, and my balance was affected (my feet unable to flex properly to counter shifts in weight as I moved about), and I even fell over a few times. It was like I was becoming old well before my time. I can’t remember where I got the tip-off that inflammation may be the cause to a lot of my problems, but I looked up which foods cause it and the top contenders included – chips, cheese, ice cream, sugary foods, fizzy drinks, white bread and white rice. In fact, all processed foods are considered problematic. It’s been tough eliminating these from my diet, especially as my husband bakes a great white bread. However, the difference has been remarkable. The new anti-inflammatory diet started to work very quickly; just a few days saw significant changes. Now I have zero pain in my joints, my back no longer hurts, and I’m not staggering about like I’m about to collapse. I’m able to walk over uneven ground, up ladders, steps and the rocky terrain where I live. Also, the digestive system is working a lot better and the indigestion and congestion is gone. If you have problems with joints, do give the anti-inflammatory diet a try. I didn’t go to one site alone, but cross-referenced a few sites to double-check the info I obtained.
Oh animal rights people would sure love this, to make their point. I believe that it depends on how we take care of our bodies, and trying our best to avoid getting COVID in the first place, like people have said in the comments, the COVID cases and death in India shows that being vegetarians does not mean that you won’t get severely ill, of course there were other factors as was mentioned. So in my case I will not change my diet, I enjoy meat every now and then, I will take exercise more seriously though, and I will keep social distancing and wearing my mask (since the latter is still mandatory where I live) which for COVID has proven to be the most effective thing according to experts in my country
I saw a lot of comments asking about India, which has a significant amount of vegetarians. First, the research was conducted with health workers in Western countries. Second, in a academic research you try to isolate the effects of differences in population (ex: two vegetarians, but one person is rich and the other is poor, their results could be very different). Third: Correlation is not causation. Vegetarians usually are middle class, educated and women, who probably take more care of their health and have more resources to treat covid 19. So it’s certain that taking care of your health overall helps against covid, and if you have a plant-based nutrition, even better. Also: Brazil and US are 2 of the worst countries in number of deaths from covid, and also with diets rich in meat, eggs and dairy, so using the example of India to invalidate the referred study is as useless as using Brazil and US to prove it. PS: I’m vegetarian 😉
You are way better off avoiding anything with sugar in it, including fruits & vegetables. 100% Grass-fed Beef is unmatched in its nutrition content. No vegetable-based diet can compare to the nutritional value derived from a carnivore-based diet which includes a specific list of fruits, as well as raw-organic honey. Extremes such as a vegan diet or an all meat diet are equally radical and no one should be either one or the other. We should eat what we have evolved to eat and what is most nutritious for us.
Correlation and causation are two different things. However most meat lovers tend to consume factory farmed processed meat which is really bad. On the other hands, some plant based foods can also be pro inflammatory. I suspect the amount of fiber that feeds good bacteria in the gut to be a factor as well.
This discussion is getting old and stale. In reality it shouldn’t be about vegetarian or omnivore or carnivore unless we are talking about ethics and even that is a waste of time now since science has proven that plants are sentient too same as animals and the nature of this planet is that in a way or another: plants, humans, bacteria, viruses, fungi etc we all die so others can live. Painful but real. Now back to the diet the issue is not about vegetarian or not but how to improve our health trough food and the answer is that if we stop eating starches and sugars all of us would be in a better place. Once you stop eating starches and grains you can go with greens, meat, nuts, animal based foods and you will be fine. Today people don’t eat food they eat products from factories. I’m 62 in the keto lifestyle and I got the covid en 2020 stayed three weeks in a comma with ventilator and the doctors said I was very healthy for my age. I recovered very fast nurses and physical therapist were amazed how fast I was living a normal life with no health issues at all after that. Vegetarian and younger friends die because of covid so for me the answer is simple and i don’t waste time separating people with labels, just eat better foods, what nature provides and that’s all. Stop being lazy and cook your food your body will be very happy but no grains and starches.
Vegans are not vegetarians… Vegans have better health than vegetarian… Vegetarians still use animal foods such a dairy(milk and cheese), eat fish, eat eggs, use honey… etc etc… I am Vegan, very strict diet… I had mild covid in December of 2021, survived, My body has built immunity to it because of my restrictive diet. still going and not stopping. recently got my first Covid shot, took a day to rest… feeling better now…
Of course vegans/ vegetariansare not at lower risk of Covid-19. If anything they are at much higher risk. Vegans tend to eat much more carbohydrates which results in insulin resistance which is cause of so many underlying diseases that increase risk of Covid-19. I appreciate the idealistic purposes behind going vegan, but government must start informing vegans/ vegetarians about the long term health risks of veganism and increased risk of suffering from Covid-19
I’m not vegetarian but have practiced clean eating for athletic performance most of my adult life. That means a lot of fresh fruit and veg and lean protein like fish and eggs. Despite working in essential retail through the entire pandemic in the USA, I escaped infection (or at least didn’t notice if I did get infected) and am lucky to have already been vaccinated. Here in the USA, we are seeing vaccinated people testing positive for Delta, but not having many or any symptoms.
