Is a Plant-Based Diet Healthy?

And how do you tell a crank from a reliable dietitian?

A dietitian will say: It depends.

Because if you eat fries, wash them down with Coca-Cola or beer, or even (or especially) vodka,
then yes — that is a vegan diet.
A vegan diet is unhealthy as hell.

And if you eat a Mediterranean diet, with meat, of course (though in much smaller amounts than the average Western People eats) — that will be the healthiest diet out there. There’s a broad consensus on this in evidence-based nutrition (EBM).

You can also eat a vegan version of the Mediterranean diet, and that will be just as healthy.

Just like with a traditional diet, the foundation is a balanced and varied meal plan, not a balanced and varied diet.
In other words, what’s on your plate should be as diverse as possible.

The remaining rules are equally simple and basically the same as for omnivores:

• too much fat — bad; less fat — better
• too much sugar — bad; less sugar — better
• simple, refined “white” carbs — bad; dark, whole-grain, unrefined — better

It’s also worth realizing that by their very nature, vegan and vegetarian diets have certain built-in advantages. A vegan diet contains no saturated fats at all, and a vegetarian one contains much less of them. It’s generally lower in calories and higher in fiber.

If you eat more or less the same way you do now, but eliminate meat and animal products and — above all — make sure you replace protein with plant protein, then in most cases this will mean your diet becomes healthier.

Because you eliminate (or significantly reduce) saturated fats and increase fiber intake, improving two things that are major problems in the modern human diet.

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor or a dietitian, just a chef who treats evidence-based nutrition as an important part of culinary knowledge. I’m a member of the Polish Society of Lifestyle Medicine, a scientific association of professionals.
My nutritional knowledge is sufficient for me to be aware of my own ignorance — and above all, to recommend that if you need medical or dietary advice, you consult a doctor or a certified dietitian.
Internet celebrities, food technologists, and even chefs are definitely not authorities in this field.