The Vegan Trap

Two weeks into my whole-food plant-based experiment, I’ve learned something interesting about human behaviour, including my own.

Even when you are aware of nutrition, even when you understand gut health and metabolic balance, old habits can try to quietly creep in, and not always in obvious ways.

Now before I go further, let me be clear about one thing. This is not directed at people who choose veganism for ethical reasons, what I am talking about here specifically, is the person who goes vegan for health. Not that ethical isn't health... but you get the idea.

What I discovered very quickly is that eating a whole-food plant-based diet requires far more planning than people realize. Meeting your protein requirements takes effort, yet at the same time I see people all the time that can't even 'meat' those needs following traditional diets because of the way our food system has evolved.

When you are eating real plant foods, you fill up very quickly because of fiber. Beans, lentils, vegetables, grains, chickpeas. They are incredibly filling; there is only so much volume you can eat in a day. And even though at the same time, it's completely achievable and becomes easier the more you do it....

...this is where something interesting happens.

If your meals are not well thought through, you start looking for shortcuts.

Protein powders. Processed “high protein” snacks. Packaged vegan products that promise convenience. The moment that happens, the whole idea of eating whole food starts to unravel.

You end up eating foods that may be labelled vegan but are not necessarily nutritious. Suddenly the ingredient lists include seed oils, starch fillers, artificial sweeteners, dextrose, and flavour enhancers. Foods that are technically plant-based but far removed from anything resembling real food.

And this is what I have started calling the vegan trap.

The illusion of health.

Veganism itself is the problem; the modern food system has learned how to package anything with the word vegan and sell it as healthy. The same applies for sugar free, if there's no sugar, what exactly is making it sweet?

I caught myself falling into this trap more than once over the past two weeks.

I went looking for coconut yoghurt. After some searching, I eventually found one made only from coconut and culture. No additives. No thickeners. Just two ingredients.

I didn’t enjoy it.

I tried single ingredient chickpea pasta; I didn’t enjoy it either. The absence of gluten protein changes the texture completely.

I tried a few things I wouldn't again try in a hurry, but the experience forced me to ask a more honest question.

What exactly am I trying to replace?

The same thing happened with soy. I can blend tofu into coffee and make a creamy milk alternative, and that works perfectly. But when I try to eat chunks of tofu in food, I simply don’t enjoy it.

And again, the question arises.

Why am I trying to force something into the role of something else?

This is where many people start moving toward vegan nuggets, vegan burgers, vegan cheese, vegan desserts.

In other words, foods designed to imitate the things we removed.

At that point we have to stop and ask a very simple question.

What is the goal?

If the goal of going plant-based is health, then replacing whole foods with ultra-processed vegan alternatives simply creates a different version of the same problem.

You can still end up eating badly. The only difference is that the label now says vegan.

It forced me to see just how quickly we look for replacements when something familiar disappears.

It also reminded me of something important about nutrition. When you remove animal protein from the diet, you are also removing a significant source of fat.

Fat does more than just provide energy, it makes food satisfying, it carries flavour... it gives food body and richness.

When fat disappears from a food system, something else usually takes its place. Most of the time, that something is sugar.

So, while plant based whole foods should absolutely form the basis of our daily meals, and we want to feel better in our bodies, it’s worth sitting down and reminding ourselves why we got here in the first place.

What was the actual goal?

Because regardless of whether someone eats animal products or follows a plant-based diet, the same principles still apply, and gut health still rests on the same foundations.

And good, honest, clean nutrition remains one of the pillars that support it.