Vegan vs Health

I am the only on of my family that is a Vegan. I have been Vegan for 2 years before that a Vegatarian since i was 6 (28 now)

At the time of changing from Veggie to Vegan my sister was starting her training of being a dietitian so i had many lecture about reduced calcium etc... blah blah...

Like you maybe you know that it's because they care about you but it's sometimes nice to have support instead of lectures!

I have learnt A LOT since becoming a Vegan. I think the best thing for you is to do some research!! Then you have evidence to back up any questions your friends of family will have.

Personally i love being a Vegan not just because animals are must better off that way but i DO feel so much healthier!

Eating plenty of fruit and Veg is important of course but when becoming Vegan you have to make sure that you are replacing Calcium rich foods with good substitutes.

eg;
Fortified Breakfast cereals and milk substitutes.
You are looking for added calcium and vitamin B12 and Vitamin D.

I get mine from soya milk and soya yogurt

I also take a multivitamin everyday just to cover me incase i have not had enough (just to be on the safe side)

Aside from those listed you can get everything else needed from a Varied Vegan diet.
Have a look at http://ohsheglows.com/ It is a WONDERFUL Vegan website with LOADS of recipes sweet, savory and very yummy. Stuff you wouldn't have even thought of!

I'm here if you need any Vegan diet support of ideas :happy:

Fay

You can't change their minds. And there is no reason to. You need to do what you feel is best for you, there is absolutely no reason to involve anyone else. Veganism takes some work to do correctly but you certainly can get compete nutrition without eating animal products. Don't worry about what other people think.

^^THIS. You just have to be diligent.

Naaaaah you're fine.
I've been vegetarian my entire life and aside from (obviously) being over weight my body is SUPER healthy.
I've been vegan for a smidge over a year now and it's gotten me to be even more healthy.

I would STRONGLY suggest you slowly go vegan. I've had friends who got very ill from switching like that. So maybe do pescitarian, vegetarian, vegan. And that really only applies if you eat a lot of meat and are still learning as to what types of foods you need to be eating in that lifestyle.

Good luck =]

Definitely do your research as far as to what you need to supplement.

I know B12 is a must, unless you eat dirty vegetables you aren't going to get it in a normal diet.
Lots of vegetarian/vegan products are fortified with it though.

I concur with most the people here. Don't try to convince anyone. If you do it, and do it right, you can be healthy, and that will make an argument louder than words.

My wife and I have been on a whole-food, plant-based diet for over 7 months now, and we feel better than ever. You can do it!

I was a Vegan for a few years (still a vegetarian) and I have to tell you I never felt better in my entire life. I lost an amazing amount of weight, had tons of energy and for the first time in my life, I had absolutely NO food "issues". I've also considered going back because I know the benefits of it make the hard work worth it.

Most people don't realize how much protien, calcium and vitimins are in vegetables... eat to live is a really good book that got me to become a veg and it educated me on why we shouldn't eat animal products.

Good luck, don't let anyone tell you what is best for you!

I really would like to start eating vegan. It may be a stupid situation, but my family thinks it's unhealthy because they say we need certain amino acids that can be found only in meat and blablabla...
Is vegan really that bad? To me it seems very healthy
How can I change their minds?
Thanks

Your family is completely wrong. The only nutrients that you will naturally tend to come up short in eating a good vegan diet are B-12 and Vitamin D. B-12 is made by bacteria and used to be found more on vegetables and in water, but since we now chlorinate and wash everything much more carefully you'll need to supplement that. Vitamin D even most people who do eat animal products are deficient in during the months of the year when there isn't adequate sunlight to make it naturally.

You do need to be somewhat careful switching to a vegan diet, but that's not so much because it has health problems. Look at it this way... I've never really had the traditional diet of a person who lives in India. There are many people in India who are quite healthy, but if I tried to switch to eating nothing but Indian food overnight, there's a good chance I'd only come up with 2 or 3 meal options that I like initially, and then start eating virtually the same thing every day because I don't know what else I can eat. The lack of variety in my diet would lead to deficiencies and feeling like crap. The problem wouldn't be the type of diet, it would be the fact that I didn't know enough about it to make it work properly.

Also, people who become vegan sometimes just eat the same unhealthy diet they had before, but they substitute fake meats for the meat they used to eat. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with enjoying a Morningstar burger or something from time to time, but if that's the only change you make in your diet you're not really getting healthy.

