Is being vegan an "excuse" for when I exceed my sugar or sodium or other levels?

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diogomello12
diogomello12 Posts: 33 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've been pretty healthy lately keeping up with my vegan regime, but I use to exceed a bit on my sugar levels and sodium (sugar because I tend to eat some vegan cookies with dates and sodium because the pea protein powder that I usually buy has around 3750 mg per 100g).

My question being: even though I'm being 100% vegan and I manage to hit all the protein, carbs and fat that I need, am I still being unhealthy because I tend to surpass my other "unhealthy" levels?

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  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    Adding to what @MikePTY said being unhealthy is a lifestyle not just food selections. You could eat whatever people consider "perfect" but still have very unhealthy habits and be in sub-optimal health. On the other hand you may have really good healthy habits overall and eat fairly poorly and still be in really good health.

    To name a few and in no particular order:

    Proper weight
    Exercise
    Sleep
    Stress mitigation
    Medical check-ups and, if needed, medical intervention
    Healthy relationships

    These are all things that can have a more immediate impact on your health than food.

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    I have no medical reason to track Sodium and Sugar, so swapped them for Fiber and Iron (I'm anemic).

    MFP counts all sugar, but various health organizations are focused on added sugar, not the intrinsic sugar that comes in fruit, veggies, and dairy (adding dairy for others who might be reading and are not vegan.)
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    If your blood pressure is good don’t worry about sodium. In fact, studies show that eating as low as the current ADA recommendations for sodium is associated with greater mortality and there are no health problems associated with eating more until you get over twice as much.

    The ADA sugar recommendation as stated above is meant to be added sugars, not all sugars as MFP calculates it.

    As a vegan it’s much more important to be aware of b vitamins, particularly b12 which is pretty hard to get without supplements on a vegan diet. Don’t stress about sodium or sugar, or for that matter carbs, as long as you’re hitting goals for protein and healthy fats.
  • dmkoenig
    dmkoenig Posts: 299 Member
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    I don't know what brand of pea protein you use but that is really off the charts for sodium. I use Orgain protein powder which has a blend of pea, brown rice and chia protein. Serving size is 46g (half the size of yours) and provides 21g protein. Sodium is 200mg, double that it's still only 400mg. Look for a better alternative protein powder...

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