Back to the 80/20 Theory, with a different take on it. Last time it was 80 per cent good food and 20 per cent all the other stuff. This time, let’s consider 80/20 from the plant food perspective, or even more specifically, from the vegetable/fruit perspective.
If we could eat 80 per cent of our food as vegetables and fruit (in that order, I’m thinking)—and consumed the very best quality we could afford—the remaining 20 per cent would be made up of such foods as seeds and nuts, legumes, meat, selected grains and dairy. So we can pretty much sidestep the whole vegan versus non-vegan question as we’d all be at least 80 per cent vegan anyway. (Of course, I’m talking about health and not animal rights here. Also, it must be remembered that a vegan diet isn’t necessarily a healthy one. You can be vegan and eat all sorts of packet and canned rubbish.) Our health, if we stuck to vegetables and fruit for the majority of our food, would blossom—no matter what combination of food we ate the other 20 per cent of the time.
I don’t subscribe to the idea that eating this kind of diet is hugely more expensive than the regular diet of the vast majority. I think if you have cut out crappy fast food, bakery goods, alcohol, carbonated drinks, sugary treats and the like, you will find you have quite sufficient money to buy all that you could need in the line of vegetables and fruit. The seeds and nuts, grassfed meat and ancient grains are a different story, but they’re only 20 per cent of the diet and they’re worth paying more for, in my opinion.
Money saving measures also come in handy. If you buy your fruit and vegetables in season you save more and arguably your body will thank you for giving you the right foods at the right time. If you are happy to cook and freeze in bulk, glut periods for fruit and vegetables become a great opportunity to stock up on food when prices are down. Growing your own is another way to save money and of course have control over what is or isn’t sprayed on your food.
If the large majority of our diet came from fresh, wholesome food that started life above the ground or under it rather than in a manufacturing plant and if our food still looked like it did when first picked off the tree or plucked from the bush or dug from the ground, I believe we would have an incredibly healthier population. Many of the diseases that plague the developed world would cease to be such a threat to our health. And we would feel better. Less dragging ourselves through life with myriad aches and pains, let alone life-sapping chronic conditions, and more feeling strong, healthy and a whole lot happier because of it.