I'm an ex-vegetarian. I even did it "right" and still wasn't functioning very well. I was weak all the time, no energy, bad brain fog. I didn't start functioning again until I started eating meat again.
I don't believe there is a one-size-fits-all diet for everyone. Food tolerances/intolerances vary from population to population, so do many nutritional requirements. For example, lactose intolerance is almost universal in populations of people whose ancestors didn't practice cattle husbandry. Some people are more adapted to be able to tolerate certain diets than are other people.
Many Tibetans who went into exile in India, tried to be vegetarian like a majority of Indians. There is little to eat in Tibet that isn't meat, and so the Tibetans are adapted as meat eaters. The Tibetans who attempted vegetarianism became very, very ill. This is in the Dalai Lama's autobiography.
It really seems like people seem to have following a spiritual path collapsed with dietary asceticism, and then they tend to parade their diet as evidence of how evolved they are. And they spend a lot of time trying to find the perfect diet.
A website I really like is beyondveg.com, the owner confronts these issues.
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