Q&A with BRENDA DAVIS, RD! Whole Food Plant-Based Nutrition, Healthy Lifestyle Tips, & Much More!

Intro

foreign welcome to plant fit Meg welcome back to the channel today I have a very special guest on the show today none other than Brenda Davis yay so I’m sure you are familiar with Brenda Davis but just in case you’re not I’d love to introduce her here

Brenda Davis registered dietitian is one of the world’s leading plant-based pioneers and an internationally acclaimed speaker she is widely regarded as a rock star of plant-based nutrition and veg news referred to her as the Godmother of vegan dietitians as a prolific nutrition and health writer Brenda has authored co-authored 13 books with nearly a million copies in print in 15 languages in 2007 Brenda Davis was inducted into the vegetarian Hall of Fame and she was the 2022 recipient of the plantrician Project’s luminary award

Brenda’s work focuses on ensuring that everyone who wishes to be plant-based can succeed brilliantly and she does an amazing job at it welcome Brenda oh thank you so much for that beautiful introduction Meg it’s really nice to be with you and your listeners today

yeah welcome to the channel so excited to have you on I had the pleasure of hearing you speak live back in 2016 when I was first starting my plant-based Adventures um so it’s really cool to I’ll be here all these years later and having a conversation with you on my YouTube channel wow that’s amazing you’ve done a lot in those years yeah it changed a lot lots of lots of things have changed for me and I’m thrilled that you’re here to kind of start with

How did you get started

how did you get started with a vegan diet with a plant-based lifestyle what was that sort of starting point for you what was the inspiration to make a change

well it’s interesting you know when I was in high school which is in you know the early to mid 70s I I was really really intrigued with all things vegetarian and I I decided to pursue a career in nutrition and dietetics and and when I went through University in the late 70s early 80s uh we learned two things about vegetarian diets and you know or or plant-based diets if you will and the first was that vegetarian diets are risky and really shouldn’t be used by children or pregnant women and that vegan diets are just downright dangerous for everyone

and so it felt like it kind of a slap on the wrist you know how could you be interested in those silly fad diet kind of things and um you know I graduated I I did an internship with health Canada and then I became a community nutritionist but that interest in plant-based eating just never disappeared and I I continue to do research and I remember seeing the world health organizations 1990 diet nutrition in the prevention of chronic disease documents and it was so powerful for me wow

um but a whole bunch of things kind of came together I I had two little kids ages about you know one and four at the time that I make decided to become completely plant-based and I had been married about 10 years this was back in 1989 I think and um it was you know reading a few documents but also this interaction I had with this friend who was going deer hunting and I just I wanted to make him feel really guilty before he shot another deer yeah and and so I you know he stopped by the house and I I started to ask him why he was doing this and you know just really challenging his his desire to hunt these animals and and it was really what he said to me that that completely changed the course of my life

um because he challenged me uh in a very different way he said you know he said at least the animals I eat have had a life he said you can’t criticize me um when you look at the animals that are sitting on your plate uh you know just because they’re camouflaged in Cellophane in the grocery store doesn’t mean they they didn’t get starred or killed or uh injured or you know um and it was it was the first time I had really thought about taking responsibility for the food I was eating and I am

I just when I started to really look at it I I looked at animal agriculture I looked at the ecological consequences of our food choices I looked at the health consequences of our food choices and the more I researched the more it became crystal clear to me that you know eating a plant -based diet is more healthful it’s more ecologically sustainable and it is far Kinder uh and and I just thought I just I can’t do this anymore I need to follow this path that I I I’ve sort of always known I was meant to follow and I was scared I was scared because I didn’t know if there were any other vegetarian or vegan dietitians on the planet

um you know everything I had in terms of nutrition education materials were built on food guides half of the guides were essentially animal products and you know I I was scared I’d just be ousted from the profession I I started thinking about what else I could do and I thought to myself you know I have to have the courage um to stand up for what I believe in and to help move my profession forward from within rather than from the outside and and so I I just decided that I would be very careful in making sure everything I said was evidence-based and that I was kind compassionate respectful in what I said and I just forged ahead yeah so anyway that’s the story a little bit long but that’s incredible and that’s so powerful that you know you kind of had

How did your husband support you

this in in the background kind of this interest and then your friend just has this really powerful message that just you know a light bulb goes off and we’re disconnected from our Foods particularly animal products because they’re just in the cellophane and they’re just there and you buy them yeah you know there’s a very big disconnect between what it actually is so it’s really interesting that that was part of you coming around yes and the other amazing part of the the story is that my husband who was raised in Northern Ontario hunting and fishing with his friends um I thought I I need to ask him if he would be willing to do this with me because I thought you know we have little kids I would rather do this as a family yeah um than trying to you know figure out how how to forge ahead um you know eating different types of foods and so I I said to him I I need to become completely vegetarian I I just you know for so many reasons and I’m I’m just wondering if you would be willing to do that with me and he looked at me and he smiled and he said I thought you’d never ask he said I’d love to be a vegetarian he said when I was in school studying the environment you know our professor always said the greatest contribution you could make would be to eat lower on the food chain yeah and so he said I would love to and and I think I I actually think he was always a bit of a step ahead of me so in the background yeah I just account myself so fortunate in that because so many spouses don’t respond I guess that’s such a wonderful pleasant surprise right it really was yeah

