The Pegan diet combines elements from both paleo and vegan. Many say it’s less restrictive and with a better balance of macronutrients.
I’ve jokingly said for a few years now that I have my Vegan friends, my Paleo friends and the ones who are a combination of both. I never thought to call them Pegans. Granted I have a few who call themselves Pagan, but that’s another story entirely.
CNN did a lead front page story today on this new trend sweeping the nation called (you guessed it) Peganism.
When Paleo meets Vegan
From CNN’s piece about going Pegan
The pegan diet focuses primarily on fruits and vegetables — specifically, filling 75 percent of your diet with plants, and rounding out the other 25 percent with animal protein and high-quality fats. “The pegan diet is a somewhat odd combination because the foundation of vegan diets is a belief of not consuming any animal products,” says nutritionist and chef Beth Saltz, MPH, RD. “A better description is probably a very clean, modified paleo diet.”
I’d definitely rather see some of my own relatives on this than the diets I see them on now which are rich in meats (much of it processed) dairy (not raw or organic) and grains (not organic and some GMO) They also eat sugar. Lots and lots of added sugar.
They goes on to say in the article about Peganism:
“By combining the principles of these two diets and reducing their specific dietary restrictions, you get a diet that’s better balanced in regards to macronutrients, and easier to follow than a strictly paleo or vegan diet,” says Caroline Cederquist MD, creator of bistroMD and author of “The MD Factor.”
Kristin Kirkpatrick, a registered dietician at The Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, says, “Some of the problems with paleo and vegan diets are that they are difficult to follow.” For instance, people trying to go paleo tend to miss their grains, while vegans often have a hard time getting enough protein. “This approach is very sustainable for the average person,” Kirkpatrick says.
The Pegan Diet
I’m happy to see that the Pegan diet is plant based (75%) and they don’t consume dairy soy or sugar. I would say if someone eats soy that it not be GMO. If a Pegan eats sugar that it be naturally occurring (like fresh organic fruit) and not processed or added refined sugar.
This could be a fad, but I’ve seen many moving this direction for several years. Now someone just claimed it for themselves and gave it a name. But I think anyone can eat Pegan. Personally for my meat eating family I’d rather see them be 95% plant based, but 75% is definitely a start.
