Pegan Diet: Is It Paleo or Vegan Diet? What Is It Actually?

Thousands of different diets are circulating through the internet in recent years, each promising exceptional results – but only a few of them are truly delivering on their promises. The Pegan Diet is a term that has been rising in popularity recently, and many, people have adapted to this diet. The diet mixes the healthiest elements of both the Paleo and Vegan diet; thus creating a diet that ensures the dieter achieves a perfect balance between nutrition, healthy fats and other essential compounds that the body needs to not only be healthy but also to function better. In this post, we’d like to focus on what exactly the Pegan diet is, as well as take a look at its benefits and drawbacks, to help you make a more informed decision as to whether or not this diet is suitable for you.

What Is the Pegan Diet

Before we take a look at the pros and cons, as well as the food choices that you can choose from when you follow the Pegan diet, let’s take a quick look at what exactly this diet is. As we’ve mentioned previously, the diet is a combination of both a Vegan diet plan and a Paleo diet plan – many people are confused in this part as they think it is either one of the two. To better understand, let’s take a look at these two diets separately:

• Vegan Diet – The Vegetarian Resource Group ^[1]
  explains that a vegan diet is similar to a vegetarian diet, but in addition to excluding fish, poultry, and meat from their diet, vegans also exclude all kind of animal-related products from their diets and their lifestyle. This includes eggs and honey, as well as cosmetics, wool, leather and other products that contain animal by-products.
• Paleo Diet – A Paleo diet, according to Nerd Fitness ^[2]
  , is a diet that follows the tradition of “living like a caveman” about a person’s diet. This means a person who follows a Paleo diet would eat anything a caveman would be able to hunt for or gather, such as fruits and vegetables, fish, meat, seeds, and nuts. Anything that a caveman would not be able to gather or hunt for, such as cereal, candy, and pasta, should be eliminated.

CNN Health ^[3] explains that the Pegan diet fundamentally requires the individual to adjust their diet in such a way that meats only account for 25% of their dietary intake and plants for the rest of the 75%. Unlike a vegan diet that would only require a vegetarian diet for weight loss, as an example, the Pegan diet would also require the person to consume some meat as well, even when used for weight loss.

The Benefits Of The Pegan Diet

Let’s take a look at some of the most beneficial advantages that you can obtain when you follow the Pegan diet.

• The Pegan diet does not allow any dairy products to be consumed. While this might be difficult for some people to adapt to, it might have numerous benefits for you. Nutrition Studies ^[4]
  explains that higher dairy intake has been linked to a higher risk of prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, and type 1 diabetes.
• Pegan dieting ^[5]
  combines the healthiest elements of the Vegan and Paleo diet without bringing along any of the adverse impacts that any of the two diets have been associated with; thus you are giving your body healthy foods that will help it function better.
• This diet is also perfect for people who have a little extra fat that seems to be stubborn as the combination of foods often helps to reduce stubborn fat around the stomach and buttock areas.

The Drawbacks Of the Pegan Diet

Similar to how this type of diet has numerous benefits for the dieter, we should also focus on the drawbacks that this diet has.

• The Pegan diet completely prohibits the consumption of dairy products, which might be very difficult for some people to adapt to.
• This diet requires the consumption of organic meats only. These meats are much more expensive than non-organic meats, which means a person would need to have a larger budget to work on if they are switching from another diet to the Pegan diet.
• Switching from a Vegan diet to a Pegan diet can be quite difficult as 25% of all food intake should be meat in this diet, but with a Vegan lifestyle, the person would be used to completely avoiding any animal-based products, including eggs and meat.

What’s Allowed And What’s Not?

While we have discussed the most important aspects of the Pegan diet, we should also look at the foods that are allowed and, of course, the ones that are not allowed. We’ll also share some delicious meal ideas with you to help you get started.

Allowed Foods:

• Certain fats that are considered to be of high quality. These fats are high in Omega-3 fatty acids. It includes olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil.
• Lentils, but legumes, peanuts, pinto and other types of beans are not allowed.
• Healthy grains like quinoa.
• Grass-fed meat that comes from animals that are antibiotic-free (organic meat). Eggs, beef and other types of meat should not account for more than 25% of a person’s daily food intake.
• Vegetables and fruit are vital for this diet and must account for 75% of all food that the person consumes daily.

Disallowed Foods:

• Sugar should be avoided as much as possible. It is okay to consume something that contains sugar once in a while, but this should be seen as an occasional treat.
• Dairy should be completely avoided if you intend to follow through on this diet plan as dairy might be difficult to digest.
• Soy is also a food that should be avoided when following the Pegan diet plan.

Meal Idea

To help you get started, here are a few meal ideas that you can prepare while following the Pegan diet plan:

• Vegan Ceaser Salad
• Falafel
• Gluten Free Carrot Cake
• Chicken With Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Goat Cheese and Spinach

Final Words

While both the Vegan and Paleo diet is often considered to be two excellent choices when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, many people are now turning towards a Pegan diet, which combines the best elements of these two diets in one. The diet is healthy and has numerous benefits for the dieter, and can even help to reduce your risk of obtaining certain diseases and health conditions.

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