I had a similar sort of I decided to go plant-based when my little one was only four months old then we were trying to start solids and figure out what are we going to feed this kid so I really made the case to my husband like I’m gonna eat this way I think we should feed our child this way you can do your own thing but you know I really made the case like let’s raise our son vegan let’s do this you know in a whole food plant-based way this is you know the best way forward and as a cancer survivor and as someone with health issues and he was fully supportive of me doing that and then he came on board too so wow and it’s it’s awesome to have that extra support because I know it’s so difficult for families who are divided like that and have people eating different things and it gets more complicated doable but more complicated yeah yeah and it it it’s those core values because your reasons often for choosing plant-based are not just about your own personal health or about things beyond your own personality like the environment like the animals and when those are and those really are part of core values and when those differ um with you know between partners they can really put a wedge in a relationship so it is so nice when everyone’s on board and it doesn’t always happen at the same time but quite often it happens eventually as the person’s exposed to more and more wonderful plant-based food and to some of the you know movies and lectures and and then they start to um expand you know their views a little bit exactly exactly what would you

What would you recommend to people who dont have a partner who is supportive

recommend to people who don’t have that partner who is supportive or is really against going plant-based what’s your advice for people who are in that situation yeah it’s a really tough one and it depends on the situation it depends on how long you’ve been together how long you work together as omnivores versus plant-based did when you you know when you first met were you both omnivores or were you already plant-based and so there’s there are a lot of things that you have children how are they responding to it all but I think the most important thing is to um and be respectful be kind be patient be loving uh and it you know don’t um do things that are uncomfortable for you so if the person’s still insisting on eating meat maybe there could be a compromise that they would just have it when they’re outside of the house or that they would prepare it themselves in their own frying pan or whatever um works for your family and I I don’t think there’s any hard and fast rules because it’s not always the same for every family and you know being vegan is really about being a more compassionate human being and trying to make this world a more compassionate place and and that applies not just towards the animals we’re concerned about but also towards the people in our lives and so I I think we need to keep our priorities straight and and just trust that your influence will have an impact in time and continue to make the most amazing food you can and share um the joy of it all and rather than being really pushy or judgmental I think that’s really important

yeah I think keeping it compassionate and keeping it kind are really key and also like you mentioned making the food delicious keeping it simple and then people are more likely to sort of get on board with it um so your latest book is plant-powered protein and I recently had the pleasure of interviewing one of your co-authors the Santo Molina and she said that the impetus to write the book was actually from your publisher they said hey people are protein they want this information so why do you think that that is still such a big Topic in the plant-based World why is protein such an area of confusion and concern

Why is protein so important

yeah well I I think it is because protein has you know really carried a bit of a health Halo in our culture for forever and it it you know stemmed from many years where hunger and malnutrition were the most serious Public Health Nutrition concerns and it was about food shortage and making sure you’ve got enough protein and iron and zinc and and government policies were really directed towards the illumination of of these kinds of deficiencies and so nutrition education campaigns were dominated by these eat more messages you know and I can I you know remember some of the advertisement you know drink more milk eat more meat at meat and dairy products work were looked upon as the most concentrated sources of protein and you know essential sources of many macronutrients and so it really elevated their status and led to a lot of economic policies that that just sought to maximize meat and milk production and you know farmer subsidies were given marketing support was given price controls were set into place and so we you know the you know we’ve just viewed these Foods as being so so highly valuable and and so people are concerned about protein athletes are really concerned about protein parents are concerned about you know protein is is necessary for building and rebuilding body tissues and so they’re concerned about their kids growing properly

and and what we learn about protein in school and in various places is that you need high quality protein to work the best and that the best quality protein comes from animal products and people don’t think of plants in relationship to protein they do they tend to think more of animal products and so I think that’s part of you know the issue and and people that become plant-based well they’re very concerned about making sure that they replace the protein-rich animal foods with you know reasonable sources of protein in the plant kingdom and so we’ve always been very consumed uh about with protein it’s one of three essential macronutrients we need it and uh and and so you know can we get it from plants of course we can what a lot of people don’t realize which I think is is really fun for people to know is that all of the protein is essentially made from you know these building blocks called the central amino acids and they’re about 20 amino acids nine of which are essential and and these so we we make proteins out of amino acids and so people are very concerned about getting the essential amino acids but what they don’t realize is essential amino acids are essential because we can’t make them nor can other animals that’s why they’re essential they’re made by plants every single essential amino acid comes from a plant it makes no sense to think we can’t get it from Plants it’s where they come from yeah you know we get them directly from Plants by eating plants are indirectly um by eating animals that ate plants and so it you know it it is not at all impossible to get protein from Plants it’s where it originally comes from

yeah that’s a huge misunderstanding and a gap in knowledge for a lot of people so that’s a really important message to put out there and absolutely we can Thrive and get enough protein and all the other macros and micronutrients that we need

