Plant Based Diet by Marcus Antebi
My book strongly encourages a plant based diet, but I know that some of you readers will not give up eating animal products. I will not be judgmental of you, and I ask that you not be judgmental of me. We’re both making dietary choices as we see fit. If you’re a good person and you don’t attack me with a machete or mistake me for a turkey, we’re good. Otherwise, we would have a problem, as I’m not a ‘turn the other cheek’ type of vegetarian.
I’d like to share some of my philosophies about the concepts and effects of eating meat. I understand and identify with eating meat, as I ate meat for most of my life.
I’m not paid by anyone to promote veganism. I’m giving information about it based on my own experience, and I’m trying to help others who choose to adopt that lifestyle. But, again, I don’t want to judge anyone for their dietary choices.
If a person goes vegan too early (before they’re ready to make the change), they may experience emotional roadblocks. Those emotional roadblocks in turn feel very physical. But such problems are not from veganism in and of itself. I’ve met a number of ex-vegans who told me they had become anemic due to lack of meat in their diets. That was and is horseshit. There is no scientific evidence whatsoever to support such a claim.
A person would only become anemic under such circumstances if they didn’t strive to get food from a broad-spectrum, plant-based diet. It’s necessary to get sufficient caloric intake, macronutrients, and micronutrients from a plant-based diet. Another consideration is that if a person had a rich meat diet for most of their life and then quit, it could take that person as long as three years to ensure that their body fully detoxes both physically and mentally.
The word “detox” essentially means the body ridding itself of endogenous waste byproducts. Conditions in the body need to be right before that beneficial process can occur. If a person’s diet is toxic, or if the person is in poor health, the body chooses not to release the toxic material into the bloodstream because it would create a burden. But when a person both increases their intake of plant-based minerals and gives their body a rest from dietary mistakes, then the body becomes ready to allow needed improvement.
A similar process of rapid detoxification occurs when a woman becomes pregnant. The woman feels exhausted much of the time. It is not because the baby is sucking nutrients out of her. It is because the mother’s body is going through enormous hormonal changes to enable it to perform a totally different function. Another factor is the woman’s emotional state. Sometimes she is very stressed, which makes it harder on her body. Sometimes she is very happy about being pregnant, and that makes her feel less burdened physically.
Although it’s difficult to find documentation regarding this in peer-reviewed studies, a pregnant woman’s body goes through an immediate detoxification process. In its infinite wisdom, the body knows that in order to grow life it has to make itself as close as it can be to the garden of Eden: The woman’s body is trying to create paradise for the new life.
I believe that this is why pregnant women experience cravings for unusual foods. They might have cravings for things they haven’t eaten in years. The detoxification is removing harmful toxins from the body, but trace elements of some things remain and cause such cravings.
Back to the meat eating issues. I personally became a vegetarian for a selfish reason. I was involved in Muay Thai fighting, and I had to bring my weight down considerably and train at a very high level for the competitions. I was at a considerable disadvantage because I started fighting at age 35, and most of my opponents were in their early 20s.
Thankfully, I beat the shit out of most of them. One exception was a really great fighter named Luke Lang. He kicked my ass for three rounds straight, but in the last 10 seconds of the last round I broke his nose. The ringside doctor stopped the fight, declaring it a TKO.
I was a vegan at the time, but my behavior pattern back then was crazy. I’d be vegan during my training, then after a fight I’d binge eat everything on the planet. I did such destruction to my body during the 72 hours following many of my fights that it’s amazing that I didn’t die of a heart attack. I would usually gain about 25 pounds in 48 to 72 hours.
I’m never going to try to convince a football player whose primary source of income is knocking over a refrigerator with the number seven on the back to become a vegetarian. A young athlete usually wouldn’t be receptive to a pitch for vegetarianism. Sometimes a big, bulky fighter or other professional athlete might be inspired to look into it if they heard of someone they knew and trusted doing so. It might beg the question of why a professional contact sport athlete with no particular chemistry problems who grew up eating a meat-based diet would want to switch. What would be the upside?
Nothing.
In the western world just now, and in the modern paradigm overall, we hear a lot of chatter claiming that most of us need a shitload of protein. And I know exactly where that comes from. It comes from people who get tremendous athletic results from eating shitloads of protein. They feel like Hercules, and they could kick their way out of a prison because they’re so empowered. Of course they’re getting a lot of protein, but they’re also getting a lot of calories. And that’s why they’re bulking up—not just because they’re eating protein.
It’s a societal and/or a psychological problem that we’re not telling our young people that bulking up is not about health. Rather it’s about feeling power and feeling strong: That’s what most people in general and young people in particular are addicted to. Protein will make them feel strong, rather than powerless and weak.
Protein matter in your chemistry will spike you up and make you feel energized as if you were drinking coffee—especially if you take in too much of it. And it has a very strong effect on your mood. When people are detoxing from protein, they’re often detoxing from the lack of emotional mood stimulation.
You can be big and strong on a plant-based diet. A great many people do it. And there are plenty of plant foods that are rich in protein: Research this and you will find it to be true. There are plenty of ways to bulk up without relying on fat and protein. And the supposition that carbohydrates are bad for athletes is utter nonsense.
Whatever you might trade for size and strength in a plant-based diet you will get back in endurance, overall longevity, and faster recovery times. On a plant-based diet, you will last far longer as an athlete—well into your 70s.
Providing that you’re not eating processed food, on a plant-based diet you won’t become overweight, lethargic, or riddled with symptoms of a multitude of diseases. On a plant-based diet you will become injured less. On a plant-based diet your pH balance will be exactly where it’s supposed to be; you'll have to exert less energy keeping homeostasis (body chemistry balance). On a plant-based diet you will not succumb to inflammatory illnesses such as arthritis as easily. On a plant-based diet you will avoid diabetes, and if you have diabetes already then your dependency on insulin will be much lower.
Two last things: If you are on a plant-based diet, nothing will have to die or suffer for you to get your calories. And if you are on a plant-based diet, the planet and its entire ecosystem will have one less person putting a burden on it.
You probably already know this. There have been thousands of documentaries produced explaining that raising livestock and poultry puts a considerable burden on the environment.
There are many reasons why you should consider vegetarianism, or at least consider reducing your animal protein intake down by a significant amount. You can replace the nutrients from a very wide variety of plant foods.
Amen.