going vegan
Replies
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tiffaninghs wrote: »YOU will NOT be deficient if you only eat plants!! never believe that bull!!!
You will if you don't take time to learn how to avoid deficiencies.6 -
tiffaninghs wrote: »YOU will NOT be deficient if you only eat plants!! never believe that bull!!!
You will if you don't take time to learn how to avoid deficiencies.
Very true. I had a couple of friends in high school hospitalized with protein deficiencies because they thought going vegan meant just not eating meat. Little did they know the importance of proteins and fats.3 -
Pro: enviromental benefits of not buying into the meat industry (deforestation etc)
Con: just look at the list of foods you won't be able to enjoy, ever.1 -
tiffaninghs wrote: »YOU will NOT be deficient if you only eat plants!! never believe that bull!!!
It takes more planning and knowledge...I've known vegans who didn't know what they were doing...two of them became very anemic. Also, B12 supplementation is necessary which a lot of people don't realize.4 -
Pros: Not contributing to unnecessary animal suffering. Also for me more energy, less bloating & clearer skin.
Cons: It can take a little bit of getting used to the beginning, the reading ingredient labels, asking questions at restaurants, general lack of quick on the go snacks..dealing with other people's negative opinions! It does get easier though, you find brands and places you already know are vegan, the market is growing, you care less what people think...2 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Just so we're clear: going Vegan does not automatically lead to weight loss. There are plenty of chubby Vegans. People have this misconception that cutting out animal products leads to weight loss because they seem some waif-like anemic vegans on the internet and think it will make them skinny.
Pros- Do it if you feel guilty eating meat and luv the animals
Cons- Unless you plan your diet out very carefully and take supplements, you are going to end up with nutritional deficiencies. You can't just randomly eat vegetables and be healthy. Animal products contain important nutrients in concentrated quantities such as vitamin B12, protein, and iron. Proteins from most plant sources are incomplete and must be combined with complimentary proteins from other sources in order to be utilized by the body. So you will have to be really careful and conscious in order to make sure your nutritional needs are met. This is not a diet that you can just eat X amount of calories and be fine, there is a lot more to it if you don't want to end up sick. This diet is also high carb, so if you find that your body tends to blow up on carbs, this diet wouldn't be ideal for you. This is a "high-maintenance" diet which takes a lot of work, and since most people in your life aren't Vegan, it makes things harder for you when it comes to social gatherings and makes you the odd one out.
I highly recommend that newer vegans take some time to plan their diet, but once you have the basics down, it doesn't really require a lot of work or planning to meet your nutritional needs as a vegan.
You can't randomly eat vegetables and be healthy, it's true. But you can't randomly eat meat and be healthy either.
Vegans, just like non-vegans, can make a choice to eat lower carbohydrate. While going genuinely low carbohydrate would be more challenging for a vegan, many vegans eat moderate carbohydrate -- not high carbohydrate.
I agree with all of this. I'm not vegan (vegetarian with a vegan leaning), but I joke that it's just as easy for me to eat like a frat boy now as it was when I still ate meat and more animal products. There's an awful lot of tasty vegan junk food out there!3 -
tiffaninghs wrote: »YOU will NOT be deficient if you only eat plants!! never believe that bull!!!tiffaninghs wrote: »YOU will NOT be deficient if you only eat plants!! never believe that bull!!!tiffaninghs wrote: »YOU will NOT be deficient if you only eat plants!! never believe that bull!!!
Somebody pin this somewhere !9 -
Don't call yourself a vegan if you still continue to wear leather, etc. since it will make you seem like a totally trendy hypocrite to most of the world and the hardcore vegans will hate you for tainting their turf. If people ask what diet you're on, just tell them you're a vegetarian. There's much less social stigma to deal with.
Not only leather but no more wool or silk. No more personal care and home products with beeswax. No more honey. Avoid many cosmetics with red or purple dye.2 -
Depends on your beliefs and motivations for doing so.
Pros: much smaller carbon footprint, less contribution to animal suffering. Lower consumption of animal proteins is linked to better heart health. It'll expose you to new foods and cuisines.
Cons: It can be easy to get malnourished if you don't know what you're doing. You need a B12 supplement at the very least, and presumably vitamins D and K2 and iron and zinc and calcium. It's an extreme in some sense, making social eating situations and traveling a bit more involved. It can expose you to a lot of pseudoscience so be mindful of where you get your information (it won't cure cancer for example). If you have other dietary restrictions, such as IBD or gluten intolerance, you'll need to invest even more in diet and plan ahead.
It sounds like the list of cons is longer than the list of pros, but ultimately it's not a lifestyle that's built into our culture hence the need to emphasize research and planning when embarking on a vegan diet. It depends on your motivations. Don't expect this to be an easy fix.2 -
Depends on your beliefs and motivations for doing so.
Pros: much smaller carbon footprint, less contribution to animal suffering. Lower consumption of animal proteins is linked to better heart health. It'll expose you to new foods and cuisines.
Cons: It can be easy to get malnourished if you don't know what you're doing. You need a B12 supplement at the very least, and presumably vitamins D and K2 and iron and zinc and calcium. It's an extreme in some sense, making social eating situations and traveling a bit more involved. It can expose you to a lot of pseudoscience so be mindful of where you get your information (it won't cure cancer for example). If you have other dietary restrictions, such as IBD or gluten intolerance, you'll need to invest even more in diet and plan ahead.