Protein RDA

um what are the guidelines specifically if someone’s looking for you know how many grams per day things like that what are the guidelines generally for an average adult and what how does that change if you’re an athlete or if you’re an older adult

yeah so so the you know basically we have these things called recommended dietary allowances and we have these recommended dietary allowances for essential amino acids and for protein in terms of of grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day and a kilogram equals 2.2 pounds um and then you know based on reference body weights of average individuals we have these sort of rdas of how much protein the average person needs per day but but basically we start out in the first six months of Life needing about one and a half grams of protein per kilogram body weight and that goes down to about 1.2 during the second half of that first year from 6 to 12 months and then for children it’s about one gram per kilogram body weight so for toddlers it’s a little more 1.05 and for four to 13 year olds it’s a little bit less about 0.95 and then for teens it goes down to 0.85 grams per kilogram body weight then for adults it’s 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram body weight it does going go up during pregnancy and lactation so it’s 1.1 in pregnancy 1.3 in in lactation and that adds up to you know about 46 grams a day for female adults and 56 for male adults

now the average American probably eats twice that much even vegans probably eat closer to 60 to 70 or even slightly higher grams of protein a day so probably you know close to you know 25 to 50 percent higher than what they need and and what a lot of people don’t realize is they are average daily level of intake or the RDA is really meant to to meet the needs of 97 98 of all healthy people it’s actually set at 25 higher than average biological requirements so now some people like you mentioned athletes and seniors um may need a little bit more so so for example um for for athletes the the we don’t have a separate RDA for athletes right

Protein RDA for Athletes

but but there are um recommendations by very well respected Sports Authorities and nutrition organizations that suggest 1.2 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram body weight no it’s at the lower end of that range for the average endurance athlete and at the higher end for the strength um uh athletes or resistant trained athletes now for or Ultra Insurance athletes it would be at the higher end too but again what a lot of people don’t realize is that athletes eat so many calories not that hard to meet those those needs so for example if you have a person who is eating you know 3 500 or 4 000 calories a day getting say 1.5 kilograms per or grams per kilogram would would probably be about 13 or 14 percent of their calories from protein well that’s pretty easy to get on almost any fairly varied well-planned diet no and and it’s similar for for you know the the um levels required for seniors is again another story because seniors have some issues with um using the protein they eat so um they can’t break down the protein into essential amino acids and absorb it as efficiently and seniors are at high risk for muscle wasting muscle loss we call it sarcopenia and and so many Health authorities are now saying that in order to you know ensure sufficient absorption of the essential amino acids to prevent sarcopenia that that seniors probably need in the neighborhood of 1 to 1.3 grams per kilogram body weight

now there’s another uh group that may want to consider slightly higher intakes and that’s people eating very high fiber Whole Food plant-based diets so if you’re eating um for example uh when you eat when people eat meat or dairy there’s no fiber in the food so the absorption of the protein is not you know um blocked at all by the fiber and so their absorption might be around 93 to 97 percent for those foods and that’s very similar for the lower fiber plant food so if you eat some sort of Veggie need or seitan or you’re eating soy milk or or tofu or peanut butter those kinds of foods you absorb about 92 to 96 of the protein from but from whole grains and from legumes you’ll absorb about 10 percent less than that so somewhere in the neighborhood of you know sort of 80 85 percent for most of those Foods so about 10 percent less than you would from the lower fiber foods and and so some experts suggest adding 10 to the RDA for people who don’t consume a lot of these lower fiber plant Foods so they’re really living on whole grains beans lentils chickpeas vegetables fruits nuts and seeds and they’re not eating these more um or you know somewhat moderately processed uh plant Foods uh so so that you know that’s just to if you want to really be on the safe side um but and and that that amount that we add on for adults that 10 many experts suggest adding on a little more for children so up to 30 for toddlers 20 for for um you know 15 to 20 for older children

so um and and a lot of people think wow that’s a lot but in fact it’s really not not a a ridiculous amount of protein so for example um if you add 30 to the RDA uh for children well the RDA is about 13 grams per day for children well it would be about 17 grams if you added that that extra on so 17 grams of protein you know when they when they there are a number of studies looking at uh protein intakes in toddlers and children and the biggest studies are or some of the biggest studies are from Germany the studies and the veggie studies show toddlers consuming between about 2.3 and 2.7 grams of protein per kilogram body weight regardless of their uh dietary I mean it was 2.7 I think for for omnivores 2.4 for vegans 2.3 for lactose vegetarians but they were all over double the RDA of 1.05 yeah so you know they don’t have a difficult time getting that much protein I mean one or two servings of relatively protein-rich Foods in the day will do the trick yeah uh so yeah so that that covers that I think

yeah if people are concerned about their intake if they’re maybe just switching into a plant-based diet or maybe they’ve been into maybe the more highly processed foods and they’re wanting to switch into a more Whole Food plant-based regimen do you recommend that people track their intake in an app like chronometer or MyFitnessPal to kind of see where they’re at with their protein intake or how do people really know that they’re getting enough do you remember in a plate method or how what’s the easiest way for people to kind of