I don’t know that it’s always diet that saves us from illness. I was vegan for 15 years and got Covid in late 2021 …as a vegan. My diet was as clean as you can get and I practiced a healthy, balanced lifestyle with exercise meditation, etc. I got so sick from Covid I was bedbound for three weeks and did not recover until May 2022. So, it’s not always all about diet. And mind you I’ve never been this sick in my life from anything.
A smoker who eats a diet of beer and frenchfies is vegan so let’s put this in its proper perspective. I eat a carnivore diet- beef, butter, bacon and eggs- which I started in the middle of long haul covid and was normal within two weeks after 6 months of struggling. Let’s say “eat whole foods and stop consuming nonfoods- sugar, carbs and industrial seed oils- which are all extremely inflammatory”. Also plants are choked full of antinutrints, which are very inflammatory, so let’s be careful about how we advise people to eat please.
I’m unvaccinated and a full blown carnivore and I caught çøvïd and had a runny nose and a mild sore throat and only it felt like a mild case of seasonal allergies, my coworker whos raw vegan and got the jab and all the boosters caught it and she was on a ventilator for almost 3 weeks, being vegan doesn’t necessarily make you healthier, neither does the jab for that matter either
In the United States this type of info would be considered blasphemy. There has been No discussion on main Media regarding diet that I’m aware of nor have I heard discussion regarding Exxon Exposed. So it’s no surprise keeping populations ignorant is a top priority. Anything other would be an admittance to the failures of Capitalism.
I think everyone should do what i do and eat what I eat because I’ve been told what I should do and what I should say and accept it as fact that what I’m told to say is fact .. cos it’s fact .. and I’m told it .. 🤔… How about everyones different.. how about everyone celebrates being different .. this do what Im being told to tell you to do mentality sucks 😒
I have no tolerance for those who smilingly brag about eating sentient beings. To accept that they’re willingly cannibals is criminal. To accept suffering and death of beautiful sentient animals is obnoxious and absurd. Our standard of civilization must be high to face the future. Nature is suffering and our ethics and compassion cannot be set aside to serve one’s glutonous habits. Time for animal liberation. Women’s liberation and slavery brought about the same lame and cruel reactions. This today and for the immediate future is unsustainable.
A couple of points to bear in mind. 1. Covid was likely caused by animal consumption as are most pandemics in history, 2. The quality of a vegan of vegetarian diet is obviously important. I recommend looking at the nutritarian diet which clarifies this idea explicitly. There are a lot of other reasons to eat more plants. We also have environmental and ethical reasons to not eat animals. It’s pretty much a no brainer once you start looking into it seriously and question what you learned at your mother’s knee.
As a vegan I can tell you I still smoke but only organic and I do it less and less cause sometimes I can feel myself wanting it or craving it less, I’m a fan of the Puff though just want it organic anyway I’m very healthy on an organic vegan diet just have to be more conscious of how I eat, when and what cause it all matters when it comes to health. At this point I’m more fighting aging cause I’m so healthy lol
Vegetarianism versus a poor diet is not the same as non processed foods versus processed foods. Duh. Meat can be healthy but processed meat is certainly not healthy. I’ve gone plant based and feel great, but the emphasis is not necessarily on not meat – rather, it is on non processed foods and a lot more fruits and veggies.
One key to keep us on track is to distinguish between “healthy vs. unhealthy” foods, rather than “vegetable vs. meat.” Potato is not meat for example, but if you eat much chips you know the consequence. For meat, fresh one should be good, but over-processed ones such as hotdogs definitely hurt our health.
I’ve been a vegan on a mostly PBWF diet for 8 years. I noticed in my circle of friends, family and colleagues that not only did vegans/vegetarians got less infections with COVID, the 2 that did get sick with it, recovered within 4 weeks totally. Also the vegans had little to none of the side effects to the vaccinations, whereas the carnivores were suffering dreadfully and were often out sick for 1-2 weeks. Just an interesting observation within my own little/large group of people I know.
