In Episode 70 I sit down with Gastroenterologist Dr Will Bulsiewicz to talk about Ex Vegans. Specifically we discuss the typical journey of these folks who have bailed on Veganism and the gut health issues they have described. Dr B and I drill down on what is happening with the aim of helping you if you ever find yourself in a similar position.

By way of background this episode was inspired after a handful of Vegan influencers bailed on Veganism and reintroduced animal products back into their diet. One after the other, in what seemed like a 3-6 month period, it became a ripple effect where some of the most prominent influencers jumped on board and also reintroduced animal products into their diet. I listened to all of their stories and noted many similar patterns. I also noted that despite none of them being qualified in Medicine or the field of Nutrition/Dietetics many people in the comments were second guessing their own diet. It became apparent that the size of their following almost made their qualifications irrelevant. I'm all for influencers and I don't think everyone needs a degree to talk about a subject. However, the devil is in the detail of what's being spoken about and with life threatening eating disorders absolutely rife, we need to be careful how certain information is shared and who we, as individuals, go to for qualified information. I realised the vulnerability of these people and the vulnerability of their community, who had unknowingly been getting advice about nutrition from people who were privately going through pretty significant battles with food & their health.

So with that in mind I thought it was really important for me to get a world leading Gastroenterologist on the show to make sense of what's going on here. Its really important to note that the case study we discuss in this is 100% hypothetical. It's the typical journey spoken about by these influencers but isn't specifically about any single person in particular and I think you will see by the way the conversation goes that we both have absolute empathy for anyone struggling with their diet.

To kick things off Dr B and I recap Episode 17 where we did an in-depth conversation on the importance of the microbiome for our overall health. If you haven't listened to that episode I highly recommend you jump back and listen to it - it's the most listened to episode of this show to date.

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Hope you enjoy the episode friends.

Simon Hill
Creator of Plantproof.com - your FREE resource for plant based nutrition information
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Book coming out 2020 with Penguin (all proceeds being donated to charity)