Tracking Protein Intake

yeah I mean if if you’re comfortable with chronometer or any of those kinds of apps I think it’s just kind of fun to see where you’re at because usually what happens is you do it once or twice and you go wow I’m eating 70 80 grams of protein a day I don’t think I have to worry um but generally for most people people to me the easiest way of ensuring sufficient protein is to make sure you have a decent source of protein at each meal so if you’re having some sort of flake cereal and bananas and almond milk for breakfast think about how you can add protein into that meal maybe you know swap the almond milk for for unsweetened soy milk perhaps add some hemp seeds and you know various nuts and seeds to this cereal use higher protein cereals um you know just yeah there’s all kinds of things you can do like I know I I do a you know a healthy breakfast bowl where the base of the bowl is Oak roots and quinoa and and very small lentils that you wouldn’t even know the lentils are in there but that’s the base of the bowl and then goes on the fruit and the and the mix of nuts and seeds and you know some dehydrated granola I use uh unfortunate fortified soy milk and so my breakfast has you know that that breakfast of cereal bananas and almond milk might give you five grams of protein well whereas my breakfast might give me 20 or 20 you know 22 23 grams and so each of my meals I’m just you know I my my lunches are big salads well I always think about well what’s my protein source so I always have some hummus I always have little cubes of tofu maybe some beans or lentils um you know just some a couple of protein Rich choices I always put seeds on top like pumpkin seeds and then I make a dressing that’s actually a reasonably high protein dressing with hemp seeds and Tahini and so forth and so my salads always have at least 20 25 grams of protein and so that’s sort of what I’m aiming for for each meal so at each meal just think about you know how am I including protein in this meal you can even think if you I don’t snack because I don’t need to I my stage of life but many younger people do and need to and athletes and and Children Of course need snacks and again to to infuse a little bit of protein in the snacks even sometimes um you know hummus and and veggies or a little almond butter with the apple slices or you know just just things like that and if you do that and you’re including these regularly these legume based foods and some seeds and a few nuts and some of the protein Rich grains in into your diet uh there’s really not a lot to worry about if you’re getting enough calories

now some people who don’t get enough calories it could be an issue for example somebody who’s who has a serious illness and just doesn’t have an appetite or a senior with very poor appetite or someone with an eating disorder for example if you don’t get enough calories there’s a really good chance you won’t get enough protein

yeah so for people who do do have those issues who maybe don’t have much of an appetite or are maybe dealing with some disordered eating patterns do you recommend like protein powders or mock meats or other things that are higher protein that would kind of give them a boost

Boosting Protein Intake

yeah so so it depends on the on the circumstance but for sure but definitely I find with seniors quite often um they find beans cause gas and they don’t like the discomfort and so there are ways of reducing the the sort of gassiness of beans and you can go through some of that you can Sprout your legumes before like your lentils before you cook them you could you can do all sorts of things um but but you know blending them is really helpful Blended black and soups and and lentil soups but the other thing is for many seniors they they don’t want to do a lot of cooking and so to be able to take a Patty out of the green freezer and cook the Patty it’s sort of like a traditional meal with their potato and vegetable and and some sort of veggie patty that feels comfortable for them it goes down nicely and it provides 15 or more grams of very very available protein and for a senior who’s not digesting protein that well that can actually be a really a good addition to their diet no they might want to compare labels and pick lower sodium um you know or soy curls or something like that where there’s not added sodium but some of these more concentrated protein foods really can be an easy way of boosting intake and protein powders like hemp protein powder or mixed protein plant protein powders can be you know they’re a convenient and easy way for people to boost a protein I’ve never used them myself because I like eating too much yeah up some calories yeah exactly exactly and so but for some people for for serious athletes for seniors who don’t have the appetite these can be really valuable additions and I and I you know I know that generally we want most of our food to be Whole Foods and and that to be the focus of the diet but some of these somewhat processed products can really be helpful and in some cases they’re well fortified with nutrients that sometimes fall short in plant-based diets like many veggie meats are fortified with vitamin B12 and iron and zinc um many non-dairy milks are fortified with calcium and vitamin d and vitamin B12 and so these things can really help to prevent shortfalls of nutrients that that can be an issue for some people

yeah for sure you mentioned sodium on the labels of mock meats and kind of looking out for that and comparing labels is there anything else that you recommend people watch out for when choosing a mock meat and maybe making a better option

yeah so a lot of mock Meats have um there you know there are some that are more Whole Food based and reading the label you’ll see they’ve got beans and Grains and all of that and there are some that are much more highly processed and they’re they’re really made as a substitute for meat where people could hardly even tell the difference um I’ve I had um a young man once say to me I tasted one of these you know Burgers I don’t know if it was beyond or impossible or whatever he said and and it just made me think well I don’t need to eat regular Burgers anymore these things taste exactly the same they’re better for the environment they’re probably healthier but but a lot of those um you know mock meats that are made to be very similar to animal products are a little higher in fat and that’s how they get the texture of that’s very similar to meat and so they have coconut oil and some of these kinds of of products added and not that that’s something that should always be off limits but if you’re concerned about chronic disease and you’re trying to fight diabetes or something you want to choose a product that’s much more Whole Food centered and um yeah so those are just other things and you know look at the ingredient list that’s you know what what’s their I mean sometimes some of the soy products are extracted with hexane and you know they you know the the a lot of Manufacturers say well there’s really no hexane remnants but some some groups have found that there are and and so choosing organic can help you to avoid some of those concerning chemicals that might be present so those are just things to be aware of as well

yeah and I’ve also heard the argument from some people that having a animal based option is more natural and the plant-based options are more heavily processed they’re Franken foods are not good for you so how do these more processed plant Foods compare to an animal-based product of the same type

