eh i beg to differ. my doctor reports are awesome from now than when i ate meat cheese and other crap.
my friend has been a vegan his entire life from birth and hes 35 and built like a fucking lumberjack.
It's like everything else, though. There is a myriad of body constitutions and there isn't a one size fits all to eating. People metabolize foods differently. I've seen some pretty sickly looking lifelong vegans (I went vegan for over a year) and I've seen bloodshot looking meat eaters.
I so wanted to stay w/ the vegan thing, but no matter what combo of foods I ate or how much plant proteins I incorporated, my iron was not being metabolized and I was anemic. I know, doesn't make sense with all the leafy greens I eat. Supplements were not the ticket either for B vitamins for me. So had to incorporated a bit of animal protein back into my plan. It didn't take much, but that balanced things out more.
I've got a friend (girl) who is a body building vegan and she looks fantastic. Has anyone ever read "Eat right for your Type?" it's about nourishing yourself based on blood type. Pretty interesting reading.