Plant-Based Pragmatism: When Diet Meets Ethics

Can you stay plant-based without the perfectionism? Registered Clinical Nutritionist Luke Gabites and Dr Cliff Harvey get honest about food values, food rules, and why rigid diets often backfire. Most diet arguments online come down to rules: you either eat this way perfectly or you're out. Luke spent years eating a strict vegan diet for ethical reasons. He joins Cliff to talk about what happens when strict rules meet real life, real bodies and real clients. Both have plant-based roots, both have become more pragmatic, and neither is anti-vegan. In this episode we cover: How Luke and Cliff each came to plant-based eating, and why both have softened over time Why a vegan diet isn't medically suitable for everyone, including Cliff's systemic nickel allergy and Crohn's disease Whether a vegan diet always results in fewer lives lost, and where food systems and consumerism fit in Values vs rules: an acceptance and commitment therapy lens on how we eat Rigid diets, perfectionism and the link with disordered eating What the research on plant-based eating actually shows, and where it gets overstated Working with clients across the dietary spectrum without pushing your own ethics Luke's one universal principle: start with your values, then build a mostly whole-food pattern that lets you live CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:12 Cliff on pragmatism, veganism and dogma 03:49 Welcome Luke 05:05 Luke's path: migraines, student flatting and yoga in India 07:51 Holding values without rigidity 09:30 Cliff's story: hunting, Buddhism and going vegetarian 12:15 Crohn's disease, nickel allergy and eating meat again 15:36 Does a vegan diet always take fewer lives? 17:35 Food systems, gardening and killing slugs 19:20 Perfectionism in diet communities 20:04 Restrictive diets and disordered eating 22:00 Diet vs ethos: the vegan category problem 23:00 Values vs rules 26:28 Identity, performance and hypocrisy 27:39 Insects, puha and cats: where is the line? 30:17 Living in alignment and self-compassion 33:28 Backlash for changing your diet 36:58 Online criticism and when to block 39:45 Bioindividuality and lived experience 41:37 Reading nutrition research pragmatically 45:11 Working with clients of every diet 48:40 Who ends up in your clinic 53:44 Knowing when to refer on 56:47 One universal truth in nutrition 1:00:32 Coach-first practice 1:02:39 The Practitioner's Roadmap ABOUT LUKE GABITES Luke Gabites is a Registered Clinical Nutritionist (Clinical Nutritionists Aotearoa) and Wellness Educator based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, and the founder of Planted Nutrition. He graduated with first-class honours from the Institute of Holistic Nutrition, completed HPN 2 clinical nutrition training at HPI, and co-hosts the Thrive: Mind & Body podcast with psychologist Jane Gabites. Website: https://plantednutrition.nz/ YouTube:    / @planted.nutrition   Instagram:   / luke_gabites   Thrive: Mind & Body podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast... LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Cliff's low-nickel diet and Crohn's disease case report (Journal of Metabolic Health, 2026): https://doi.org/10.4102/jmh.v9i1.127 EPIC-Oxford study, Tong et al. 2019 (BMJ): https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l4897 Kristin Neff on self-compassion: https://self-compassion.org/ HPI faculty and advisors: https://www.holisticperformance.insti... LISTEN ON ALL PODCAST PLATFORMS https://www.holisticperformance.insti... WANT TO DO THIS WORK YOURSELF? Get the free Practitioner's Roadmap: career pathways, scope at each level, what practitioners charge in NZ and Australia, and which registration bodies recognise what. https://www.holisticperformance.insti... FOLLOW HPI Instagram:   / holisticperformancenutrition   Facebook:   / holisticperformancenutrition   LinkedIn:   / holistic-performance-institute   YouTube:    / @holisticperformance   Subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and tell us in the comments where you land on this one. #PlantBased #Nutrition #TranslatingNutrition