It sounds like the list of cons is longer than the list of pros, but ultimately it's not a lifestyle that's built into our culture hence the need to emphasize research and planning when embarking on a vegan diet. It depends on your motivations. Don't expect this to be an easy fix.
I supplement B12 and D, but get plenty of K, iron, zinc, and calcium from plant foods. This isn't to say that some vegans don't supplement these (just like some non-vegans do), but I wouldn't presume that a vegan has to supplement them.1 -
suzannesimmons3 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Depends on your beliefs and motivations for doing so.
Pros: much smaller carbon footprint, less contribution to animal suffering. Lower consumption of animal proteins is linked to better heart health. It'll expose you to new foods and cuisines.
Cons: It can be easy to get malnourished if you don't know what you're doing. You need a B12 supplement at the very least, and presumably vitamins D and K2 and iron and zinc and calcium. It's an extreme in some sense, making social eating situations and traveling a bit more involved. It can expose you to a lot of pseudoscience so be mindful of where you get your information (it won't cure cancer for example). If you have other dietary restrictions, such as IBD or gluten intolerance, you'll need to invest even more in diet and plan ahead.
It sounds like the list of cons is longer than the list of pros, but ultimately it's not a lifestyle that's built into our culture hence the need to emphasize research and planning when embarking on a vegan diet. It depends on your motivations. Don't expect this to be an easy fix.
I supplement B12 and D, but get plenty of K, iron, zinc, and calcium from plant foods. This isn't to say that some vegans don't supplement these (just like some non-vegans do), but I wouldn't presume that a vegan has to supplement them.
A vegan has to supplement B12 as you cannot get it in a plant based diet.
I supplement B12, my comment was in reference to K, iron, zinc, and calcium.
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suzannesimmons3 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Depends on your beliefs and motivations for doing so.
Pros: much smaller carbon footprint, less contribution to animal suffering. Lower consumption of animal proteins is linked to better heart health. It'll expose you to new foods and cuisines.
Cons: It can be easy to get malnourished if you don't know what you're doing. You need a B12 supplement at the very least, and presumably vitamins D and K2 and iron and zinc and calcium. It's an extreme in some sense, making social eating situations and traveling a bit more involved. It can expose you to a lot of pseudoscience so be mindful of where you get your information (it won't cure cancer for example). If you have other dietary restrictions, such as IBD or gluten intolerance, you'll need to invest even more in diet and plan ahead.
It sounds like the list of cons is longer than the list of pros, but ultimately it's not a lifestyle that's built into our culture hence the need to emphasize research and planning when embarking on a vegan diet. It depends on your motivations. Don't expect this to be an easy fix.
I supplement B12 and D, but get plenty of K, iron, zinc, and calcium from plant foods. This isn't to say that some vegans don't supplement these (just like some non-vegans do), but I wouldn't presume that a vegan has to supplement them.
A vegan has to supplement B12 as you cannot get it in a plant based diet.
B12 is a bacteria found in soil (and found in animal products due to them ingesting it from the source) and is commonly deficient in many people, meat eaters or not. It's certainly not a plant based problem.
It's also fortified/found in a lot of foods such as cereals, plant based milks/butters, marmite, nutritional yeast... I guess you could say that fortifying foods is supplementation in some form, but it's certainly not necessary to take a physical supplement for it assuming you eat those sort of foods. If you don't, by all means take it, it's a very important vitamin - just putting out there that it is possible to obtain through plant based foods.
The only thing I supplement with is Iron. This was something I benefitted from even when I was eating red meat and animal products every day, so I still take it now. I have tracked my intake and B12, calcium all the rest are fine.1 -
You can get vitamin B12 from yeast flakes and it kind of tastes like cheese! I sprinkle it on soups, stews, pasta etc
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chantelledes3 wrote: »You can get vitamin B12 from yeast flakes and it kind of tastes like cheese! I sprinkle it on soups, stews, pasta etc
Not all nutritional yeast is fortified with B12, so people using it as an alternative to supplements should double-check their brand to make sure it has it.2 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Depends on your beliefs and motivations for doing so.
Pros: much smaller carbon footprint, less contribution to animal suffering. Lower consumption of animal proteins is linked to better heart health. It'll expose you to new foods and cuisines.
Cons: It can be easy to get malnourished if you don't know what you're doing. You need a B12 supplement at the very least, and presumably vitamins D and K2 and iron and zinc and calcium. It's an extreme in some sense, making social eating situations and traveling a bit more involved. It can expose you to a lot of pseudoscience so be mindful of where you get your information (it won't cure cancer for example). If you have other dietary restrictions, such as IBD or gluten intolerance, you'll need to invest even more in diet and plan ahead.
It sounds like the list of cons is longer than the list of pros, but ultimately it's not a lifestyle that's built into our culture hence the need to emphasize research and planning when embarking on a vegan diet. It depends on your motivations. Don't expect this to be an easy fix.
I supplement B12 and D, but get plenty of K, iron, zinc, and calcium from plant foods. This isn't to say that some vegans don't supplement these (just like some non-vegans do), but I wouldn't presume that a vegan has to supplement them.
Interesting, that's good because my gummy multivitamin (I'm an adult!) doesn't have K in it and I assumed it was kinda niche but I've heard vegans who are into nutrition talk about it. Thanks for the followup.1
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