PlantBased vs AnimalBased

yeah so I I actually really really appreciate that question because I know a lot I I remember I was I can’t remember where it was I was at a restaurant I was at a restaurant and I heard the conversation in the table next to me and they were talking about because on the menu was some you know plant-based uh burger and they were saying why would anybody want to eat one of those things why don’t they just eat real food you know give me the beef kind of you know and that I think that’s a really common uh reaction to these sort of um replacement or what we call meat meat alternate it and and I think the thing that that people need to realize is that um there are there are some cons to highly processed you know uh meat Alternatives they’re they don’t have as much fiber and phytochemicals and antioxidants as whole plant Foods so they’re you know not going to be as healthy some contain a lot of additives some are high in fat and sodium they can be costly they you know they can have less zinc and b12 compared to to meat but they have a lower carbon footprint um and they have less saturated fat no cholesterol no new 5gc which is pro-inflammatory molecule and meat they generally don’t have these compounds these you know tmao or it’s precursors which is trimethylene and oxide which is a very athrogenic compound they have fewer environmental contaminants they you know they and and actually they you know to me the biggest Advantage is they don’t cause the pain suffering and death of animals yeah and that’s that’s huge um and and when you think we’re slaughtering 80 billion animals every year on this planet you think of what that creates for the animals 90 of them are raised in capos uh it’s horrific it’s absolutely horrific so to me whatever we can do to shut down slaughterhouses is worth doing and and you know in the lower carbon footprint I think is really important too but but there have been studies that have compared um where you swap meet products for plant-based alternatives for like eight weeks or 12 weeks or whatever it is and and what they found is that um there there are improvements in several cardiovascular diet disease risk factors like reduced uh LDL cholesterol um lower you know um uh blood pressure they have a little more fiber um they are less inflammatory they’re you know so there are advantages and I think there have been probably four or five pretty good review studies uh looking at um you know these kinds of swaps uh so you know I think um I think I think it’s it’s an argument that that doesn’t stand up to Scientific scrutiny um yeah yeah that’s really fascinating

Processed Meat

and it’s so interesting that these studies are coming out and that people are talking about it more and putting this information out there and people are being reassured like hey yeah these foods are okay especially if you’re just having them you know in moderation and it doesn’t make up you know most of your diet exactly people are getting the information they need about plant-based foods and that they are safe and that they are not any less sort of natural or anything like that then an animal product would be because an animal product obviously goes through a lot of processing as well which I think people have that disconnect and it gets colored and it gets preserved and it gets you know a lot of things that can make I mean one of the the worst foods that people can eat you know based on the research we have is processed meat yeah so you know and and I think people also just need to realize that that you know it’s you know they complete they they criticize sometimes plant-based eaters like why would you want to have something that’s like meat but most of us grew up eating meat and and these are you know Comfort foods like a burger or lasagna or you know these these kinds of foods and so it’s fun to have a plant-based version of these these Foods we grew up with and um and also I think we need to think about in terms of our kids being a part of you know groups and you know they go with their little group for camping and they’re all roasting hot dogs well it’s sure nice for the plant these kids to have a hot dog to roast too or you know have a burger when everybody else is having a burger and uh and so I I you know I mean I I love making my own homemade um uh plant-based meat Alternatives like yeah meat and lentil burgers and those kinds of things and that’s kind of getting uh to a higher level of plant-based uh eating and and that’s what we want to strive for but I don’t think we can discount the importance of having reasonable substitutes for individuals in as they’re transitioning or even as part of their

I I remember having my my in-laws on my actually not my in-laws my my daughter’s in-laws visiting from Bulgaria and their guide is very neat and cheese heavy a meat cheese and bread is a just a huge part of their diet and they can’t speak a word of English and when they came over I we barbecued and we included you know beyond sausages in the barbecue they didn’t even know they weren’t uh regular sausages um and that I I don’t even to be honest I don’t even really like them yeah but there are times when those kinds of things can come in really handy and and there’s a place there’s a place for sure they can come into play and they can have that place for sure yeah

yeah I know in sort of the standard American diet space people talk a lot about protein and the importance of getting enough protein I find in the plant-based space people are eating more carb heavy diets typically and um especially with Whole Food plant based diets and there can be some fear around whole plant fats eating fats so what’s your take on that what’s your sort of recommendation for people who are having a little bit of fear around plant fats like avocados and peanut butter and nuts and seeds

Fats

well I I I have very strong feelings about this yeah um because I I feel that we absolutely have no evidence none that whole you know uh higher fat whole plant foods are detrimental to Health in fact it’s the exact opposite every study I’ve ever seen shows that they’re protective and there’s reasons why they’re protected yes they have lots of phytochemicals and antioxidants and fiber and all of those good things but they’re also protective because people need fat we need fats for our brains for our tissues we need fat to protect us we need fat to for in essential fatty acids that are used to produce icosanoids and resolvants and protectants and you know they’re just uh so many reasons why the human body requires fat and and as small children um you know the recommended intake is about 40 of calories from fat for a one-year-old it it goes down to about 30 percent for a three-year-old and then it would stay in that you know range of 25 30 percent from most of your childhood and if it you know if you’re getting your fat from Whole plant Foods mainly um there is just so much evidence that it’s beneficial and you have better skin better hair better you know just it it’s it’s really important and I I I know that some of the studies many of the studies on vegans have been done especially as it relates to chronic disease risk reduction diabetes heart disease so forth have been done using very low fat plant-based diets but that doesn’t mean we’ve never done the studies comparing the very low fat plant-based diet with a whole food plant-based diet that maybe has 20 percent of calories from fat right or even with the diet that has 30 of calories from fat with with mostly Whole Foods but maybe a tablespoon of olive oil we’ve never done that study so we just don’t know um and my guess is that if we you know I I think in in terms of cardiovascular disease if you’re trying to reverse atherosclerosis I I think there’s pretty good evidence that going quite low in fat can be very helpful um but in terms of of most other diseases I I just don’t see a you know a big reason to re to reduce fat intake to that level and unfortunately I think it can be detrimental because so many of these higher fat plant Foods come packaged with many of the the you know micronutrients and phytochemicals and antioxidants that are highly protective but also they help us absorb many of the fat soluble phytochemicals fat soluble nutrient it’s like vitamin A and vitamin D and you know invite you know these nutrients that we need fat to be able to absorb efficiently and so I think we’re shooting ourselves in the foot you know when we start to restrict or you know eliminate uh these very very healthy whole plant Foods

yeah do you recommend for people who are seeking weight loss do you recommend people weigh and measure those things out or are cautious about serving sizes just because the calorie count can really bump up quickly or what’s your take on

