I confess: I don't eat vegetables!

By Kim Marquardt, RN MSN

This blog post is from the Nurse Kim archives of myth busting. I want to share some "alternative" or maybe just lesser known health and wellness viewpoints for you to chew on.

*These posts are not intended as official medical advice.

They ARE meant to be fun, informative, and thought provoking, hopefully sparking an interest for you to do your own research (you can start with the links I provide!) and discover the marvels of the human body, and how it can function at its optimal performance level if we understand how it works and interacts with our environment and our diet.

I have a passion for health and wellness through lifestyle and nutrition and have done thousands of hours of research in addition to being a registered nurse for 23 years. I have done A LOT of self-experimentation in and around diet, lifestyle, body care, and supplementation and have spent a lot of time looking into the science behind it all (or lack thereof!). Check back weekly for the latest post!

----- 

What if I told you that I do not think vegetables are the end all be all super foods that they are touted as? Would you still love me? (Some of you might love me more! 😉)

I am fully aware this goes against literally all mainstream nutritional advice, but I thought I would end the semester with a BANG. Why not!

Plants don't want to be eaten

Factually speaking, plants don’t really want us to eat them, and therefore, because they can’t run away, scratch, or fight, they make defense chemicals that are toxic to insects, animals, and humans. Now there are certain animals that eat plants as their primary source of food, but they eat very specific plants only. Panda bears, for example, eat bamboo, and that’s it. Their digestive system is designed specifically for that plant, just as ruminant animals are designed to eat and digest grass whereas humans can’t digest grass at all.

Plants vs. Fruit

Now I want to take a second and acknowledge the difference between plants and fruit. When I refer to “plants,” I am referring to the typical “vegetable” parts of the plant, i.e., the seeds, stems, and leaves of which when you eat them, the plant can no longer grow or reproduce. Fruit is different. The plant clearly wants us to eat its fruit, which does not kill it, and can instead, propagate the plant.

Let’s illustrate this theory of plant toxicity in another way…

If something catastrophic happened and humans had to live in the wilderness, would you just start eating a bunch of random plants? Or would you be hesitant because they might be poisonous and make you sick?  

The fact of the matter is, MOST plants ARE poisonous to humans, and we therefore cannot just walk through the forest and consume a bunch of plant foods without getting very sick (or worse). Over the course of human history, we have learned what plants we tolerate the best, and domesticated those crops to grow for food.

But to jump from the idea that plants are good survival foods to – plants should be the main foods we consume, and we should have two dozen servings a day – is very ancestrally inconsistent and in my opinion, not nutritionally sound.

Ethics

I want to pause here and also acknowledge that some people choose to eat only plants (I used to be a raw vegan) for reasons other than simply nutrition and I totally respect that. The fact is, I am discussing what I believe is needed for optimal human health nutritionally speaking. We can have a separate conversation about the ethics and environmental implications of certain types of diets which I think all have issues and can be argued for or against.

In summary

Here's where I have ended up with all my hours of research, self-experimentation, and lots of reading:

• Meat, eggs, raw dairy, and easily digestible sources of starch like white rice and potatoes are my main digs at every meal.
• Fruit juice, and fresh, frozen, or dried fruit are great snacks and/or dessert.
• Plants are medicine – used as garnish or filler, or for a specific medicinal purpose.

I absolutely believe in the hermetic and healing powers of certain plants and herbs. There is no doubt that these elements have been used for very specific purposes in human history and are, in fact, the basis for a lot of our synthetic pharmaceuticals. But I do not believe that blending 37 servings of vegetables up and drinking down the green sludge is either necessary or beneficial... and it is so unbelievably inconsistent with our nutritional history as a species.  

Have a wonderful semester break! See you on the flip side!