Two brothers, Hugo and Ross Turner, identical twins, who are both into fitness and “adventuring” decided to try an experiment where one twin went vegan for 16 weeks and the other continued eating meat. The results were pretty interesting.
The question they wanted answered was “Could your food choices alone be the key to shaping not only your physical health but your mental clarity and gut health, too?”
They both performed the same endurance training regimen during the time period.
Physical Health
Over the 4 months, Hugo, the twin on the vegan diet, lost 8.8 lbs. He also became leaner and more defined. In his words “shredded”.
Ross, the twin that maintained the meat-based diet, saw his weight remain stable, but his muscle mass and strength increased. He noticed an increase in his weightlifting capacity and overall strength.
Energy Levels
Hugo initially had lower energy levels as his body tried to adjust while he maintained his demanding exercise regimen. As a result, he had to increase the amount plant-based protein in his diet to compensate. Eventually, however, he felt lighter and more agile.
Ross reported feeling heavier and slower during cardio sessions compared to Hugo.
Unanticipated Findings
“On a vegan diet my mental focus was much better, I didn’t have the mid-afternoon energy dips, and felt a bit more charged,” Hugo said in an interview. Additionally, his Hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) reduced significantly from 5.9 to 4.9. However, he noticed his libido decreased dramatically.
The other significant difference was the diversity of gut microbiome — the populations of beneficial bacteria that live in the human digestive system. When Hugo swapped his animal-based protein for tofu, tempeh, and jackfruit, his gut microbiome diversity increased, thereby improving his resilience to some forms of chronic illness (such as Crohn’s disease) and lowering his risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Takeaway
On average vegans are healthier than meat eaters, but within that there’s a huge range and there are some very unhealthy vegans and vegan diets.
It depends on the quality of the food. “It’s not about whether you have meat on your plate or not” says Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London. “Many vegans often find themselves eating ultra processes food, because of reformulating standard foods, particularly dairy substitutes and meat substitutes – that are probably as unhealthy as eating processed meats.”
A balanced diet is the key.
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