Serving Sizes

yeah absolutely so if you’re if you’re um you know trying to aggressively lose weight say you have type 2 diabetes then you want to control your portions of a couple of categories of goods that are more concentrated in calories right so you might want to control portions of a very um carbohydrate concentrated foods like grains and starchy vegetables but you’ll also want to control Porsche sizes of very high fat foods like nuts and seeds and avocados and so forth because they have a lot of calories in a small volume of food and so definitely you’ll you’ll want and and for those individuals I would say using concentrated oils is probably you know you’re probably better off to minimize it or or avoid it completely because you’re looking at 120 calories per tablespoon or so and and it doesn’t affect the volume of your the foods you’re eating it just makes it taste better it doesn’t it doesn’t you know it doesn’t add any volume and make you necessarily feel Fuller so I think for for individuals that are trying to lose weight it’s it’s better to eat mainly Whole Foods

yeah okay great that’s wonderful advice and it kind of clarifies clears up some maybe misconceptions that some people might have within sort of the whole food plant-based and plant-based space so I really appreciate that and you you clearing that up very very succinctively and very clearly for us um I did have a couple of questions that were not necessarily on protein but on other topics that I wanted to ask that came from my audience so one was about hypothyroid hypothyroidism and um someone who is taking medication to manage it but they’re wondering if there are any specific foods that might help with hypothyroidism particularly if it’s sort of a new thing that has come about um as they’re aging and going through

Hypothyroidism

yeah yeah well the number I would say just make sure you’ve got a source of iodine in diet um okay so yeah uh and and what happens to a lot of people who are eating vegan especially if you’re in certain areas in Europe where where the soil isn’t isn’t very rich in iodine um you’re you know the the key sources of iodine in the diet are are iodized salt of course um and then things like fish and dairy products and eggs and you know a lot of animal products so when you become vegan you often eliminate of course you eliminate the animal products but often people um you know start using Himalayan pink sea salt right one of these sea salts that are not iodized and so most of the um iodine sources are gone uh unless they’re seaweed eaters uh seaweed is extremely concentrated um in iodine in fact you know you get enough iodine from like a eighth of petite spoon or even a sixteenth of a teaspoon of kelp powder for a day it’s it’s really concentrated you almost have to be careful not to overdo it because you can hit your upper limit um very very easily so for a small child for example you know they they need um you know like 90 milligrams or 90 micrograms of iodine um a day and their upper limit is like 200. uh so you know they they can be at their upper limits so so quickly so we just have to be aware of that if we’re using I uh seaweed as a source um the other thing that people can do is to choose a multivitamin that contains iodine or take an iodine supplement like iodine problems um but you really need to make sure that your iodine is sufficient because iodine is necessary for producing thyroid hormones and and if you don’t have enough iodine you’re not going to be producing enough so so that that’s just something to be very very aware of and then um the other thing to be very aware of uh is is and I’m just because I’m on the subject of iodine um severe iodine deficiency is the number one cause of cognitive impairment worldwide it’s the number one cause of serious cognitive impairment like severe you know mental delay in you know I didn’t know that yeah and and so and but even a mild deficiency during pregnancy can mean an IQ loss of about 10 to 15 points for your child oh wow yeah so it’s just something it’s one of those nutrients we don’t talk enough about um but we need to be aware of it if we’re if we’re following a vegan diet because it it really can compromise um your thyroid production but also if you’re at the age of reproduction um your child’s cognitive ability um very very uh important yeah and and so you need to have a source a reliable source adults need about 150 micrograms a day if you’re pregnant or lactating you need you need even more than that so like um we we just need to be aware of that and um and then and then getting back to hypothyroidism there there are some foods that are goitrogenic that that can reduce uptake of iodine and and so there’s some there are lots of them um soy Foods uh um cruciferous vegetables uh flax seeds uh um you know even things like peaches and or you know millets and and they’re just all kinds of them and so so goitrogens are not an issue if you get enough iodine but they are a big issue if you don’t get enough iodine interesting okay so so again another reason to be really you know diligent about getting a source of iodine in your diet and then apart from that I would just say uh you want your diet to be balanced and and include a wide variety of foods so you’re not overdoing any one food um you’re eating a variety of fruits and vegetables a variety of whole grains a variety of legumes a variety of nuts and seeds you’re getting enough selenium which is important for a thyroid function as well um which you know the best source of selenium in the world is Brazil nuts so you know having one Brazil nut when I make my little seed mix I have a seed mix in the freezer it’s hemp seeds ground flax seeds chia seeds pumpkin seeds but I also have a bunch of chopped Brazil nuts there and that’ll get sprinkled on our breakfast bowls in the morning so we’re getting you know about a Brazil nut a day which is another good way of just ensuring sufficient selenium but by having a very diet you have a better chance of getting all of those nutrients that you need for good thyroid function for sure okay that’s wonderful that’s great information