ahm no. with the 1918 spanish flu they found vegans died more than those who at least ate fish. also what is a “predominantly vegetarian diet”. either you eat meat or you don’t. If they mean rarely eat meat, then they need to say high consumption of veggies but some meat. That is a very different thing: you won’t develop iron or vit d deficiency so easily if you eat meat once a week as opposed to never…
Let’s see. One can eat a vegan diet of white bread, white pasta with tomato sauce, chips and fries. Compare that to a non-vegetarian diet full of vegetables and fruits, whole grains and legumes, eggs and fish, and a bit of chicken and meat. I wonder which of these diets would promote better health outcomes?
it’s not vegetarian diet but keeping the metabolism at a low blood glucose level and having a high nutrient level diet … being poor, having low nutrient level diet makes weaken the immune system. low carb ketogenic diet needs to be done with intermittent fasting to keep the blood glucose level low since proteins will eventually generate a glucose response too. … pushing the metabolism regularly into ketosis is what improves the immune system efficacy… cause ketosis puts the immune system process of autophagy into high gear.
it isn’t not eating meat that helps with corona! it’s the fact that on average vegetarians are healthier people than omnivores because vegetarians are more conscious of what they eat and sports. so if a vegetarian gets infected his body is healthier so the Rist of death is lower. but eating or not eating meat per se has no effect. don’t confuse correlation with causation
Many years ago I went vegetarian for a year, I even went to a nutritionist to make sure I was doing it the right way in order to stay healthy. I ended up weak, sick, and malnourished, so I gave it up. I started recovering my health as soon as I brought meat back into my diet, especially red meat. It’s not for everyone, we have different constitutions, genetics, and needs. I changed to another nutritionist, and now I eat a healthy, balanced diet. Yogurt, fruits, nuts, egg, high-fiber cereal, oats, and vegetable milk for breakfast; whole grain rice / pasta / barley / quinoa, vegetables and a portion of meat (fish, shellfish, and chicken are #1, pork #2, and beef a rare treat), with more fruit as dessert, for lunch; pulses and homemade whole bread, and a piece of dark chocolate as dessert, for dinner. I cook with olive oil, and am allowed a bit of butter, ham, and mild or aged cheese during the week, cow’s milk is more of a rare treat. I left pop years ago, my substitute is every now and then a glass of sparkling water. I’m allowed junk food or take-out once a month. I use honey if anything needs sweetening. I drink tea, natural fruit juice, vegetable milk, sparkling water, plain water. I buy fresh or frozen, everything is home cooked, and I avoid processed foods as much as possible. After a month my sense of taste was reset and I couldn’t stand anymore how sweet, salty and greasy packaged and processed foods are. I also learned how to eat like this, healthily, on a budget. And I take probiotics and eat fermented foods.
If you want to see the direct results of going plant based diet, just look at the drought in the U.S. Reservoirs are running dry to cater to agribusinesses growing water intensive crops. This website even did a report on avacados in Chile demonstrating the woes of plant based. But ultimately just look at India, which is predominantly vegetarian…doesn’t look like it worked that well when compared to omnivorous countries. Being versed in the relatively new science of nutrition (started in 1936 with Max Rubner) and looking at the evedence of diet affect provided by archeology (hunter/gather man vs. farmer man) it is shown clearly that eating less meat is detrimental to health and growth/development.
Ok, so the study was corrected for exercise and nutrition – but not for weight ??? which is known to be a factor in severe Covid 19 ? And it compared vegetarian diet with a high meat-low carb diet ( which few people eat). Sounds like a missed opportunity to compare a normal vegetarian diet with a normal mixed diet .
To add some context to the argument, the Covid infection in India was spread across all economic classes. It is irresponsible to conclude that vegetarians in India were affected due to poor access to healthcare and poverty in general. Having lived in UK and EU, the healthcare access for Indians in upper economic strata is at per with these countries, and they were badly hurt during the second wave. Vegetarianism did not seem to protect north Indian states from the pandemic as compared to other predominantly meat and fish-eating states like Bengal and Odisha.
Consider also the geographic location and healthcare. In my country of 20 millions only 160 people died from covid. I do not know anyone who had a severe case of covid. My cousin, sister and her husband were diagnosed with covid, they did not show a sign of sickness. Most of African countries had fewer than 1000 deaths related to covid.
I think it is about keeping your nutrition count seriously since many vegetarian are also freaking about their health unlike the people who don’t care what or how much they eat their metabolism would be better shaped then most meat eaters however I don’t think it is because of eating more protein or not. That kind of research is controversial since you can’t find experiment volunteers to be infected with covid in a controlled environment to see the difference. If experiment wasn’t conducted that way, than that is no experiment at all.
I am not a vegetarian, but I try to avoid as much meat and dairy as possible. I am not a great fan of dairy products except for cheese. I barely drink any milk nor eat yoghurt nor use whipping cream and I tend to avoid butter. I barely eat eggs at all. I eat a lot of fish and a little bit of chicken.