Is there a perfect diet? (Part 1)

Going vegan

Around Easter 2023 I decided to change my diet. Up to then I was a vegetarian so I was already off meat and fish. I went further by also giving up dairy products, like milk, cheese, and yoghurt. I also stopped eating eggs, whether boiled, fried, or scrambled. At the same time I dropped all bread, biscuits, and cereals that had significant quantities of wheat in them.

In effect I became a non-wheat-eating vegan.

I took this step because I had just come through a bad bout of what is commonly called Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Here is what one text book says about this condition:

IBS is used as an umbrella term to describe the list of symptoms which relate to a disturbance in the bowel’s function, rather than a structural abnormality or underlying illness which would explain the symptoms.¹

The same text goes on to describe IBS “as a baffling and mysterious disease because no two people are affected in the same way”.²

In my own case IBS (or whatever it was) never became so debilitating that I could not function. The worst symptom was a continuous cramp in my stomach after lunch. Mostly though it was gas and a rumbling gut for an hour or two following my midday meal. So, as far as possible, I held business meetings in the morning rather than the afternoon. Otherwise I was not affected that badly. I never went to a doctor and I don’t have a formal diagnosis. As long as I was careful about what and when I ate, life was grand.

Following retirement I forgot I even had the problem until one day I was driving back to Dublin after a pleasant few days in the country. I could feel a certain queasiness rising up inside and I remembered the rich food I had eaten during the trip. My digestive system seemed to have a mind of its own and, try as I might, I could do nothing to quell the old familiar symptoms of cramp and bloating. It was as if my mind and my stomach were at war with each other.

When I got home I decided to tackle the problem once and for all. But it was not just the IBS. A month earlier I had turned seventy and I was becoming more and more conscious of the need to look after my health. I was determined not to allow my body to ‘run down’ into an ever-narrowing range of options. That would lead, I thought, to the horror of having my bodily functions facilitated either by a stranger or, even worse, a loved one.

I was and am convinced that I alone bear responsibility for my well-being – not a doctor, not a nursing home carer, not a member of my family. Me. So I acted.

Having done some preliminary research I decided on a little self-experimentation, hence the diet change. (I will talk about my previous vegetarianism another time.) The results so far? The immediate issue, my IBS symptoms, disappeared almost immediately. I felt, and continue to feel, more alive and energetic than ever. I judge it to have been a successful move overall. But I did not stop there.

I carried on reading relevant books and articles, watching videos and films, and talking to friends and relatives. As I delved deeper into the subjects of diet and health, I saw more and more signs that there is no single perfect diet for a human being. No one-size-fits-all. We are all different.

I have come across carnivores, vegetarians, fruitarians, etc. who swear by their respective and very different diets. Since they adopted their new eating and drinking regimes they claim to be in better health than ever before. On the other hand, I have heard of vegans (like me) who went back on the steaks because a plant-based diet made them feel terrible.

I believe them all. So what is going on? Does it matter what we eat and drink at all? I have yet to reach a firm conclusion on this, but I do have a working hypothesis. It is this.

The human body is not a machine that invariably performs at its peak if we ingest only the best sustenance and reject the crap. Humans are complex beings, made up of mind and soul, as well as our physical bodies. We are not merely flesh-covered robots. You don’t have to believe in God to appreciate this. Nature, whether in the form of a sunset or a butterfly, shows us the truth of Shakespeare’s dictum that “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy”.

So is what goes into our minds just as important as what goes into our stomachs? Is what we think or believe as significant as what we eat?

For instance when I realised a few years ago that no microscopic virus could overcome my bodily defences - unless I let it, I stopped getting colds and flus. Is this a case of mind over matter? If so, why can I not extend similar mental control over other aspects of life?

Fo instance, some of us think we can remain unaffected by what we watch or read, whether it be graphic violence, pornography, or propaganda. Yet would profit-hungry corporations spend billions on advertising every year if it had zero effect on consumer behaviour? Maybe that is why I avoid mainstream media as much as I can. I used to work in marketing so I have been inside the ‘kitchen’ so to speak. I know what goes on in there. Even so, I don’t believe I am immune to clever messaging. But back to food.

I can speak only for myself - no one else. I was motivated to change my diet in order to correct a problem that could no longer be avoided. My decision led me into uncharted territory that I have been exploring ever since. I have by no means reached the end of the road. I am not sure if there even is an end to this road. But I would like to share some of what I am discovering with anyone who is interested.

Maybe too, readers on their own voyages towards better health will share what they have discovered about diet and related matters? Who knows, perhaps together we can find answers to the questions that trouble us all?

1. Robert Duffy, Irritable Bowel Syndrome: The Essential Guide (Peterborough 2018), p. 11.

2. Ibid, p. 12.