Vegan vs Caveman

Question
Dear Laurie,

I am 32, and have recently gotten into healthy eating and realised it抯 the best thing in the world! All my other hobbies and activities have been pushed to one side while I explore the wonderful benefits of eating the foods my body is designed to thrive on.  I cannot believe the difference it makes to your life.  Anyway, so far I抳e tried two different diets. In both cases I ate fresh foods and avoided processed foods or refined sugars as much as I could, and definitely felt better for this both times.
Firstly, the 'caveman', or 'paleo' diet which as you probably know involves the elimination of any grains, dairy or processed or refined foods. I found this high protein diet gave me a lot of energy and also a lot of stamina provided I ate carbs before exercising; otherwise I got tired very quickly.  
More recently I've tried the vegan diet after reading that this is meant to be the kindest to your system and the healthiest way to live - virtually eliminating the risks of cancer and heart disease. I have found, if anything, a depletion of energy on this diet, although I am feeling healthier and far less stressed.  
Do you place any store in the claims made by people such as Mike Andersen (you may have seen his documentary 'Eating'?) that eating animal produce is fundamentally bad for us? I have to say I felt great when on the caveman diet and at the time I believed the main two sins were refined sugars and other processed foods combined with lack of exercise.  But if there is much research indicating that animal produce is bad for you, I may stick out with the vegan diet. I抳e noticed it抯 certainly cheaper as well.
Having said that, I have also read that the best diet would be one where you eat fresh, mainly plant based foods, with the occasional addition of meat, as this is the diet our bodies function best on. I was thinking I could use the saving I made from eating mainly vegetarian to warrant the occasional expense of a good quality, responsibly sourced meat product such as free range chicken or wild salmon.  Either way I have made the decision not to eat factory farmed meat as I believe this is an unhealthy way to produce meat ?but that抯 my personal choice.
Anyway, thanks for reading, if you have any advice I would be grateful. I think the role of nutritionist must be fascinating given that there is nothing more important to people than what they eat, and yet in my society (UK) we seem to largely ignore the subject, although I think more people are becoming diet-conscious these days.
慙et food be your medicine and your medicine be your food?br> Yours sincerely,
Owen

Answer
Dear Owen,

I find it fascinating that the two diets you've tried couldn't be more polar opposites! One almost all meat and the other with no animal products at all... you've got to be one of the only people who've embraced both of these and stayed on them each long enough to judge how your body reacts to these diets.

Personally, I've always embraced the idea of "everything in moderation", although lately I've learned the value of having certain foods in much less moderation than others!

You might be interested in this article about nutritious diets from our Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion in the US: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/NutritionInsights/insight2.pdf#xml=http://...  You might appreciate a few of these, like the Asian or Mediterranean pyramid which does limit animal products to more rare occasion.

I am also a huge fan of the DASH diet (originated to help prevent and treat high blood pressure by lowering sodium intake and increasing potassium and calcium intake) and you can find that here: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf
It is supported by our National Institute of Health. I felt very full when I tried this diet, and it's low in fat and cholesterol and sodium, with plenty of other "good" nutrients. I would recommend it to many people.

There are many different diets that focus on certain foods or nutrients or nutrient groups and others than eliminate the same ones... it depends on your taste and your beliefs, your health conditions, and how you feel on the diet. Once I taught a college course that required the students to keep a food diary for a few days and evaluate their own intake for balance and nutritional adequacy--after seeing the way those students ate, I realized the human body can do very well while receiving very little in the way of nutrition!

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