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Plants are not necessary for Vitamins and Minerals Pt. 2 (they aren’t all that nutrient dense either)

Again I want to preface this with the statement. Plants can certainly be a healthy part of a ketogenic diet. If you like them then please feel free to eat them so long as they do not kick you out of ketosis they are perfectly OK. My point is that they are not necessary to get all your vitamins and minerals and they are in no way shape or form more nutrient “dense” than animal foods.

Yesterday I showed a graph with all the vitamins and their sources. What this chart showed was that animal products out gunned plant foods in every vitamin even when the deck was stacked in the veggies favour. A large 1 cup serving was used for every plant food vs. a very small 1oz serving of animals foods.

This clearly showed that plants are not the nutrient dense powerhouses that the rest of the nutrition world would have us believe.

The same can be demonstrated for all the minerals. As you can see every animal food has a best, good, or adequate source of each of the minerals. Even with the very small serving size I have used.

So there you have eat. Eat plants because you like them. Not because they are vital, necessary or “nutrient dense”.

Keto ON!

Coach Jack

10 Replies to “Plants are not necessary for Vitamins and Minerals Pt. 2 (they aren’t all that nutrient dense either)”

  1. I have head that if you don’t eat enough green leafy veggies you will develop fatty liver and/or have gall bladder issues due to all the fat going through your liver. I love salad however I do feel pressure to eat lots of it.

    Is this even remotely true? It makes sense but it doesn’t make sense. Lol! I’m desperate to find the truth, please give me your take on this. 😊

    1. Fatty liver is caused by either alcohol abuse or eating too much fructose/carbohydrate in combination.

      Fatty liver is a state where the liver is overwelmed with an energy source that only it can deal with. The only sources that fall into that category is alcohol and fructose.

      You drink excessively and the liver has to deal with all the alcohol which causes it to not be able to deal with any other energy so it starts to store it as fat.

      You eat a ton of fructose and the liver has to deal with it and can’t deal appropriately with all the other energy coming in so it stores it as fat.

      This is a problem of energy management and has absolutely nothing to do with magical plants. Plants cannot flush the liver of energy. They arent wizards. 🙂

      Short answer is no, plants cannot save you from fatty liver. If you eat too much fructose or drink to much booze you are are getting fatty liver and no amount of plants can save you. Nice story but pure fiction. 🙂

    2. If you think about what the gallbladder does, stores bile for release to digest fat, then why would a high fat diet cause gallbladder issues? I suspect the low fat diet craze in the 80s and 90s is what caused my own mother to develop gallstones, as when you consume very little fat the bile stays in the gallbladder longer, potentiating gallstones.

  2. Thank you! There’s so much conflicting information on the web. I know it’s well intentioned but extremely confusing.

  3. Do you have an opinion on what is considered ‘adequate ‘ protein? So many different opinions out there. Thanks.

    1. Yes.

      The USDA established guidelines of 0.8g per KG of ideal bodyweight during world war two. At this time people were getting rejected left and right for service for being too skinny and frail. They set these standards to ensure hearty stock as they say.

      Since then the WHO has reviewed thousands of studies on protein metabolism and has determined that the actual need to maintain lean mass is 0.45g per KG of ideal body weight.

      Some keto experts would say that it is more like 1-1.5g per KG of lean body weight which is probably not far off from the 0.8g per ideal body weight. I am a firm believer, and many studies have confirmed, that reduction in mTOR signalling, which is signalled by protein primarily, decreases risk of many diseases especially cancers and prolongs life. The best way to reduce mTOR is to keep protein as close to your actual need as possible.

      I eat 60-80g a day and I am 205lbs and very muscular. I also train 2 hours a day 5 days a week. I do not lose lean mass and actually gain it at a fairly steady but slow rate.

      So anywhere between 0.45g to 1g per KG of ideal bodyweight is usually what I like to see with 0.45g being the sedentary and 1g being the athlete.

      Protein Requirements

  4. My concern is, will not eating vegetables increase my chances for developing gout?

    1. Why would it? Gout is caused by an increase in uric acid and uric acid is usually caused by a chronic positive nitrogen balance. This is present in a high protein diet. I do not advocate a high protein diet and actually advise against it.

  5. My question is regarding cholesterol. I’m 62 yo female and have fought with high cholesterol numbers across the board for years. Recent results are HDL at an awesome 91, while the doctors are flipping out over my LDL at 206 and Total Cholesterol at 312. Will the Keto woe help?

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