Electrolytes

um I didn’t know that about iodine particularly as well so that’s really really interesting to me um another question came in about electrolyte drinks and um people have noticed that uh they’re coming out with more of these kind of beverages that have different minerals in them different you know potassium and magnesium and they have like low sugar or sugar-free options are these things that you recommend generally to people to consume or something you recommend for athletes specifically or where is their place I guess

I I mean I’ve never had one in my life um I don’t think they’re necessary for most people the only people that I would say might want to consider something like that is an elite athlete who’s you know doing extensive training and they might be training for three or four or five hours a day and they need to replenish their electrolytes stores and then those those types of beverages they can research and select one that is that is appropriate and even you know um it’s the one group that it you know I would never recommending recommend people drink sugar um but some athletes need to drink sugar they they when they’re training for that long and can’t eat they need to replenish their their blood glucose levels and their and their electrolytes so those types of drinks can make good sense for for those individuals

yeah okay sounds good um what is your best advice for

Great Aging

aging well in general you know I I yeah and I mean you know you you interviewed the Santa who’s 81 and yeah I’m not quite a senior I’m 64. but my next birthday I’ll be 65. um my mom’s 85 so so she had her children at quite an early age um and I I just think look at the blue zones they have more centenarians than anywhere else in the world and I think what contributes to to Great aging is being um strongly socially engaged um not becoming addicted to anything especially cigarette smoking and and other addictive substances uh uh having strong families uh being involved in your family being a physically active is so hugely important yeah uh and then of course eating a healthy diet which is centered on whole plant Foods those to me are really the keys and you know being socially engaged I think of my mom she’s 85 years old and she does Fitness class with probably four or five times a week she still curls in the winter time she walks every day and she was out till midnight last night which is not typical for her at a concert today she was at a pancake breakfast in the morning because it’s Stampede here in Calgary right but she’s so socially engaged in her community and she’s just and every time I I talk to her and I I mean I talk to her every day probably two or three times a day she only lives 10 minutes away I I go and visit her almost every night but but when I talk to her and I say to her how was your day she always says the same thing and she says it was just perfect that’s amazing

and and you know I have an aunt my mom’s Aunt who I went for a walk in the woods with when she was 86 years old and my Mom was adopted at Birth and this is a birth act so I didn’t grow up knowing her and and so I was asking her a little bit more about her life and she was telling me you know she and my mom’s just like her I mean it’s unbelievable but um but but I said to her you know she told me about having cancer when she was in her 40s and and she she was in the hospital for a month and I said to her oh my goodness that must have been so difficult for you and she said oh no dear she said it was just lovely she said I just felt like I was in a hotel she said he has to do a thing and she said they brought me my and I thought okay that woman and when she was like 95 100 she was helping all the seniors in in her community doing grocery shopping for them whatever um but it was her attitude and that attitude that positivity I think is just so hugely important yeah that’s fantastic wow and it reminds me of my seven-year-old every time uh every day he’s like today is the perfect day ever and just everything is a new adventure and everything hitting right because it’s so awesome we can learn something from the little ones and also from our authors and people who over absolutely older than us and wise yeah our greatest teachers I think are our children yeah absolutely um you mentioned exercise being really important what is your favorite form of exercise

Exercise

well I I mean if I could pick I do a little bit of everything but I absolutely love being in the woods hiking running um I like I love um you know canoeing kayaking all of that sort of thing but what I do on a daily basis is I I’m I do uh classes at the gym because I’m at a computer a lot of my day and so I I go to the gym and I do a group class and so I’ll do kickboxing or staff or yoga or um weights or hit eye intensity interval training or or high low or whatever it is and I love the classes because you meet people there and it’s like a little social outing um but apart from that I you know I also get out into nature doing the biking and running and stuff like that as well so I’m I love to swim there’s almost nothing I love to um yeah do almost every physical activity you can think of and one of the I think one of the nicest things about you know growing older as a vegan uh who’s who’s conscious of of Health um is I I honestly can do physically at 64 years of age almost everything I could do when I was 30. I can still do the splits I can still do handstands and headstands and you know all that kind of stuff and I can’t say the same for most of my relatives who are the same age as me uh or even friends who are the same age as me and I really um I think that’s because well two things I haven’t stopped doing it and because I’m not creating chronic disease in my body with the food that I’m putting into it and so my arteries are still really healthy and my blood vessels and my blood pressure and so on and so I think it’s a one of the great advantages of eating a whole food plant-based diet

yeah that’s amazing and that’s my goal is to you know as I age just keep doing what I’m doing and yeah you know staying fit and staying active and staying engaged in Social connections and all these things I think a lot of times as people get older they just kind of think oh well I’m going to start to lose muscle mass I’m going to start to have you know aches and you know not be as capable or as um as vibrant and there are so many people like you in the world who are proving that that’s absolutely untrue and there are so many and it’s exciting you know it’s just exciting to see I love seeing people in their 80s and 90s who are still really physically active and enjoying fully uh their lives it’s just so inspiring so that’s my goal my goal is to be you know hiking up a mountain when I’m 100 years old and yeah and people uh saying you know how how can you do that and to say well here’s how and and I’m saying wow maybe this vegan thing is worth trying yeah maybe there’s something to that you know well and we are as vegans we are on trial in the eyes of the world um and until we have generations of vegans who you know reach that sort of um Milestone of being in their you know 90s and 100 years of age who are still vibrant and healthy we will remain on trial yes unfortunately yeah and yeah and so we just want to do everything we can to be as healthy as we can be because we don’t want to be exhibit number one for why people are Justified eating need for sure we want to be proof positive that this is a really healthy way to live absolutely yeah that’s wonderful

