Health Problems from Being a Vegan?

HannahPastoor
HannahPastoor Posts: 303
edited September 25 in Food and Nutrition
I have been a vegetarian since I was 10ish....Today I half jokingly and have seriously said I was going to be a vegan (I want to mostly be a vegan/am mostly vegan) and my mom said that it was dangerous. She said that a vegan couple lost their baby because they were vegan. She didn't go into detail because someone came over right after she said that. My older sister actually ate a little meat yesterday (she is the one who turned me onto being a veggie) because her and her hubby wanna have a baby.

Is being a vegan dangerous? Why?
Is being a vegetarian dangerous?
Have you have a baby while you were a vegan or a vegetarian? Did you change anything? Take extra vitamins?

Any info on this would be great!

I am currently not planning on having bio kids because I am deathly afraid of doctors, giving birth, needles and florescent lights....Not joking. I also have a very low pain tolerance. I plan on adopting all 20 of my children. : )

Replies

  • CallousMalice
    CallousMalice Posts: 32
    Well, you have to remember that as omnivores, we only absorb at most 50% of anything we eat. I've tried to be a vegetarian several times and since I'm anemic, it's landed me in the hospital more than once. It can be done but it's extremely difficult and you have to eat a LOT. There are also types of protein and iron you get from meat that you could never get from veggies, which your body needs. Meat has lots of zinc which helps the immune system and helps get other nutrients like iron to where they need to be. (It's especially important for men because zinc increases testosterone)

    Believe me when I say, I can understand wanting to be vegetarian. I was a huge grassroots animal rights activist back in the day. But I've never agreed with veganism. That diet leaves your hair flat and sickly, skin pale, eyes sunken, you just don't look healthy at all. Plus, a lot of vegan food is straight up nasty, I'm just saying. And the morality behind it is kind of flimsy. You take an apple... now the apple by itself is vegan. You dip that apple in honey and it's no longer vegan. You dip that same apple in pesticide and it's still vegan. WTF? Seriously. At the very least, have fish and even some chicken sometimes. You don't need red meat or pork. Good luck with this.

    Addendum: Almost forgot to tell you-- if you go for the whole vegetarian thing, stay away from spinach. It has a compound called oxalate that binds to both iron and calcium, and you end up peeing 90% of it out. When your iron intake is limited, you have to be careful or you'll end up anemic too.
  • leomentlines
    leomentlines Posts: 440 Member
    The only problems I can think of from being vegetarian or vegan would just be making sure you're getting in all of your daily nutrients.. I am vegetarian (my 6th year in) and have yet to have any health problems arise as a result. As long as you eat a varied healthy diet you should be fine.

    I don't believe what your mom stated, as its all about getting adequate nutrition during a pregnancy - I've seen many non-vegan/vegetarian mothers exist off of cheetos and other junk while pregnant only to have healthy babies :)

    And kudos to you for being willing to adopt - I'm sure you'll make a great mom to those children that need one. When I get a bit older I plan to have one child naturally and adopt one myself.
  • Lollyvoddy
    Lollyvoddy Posts: 194 Member
    I have been a vegetarian for six years, along with my two eldest children. We have never suffered any ill side-effects from our diet. There is a lot of vegetarian products out now that it doesn't have to be a struggle. I was vegan for about a year, but I was rather hopeless at taking the supplements I needed and ended up with a vitamin deficiency problem (made me feel run down and I got some purple blotches on my arms). I went back to a vegetarian diet and the problem resolved itself. If I could afford the vitamins and had time to devote to planning my diet I would be eating vegan, but for now, vegetarian is fine :)
  • nikos
    nikos Posts: 27 Member
    I was vegetarian/vegan for years and never had any problems with it. Just eat non animal protein. I ate the same amount when I was vegetarian as I do now, I just ate more beans, tofu, tempeh, yogurt, soymilk, nuts, and other non-meat protein sources. It is really not difficult for most people to be a healthy vegetarian; and if you're tracking your food, you should have no problem telling if you're getting the macro nutrients you need. You can throw in some nutritional yeast and braggs for a little extra b vitamins. Or vitamin supplements. But if you're questioning even vegetarianism, definitely do some more research/ talk to a dr./nutritionist before going all the way vegan.
  • suzycreamcheese
    suzycreamcheese Posts: 1,766 Member
    If you want to be a vegan, thats fine, but if you want to be a healthy vegan, youre going to have to pay a LOT more attention to your diet than an omnivore, as your sources of good protein, B vitamins and iron etc are much limited.
    It can be done, but you may find you need to supplement too.

    Vegetarianism is more healthy, but it depends on your reasons for becoming vegan.

    The couple who lost their baby were vegan, but it wasnt about the diet in so much as them being neglectful idiots who pretty much starved their baby to death
  • marber
    marber Posts: 118 Member
    There has been a recent story in the UK press http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371172/French-vegan-couple-face-jail-child-neglect-baby-died-vitamin-deficiency.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

    I think there is more to it than just being vegan but the press like to have an angle.

    I am not vegetarian but I do believe it is possible to be healthy and vegetarian or vegan but you need to educate yourself.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    You can certainly be a healthy vegetarian or vegan but as other posters have said, you do need to pay attention to your diet.
    I was vegetarian for about 5 years but ended up getting very deficient in Vitamin B12 and have to have shots every week for a few months. If you feel strongly about it, go for it, but make sure you see your doctor and check out the levels of essential vitamins and minerals and make sure you eat well.
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
    In terms of the couple who lost their baby, I think they were a French couple who not only had strict vegan diets but refused medical help even though their baby was malnourished and subsequently died. The mother was low on Vitamin B12 and I think Vitamin A and was breastfeeding. They preferred natural remedies or their own form of healing rather than anyoutside intevention (this is not to say that natural remedies are bad, just in this case maybe applied without a good understanding) with the subtext in the press that they were a little crackpot.

    I think the key issue with vegans, and shows in this story is vitamin B12. It is difficult to get through a vegan diet, but most vegans have been aware of this for many years and take supplements. it's not a dangerous diet (I am an omnivore I should add) providing you know what you are doing.
  • SageGoddess320
    SageGoddess320 Posts: 2,589 Member
    bumping for later
  • JohnnyNull
    JohnnyNull Posts: 294 Member
    I was a vegetarian for seven years, two of those being vegan.

    There are concerns, particularly with being vegan. I've read that there are healthy hormones that are not released in your body unless you take in meat. There can be protein and iron issues if not careful. Soy is also not particularly healthy to eat regularly, or in high amounts.

    There's controversy over B12. The real answer is that you can get a form of B12 though a vegetarian source, but it is not a form that is taken up effectively in the human body. This can cause extreme problems in long-term meat-free folk.

    We evolved to take in a variety of foods, so limiting a huge part of a healthy diet will not be without hazards.
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
    As a personal stance on the issue I believe the it goes against how we were designed as a species, we are omnivores and we need to eat from all sources, but to each their own.
This discussion has been closed.

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