Broccoli
Mr. Skeptical sees the title Broccoli, and his eyes widen while pointing an accusing finger at me. “Broccoli is known by many as a superfood. It has tons of vitamins and minerals.”
I nod in agreement. “I’m not saying it has no vitamins and minerals.”
Mr. Skepticals eyes squint at me. “You are going to find a way to make broccoli unhealthy. I know you.”
I try to suppress the ends of my mouth from curling up.
“I’m tired of your carnivore ways. Broccoli is good for you. You should leave us alone and go back in time and become a caveman.”
For a moment, I reflect on some of the large, fatty animals humans hunted to extinction. In America alone, we killed off the Woolly Mammoth, American Mastodon, Giant Armadillos, several species of camels, giant ground sloths, various horses, and most recently, the Passenger Pigeon. I would’ve enjoyed hunting them, but would I have had the wisdom to conserve them for my descendant’s future?
Subconscious Fat at 30,000 Feet
Broccoli—a symbol of health and virtue for many. But let’s take a closer look. Did you know that broccoli, like many vegetables we eat today, didn’t exist in the wild? It’s an invention. That’s right—broccoli is a man-made creation, bred from the mustard plant family by ancient farmers. Its rise to superfood status is a product of modern dietary trends. But is this nutrient-packed green giant the hero it’s made out to be?
Mr. Skeptical folds his arms, demonstrating stubbornness. “It’s a superfood! Packed with vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants. You can’t argue against that!”
“Well, we can start by acknowledging that broccoli didn’t even exist a few thousand years ago. What does that say about its necessity in the human diet? I’m all for a diet of natural foods—foods humans evolved to eat over millions of years—like meat. But broccoli? It didn’t become popular in the US till the 1930s.”
“So what? Just because it’s newer doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s low in calories, high in nutrients, and has been linked to reducing cancer risks!”
Subconscious Fat at 10,000 Feet
People’s biggest misconception nowadays is that they see something like broccoli as a superfood (see the history of how and who invented the word superfood here) when, in reality, it’s still a plant vegetable.
“So what? What’s wrong with being a vegetable?”
“Vegetables don’t want to be eaten, so they develop chemical warfare to make eating them not worth it. Veggies like broccoli have oxalates, which can cause kidney stones. They also have glucosinolates, which prevent the absorption of iodine. Broccoli is not all-good and healthy like people think.”
“What about fiber? Everyone says how broccoli is great for that.”
“We’ve already talked about how humans don’t need fiber as much as we’ve been led to believe. See my post on that here. We didn’t evolve eating high-fiber foods. Our ancestors thrived on meat, fat, and organs. This was nutrient-dense and bioavailable—precisely what our bodies are optimized to digest. And while one article might mention how broccoli is good for fiber, another one will mention how it gives people gas.”
Mr. Skeptical smirks, clearly eager to challenge me. “But what about all the vitamins and minerals in broccoli? Vitamin C, folate, and antioxidants? You can’t get those from a steak.”
“Many people don’t realize that a carnivore diet provides all the essential nutrients without broccoli or any other vegetable. For example, liver is packed with vitamin C. And let’s not forget that cooking vegetables like broccoli often destroys many of the nutrients people are after in the first place.”
Subconscious Fat at Eye-Level
But what’s the real issue here? As a carnivore advocate, I believe the problem is bigger than just broccoli—it’s how we’ve become obsessed with vegetables like it, even though our ancestors thrived for millennia without them. Broccoli might be a superfood today, but only because we’ve been told it is by modern nutritional science, which constantly shifts, like the wind, like where the money is blowing.”
Mr. Skeptical shakes his head. “I don’t know. I’ve always been told to eat my vegetables, that they are good for me.”
“While it’s revered today as a staple of the modern "healthy" diet, not everyone has fallen for its charms. Some pretty prominent figures have famously disliked it. For example, the 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush, made headlines when he outright banned broccoli from Air Force One, stating: "I do not like broccoli, and I haven't liked it since I was a little kid, and my mother made me eat it."
Clearly, not everyone buys into the broccoli hype.
Practical Suggestions and Conclusions
So what’s the takeaway? I’m not saying broccoli is the root of all evil, but let’s not kid ourselves into thinking it’s necessary for good health. It’s a relatively recent invention, and its benefits are often overstated. Meanwhile, our bodies are designed to thrive on animal products, just as our ancestors did for thousands of years.
Mr. Skeptical’s eyebrows rise in disbelief. “You truly believe people can live without vegetables, even broccoli?”
“I don’t just believe it; I’m doing it now. There’s a growing community of people who follow carnivore diets and experience incredible improvements in their health by eliminating plants altogether. So, next time you reach for that broccoli, ask yourself: Do you really need it, or have you just been told you do?”
Be aware.
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