um if you could have one sort of closing thought or one um thing to sort of leave the audience with one extra piece of information or a piece of advice or tips uh what we what would you like to share

well I would say you know take this journey one step at a time it’s not about being perfect uh it never has been it’s you don’t if you uh end up eating something that’s got some egg in it or some you know whatever it is just keep moving forward and if you can’t do it all at once that’s okay if you don’t have to be a hundred percent perfect to to be on this journey you just need to be on the journey and every step you take in the right direction is worth taking and we’re celebrating even if it’s as simple as switching from you know cow’s milk to some sort of non-dairy milk or from white bread to whole grain bread or yeah you know whatever steps you can take towards improving your diet and making being just more conscious about your choices recognize where the food’s coming from being grateful for it and and trying to incorporate you know more and more healthy foods into your life and you know you can’t do it all at once

like yesterday I made um some dehydrated uh seed and vegetable crackers and they are the best crackers ever like they’re just so delicious but it’s a whole new thing for people it would be overwhelming for them to think about something like that yeah this morning I made some cheese out of cashews and it’s fermenting now and you know you just need to to know a little bit more to get into that kind of stuff you don’t have to be there tomorrow yeah um just just choosing you know taking the little step from eating you know puffed cereal to eating a really good uh steel cut oats or something like that yeah is a wonderful wonderful change to make and eating going from eating two servings of vegetables a day to eating five you know it absolutely those those small steps are are really valuable and so just be kind to yourself and and and value every little step you take you know go to some of these conferences on plant-based eating um you know watch some videos listen to podcasts share with friends just do what you can do when it what is comfortable for you at this stage and when you’re ready to take the next step you can take the next step and that’s it’s all good it’s all good

um so I I think you know recognizing and and remembering why you’re doing this you know when you think about it it makes no sense to to you know rely on animals for our food when it is not only unnecessary but it’s hurting humans it’s one of the biggest contributors to climate change and and it causes so much suffering for all of these animals who are used for food and I think as human beings we have a choice and we need to take responsibility for our choices and and we have the power to do that and so I just I think it it’s so wonderful when we recognize how everything is connected and by choosing a plant-based diet are the you know the impact of our choices are felt so far beyond ourselves and that to me is the most wonderful um the most wonderful news of all really message

I love that so much this conversation has been amazing and um it’s really inspiring to hear you talk about this with such passion and so much wisdom and expertise behind it and everything’s science-backed and also keeping it kind and compassionate at the same time I absolutely love that and appreciate that so much where can people find you what’s next for Brenda Davis what projects are you working on

yeah so well people can find me my email is Brenda Davis telus.net my website is brendadavisrd.com we have a plant powered protein website plant Dash poweredprotein.com uh and um the next project is actually going to be a book for seniors oh amazing so yeah I just you know we’ve got a little team together and we want to make something that’s really accessible easy to read big writing good it’s a super simple recipes answering all the questions they might have and so that’s the next project and then other things I’m working on I’m working on a continuing ed uh course for the American College of Lifestyle medicine I’m working on a number of Articles research articles one uh with the team from Yale on hyper tension and plant-based diets one on the Marshall Islands are our results and then another paper from the Marshall on climate change in the Marshall Islands that has just been submitted to a journal so I’ve always got different projects in the works and still uh you know just trying to make a difference um as much as possible

yeah that’s amazing you’re so busy working on so many different projects and so many things that are going to be so impactful to so many people and I think a book on Aging is really really fitting and really wonderful for people who are getting older and might have different needs or people who want to make the switch at an older age and are concerned maybe it’s too late it’s never too late right people can always be making the changes and like you say taking a step in the direction and another step and another step and you celebrate the wins and you just keep going right

that’s for sure Megan and you know one of the things that’s so exciting is the body has this immense capacity to heal itself and so even if you’re dealing with you know diabetes or heart disease or whatever it is um by changing the food that you’re putting in your mouth every single cell of your your body is a product of what you eat and so you can literally rebuild yourself you can you can you know put diabetes into remission you can reverse cardiovascular disease it is so powerful and there’s no age at which that will not occur and for me the biggest shock when I started working in this sort of Lifestyle medicine realm is how rapidly that actually takes place it’s astonishing how fast the body begins to heal

yeah that’s incredible thank you so much Brenda for being here and uh for having this conversation with me it’s been wonderful it’s going to be so incredibly helpful to everyone watching for my viewers thank you so much for watching and for being here and being part of the plant fit Mega Community if you’ve watched through till the end of the video put plants have protein in the comments section so that I know that you’ve watched this entire amazing interview with Brenda David thank you so much again for being here and sharing your wisdom with us

oh well thank you so much for having me Megan thank you also for all that you’re doing to educate your community and I’m sure the broader Community as well oh thank you so much this has been wonderful and I could honestly just talk to you forever because this is such such a great conversation and um so much so much good information for people not just science-backed information but science-backed information that people can easily understand and then can also apply in their real lives and really take from it and put things into practice which is obviously really really important it’s one thing to have the information it’s something else to do something with it so I really really appreciate um everything that you shared today thank you for that Meg thank you so much so for my viewers I’ll see you in the next video I hope you’re having an amazing day bye bye