For what it's worth, research backs the idea that greatly reducing or eliminating the quantity of animal products in your diet is healthier for you. This is not just a matter of 'humans aren't meant to eat meat'. Rather, humans aren't meant to eat the type of meat you can now find in the grocery store. There's a big difference between the health implications of eating say... a bison that was roaming the unpolluted prairie 200 years ago, and eating a cow that's been fed on corn (a very very unhealthy diet for cows), living on a dirty polluted feedlot with industrial pollutants everywhere, and not allowed to move around much at all because moving 'wastes' energy that his body could be using to bulk up.

(Produce available today is also typically less nutritious than what you used to be able to get easily., sadly. The difference isn't huge, but it's there.)

You may enjoy this resource: http://pcrm.org/kickstarthome/ It's a 21-day Vegan kickstart that's supposed to help you transition your diet in a healthy way more easily since they take over a lot of the initial figuring out what to do for you.

Vegans typically choose not to eat things like honey, gelatin, and white sugar (often processed with bone char). I would try not to worry too much about that kind of thing initially. While they are animal products, you'll get a lot more benefit for your effort out of focusing on getting rid of the big sources of animal products in your diet first.

I'm not vegan myself, by the way. I'm just well aware that there's no actual nutritional need for meat, and it really sort of takes up space in the diet that cold be occupied by more nutritious things for those who are so inclined.

All of this advice is really good, especially the bit about phasing out animal products gradually.

I'm a vegeatarian and about to start reading "The 30-Day Vegan Challenge" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, which I've seen frequently suggested on the boards here.

Yes, this is a great book. It will be very helpful in answering all of your questions about nutrition.

Your family is completely wrong. The only nutrients that you will naturally tend to come up short in eating a good vegan diet are B-12 and Vitamin D. B-12 is made by bacteria and used to be found more on vegetables and in water, but since we now chlorinate and wash everything much more carefully you'll need to supplement that. Vitamin D even most people who do eat animal products are deficient in during the months of the year when there isn't adequate sunlight to make it naturally.

You do need to be somewhat careful switching to a vegan diet, but that's not so much because it has health problems. Look at it this way... I've never really had the traditional diet of a person who lives in India. There are many people in India who are quite healthy, but if I tried to switch to eating nothing but Indian food overnight, there's a good chance I'd only come up with 2 or 3 meal options that I like initially, and then start eating virtually the same thing every day because I don't know what else I can eat. The lack of variety in my diet would lead to deficiencies and feeling like crap. The problem wouldn't be the type of diet, it would be the fact that I didn't know enough about it to make it work properly.

Also, people who become vegan sometimes just eat the same unhealthy diet they had before, but they substitute fake meats for the meat they used to eat. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with enjoying a Morningstar burger or something from time to time, but if that's the only change you make in your diet you're not really getting healthy.

For what it's worth, research backs the idea that greatly reducing or eliminating the quantity of animal products in your diet is healthier for you. This is not just a matter of 'humans aren't meant to eat meat'. Rather, humans aren't meant to eat the type of meat you can now find in the grocery store. There's a big difference between the health implications of eating say... a bison that was roaming the unpolluted prairie 200 years ago, and eating a cow that's been fed on corn (a very very unhealthy diet for cows), living on a dirty polluted feedlot with industrial pollutants everywhere, and not allowed to move around much at all because moving 'wastes' energy that his body could be using to bulk up.

(Produce available today is also typically less nutritious than what you used to be able to get easily., sadly. The difference isn't huge, but it's there.)

You may enjoy this resource: http://pcrm.org/kickstarthome/ It's a 21-day Vegan kickstart that's supposed to help you transition your diet in a healthy way more easily since they take over a lot of the initial figuring out what to do for you.

Vegans typically choose not to eat things like honey, gelatin, and white sugar (often processed with bone char). I would try not to worry too much about that kind of thing initially. While they are animal products, you'll get a lot more benefit for your effort out of focusing on getting rid of the big sources of animal products in your diet first.

I'm not vegan myself, by the way. I'm just well aware that there's no actual nutritional need for meat, and it really sort of takes up space in the diet that cold be occupied by more nutritious things for those who are so inclined.

All of this! +1

been vegan for 7 years, 3 year old is too. we are both great.

I think becoming vegan is a choice we all can make and, with some research, it seems it can be done healthfully. For myself, I doubt I'll ever pursue that. Over and over again, life proves out that form follows function. Our back teeth (molars) are designed for chewing plants and grains but our front teeth (incisors and canines) have been designed to grip and cut meat. Whether one believes that God or evolution designed our bodies, we were evidently designed to be omnivorous.

Amino acids:

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/apr/protein.htm