Vegan taking vitamins!?!
Vegan taking vitamins!?
I am thinking about becoming a vegan and I have heard a lot about how if you dont eat the right foods you will be mal nourished. I have researched and found out you have to get vitamin b12, iron, and a lot of other vitamins. If I take a centrum vitamin every day and on the back it says it has 100% DV for all the vitamins I need then doesnt that mean I dont have to worry about getting the right vitamins from foods that I eat? Even though if I become a vegan I am not just going to eat chips and soda all day I will eat really healthy.
Answers:
When you first become a vegan, you should probably take a vitamin (find a vegan vitamin!) just because it IS a big switch and it's time-consuming to find all the recipes and figure out exactly how much of different things you need to make sure you get all your nutrients. The B12 thing is very important, B12 is a vitamin that is found in bacteria (not in meat or meat products itself, but in the bacteria they naturally contain).
Miso and tempeh used to contain B12 when they were made in more "home"-like conditions (ie-not held to cleanliness standards). The tanks used for fermenting were not cleaned regularly and therefore during fermenting, the bacteria was absorbed by the miso/tempeh which made it a source of B12. Unfortunately this is not the case and B12 is an IMPORTANT vitamin that is HARD, if not impossible to come by on a vegan diet. Also soy products carry their own risks (phyto-estrogens, GMOs, etc), but that's another topic.
I (as a vegan) would recommend that you go ahead and take a vegan multi-vitamin when you begin your diet. Once you feel that you've created a healthy, well-balanced diet, you can decide if you want to stop taking the vitamins, or do one every other day, half a day, whatever feels best for you. Then if you start to feel tired or like something is lacking, you can re-assess your diet.
Good for you for getting information before you do this! Best of luck to you!!
Since you're gonna eat healthy then the additional supplements will not be needed. Although fitness guru Bill Phillips says that one should use supplements I disagree. If one EATS organic fruits & veggies then those vitamins will be supplied in those foods. Especially if You grow them yourself.
You may want to check out where some of the vitamin sources Centrum gets theirs; it May be Animal sources. Also as a vegan if you do decide to use supplements make sure the Capsules are Vegetable ones.
I have not stepped as far a Vegan I have done Vegeterian I would assume that you're wanting to go vegan to become Independent of the other sources and rely on the goods of the earth.