Vegan... ?!
Vegan... ?
If you are vegan... what were some of the long-term effects of this diet style on your health?
Additional Details2 months ago
I mean, I became vegan several months ago, and feel great - but I'm just wondering about the long run...
Answers:
2 months ago
I mean, I became vegan several months ago, and feel great - but I'm just wondering about the long run...
Vegans are healthier long term than their meat eating counterparts. Vegans have much less instance of diseases, heart problems, obesity, and will even get colds and flu less frequently than meat eaters. I became a vegan last summer, and so did my son. The winter before we became vegan, my son had gotten no fewer than six colds. This last winter on a vegan diet he has not even had a runny nose or a cough. He is taller, more muscular, and has better sleeping patterns than the average for children his age. So don't worry about long term...you'll live a very long, healthy life if you stay vegan. :)
Those who are vegan are at risk of some vitamin ( B12) and Foolat deficiency and iron deficiency anemia, so it's better for them to use some complements.
In India they are that way, but they got all their nutritional bases covered, do you? Analyse your diet and make sure your body is getting excellent fuel with everything. I mean you might have to actually eat more nuts when you cut out meats and be concious of substituting non meat for meat items in a calculated way. Where is your Omega 5 going to come from? Can it be generically produced? Do you know how to properly matabolize calcium from your diet? Can you break down your diet and see if you are eating the right things for your health. And also the new findings on red fruits and cancer, and green leafy palnts that contain high levels of calcium and anti-oxidents. Follow some good research in medicine and science, adapt meals from other cultures and your own. expand your pantry with vegetarian basics of good quality.
Been one about 8-10 years and it has kept me from becoming a middle-age blubber ball. It stopped my insidious a pound and a half a year since college. Lost and kept stable weight without exercise. With exercise the past year, even better! Feel good.
The 1 and only downside is that it takes a lot of time and energy and patience to learn how to look after youself correctly, because from birth 99% of people are taught lies, false truths and misinformation, and they are maintained by a variety of means (not just advertising) to reinforce those lies multiple times EVERY DAY.
Every other effect you can imagine is positive and/or neutral, and all are long term provided your vegan diet is long term. You question asks about the long term effects specifically on human health, so lets look at that briefly:
The average omnivorous diet is deficient, if not completely void, of digestive enzymes, a wide variety of essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, water, probiotic bacteria, alkaline bases, and essential fatty acids.
The average omnivorous diet is inclusive of, usually to excess, and often dangerously excessive of, fat, including trans fat, saturated fat, and colic fat, sugar, including artificial sweeteners and calorie-free chemicals, salt, monosodium glutamate, hydrolysed vegetable protein, genetically modified ingredients, pesticide (including herbicide, fungicide, insecticide, etc) residue, lifeless dead matter, cancerous compounds, cancer causing agents, mutagens, undigestible materials, glue-like foods that stick to the bowel and colon, dehydrating drinks like alcohol, pshychotropic and hallucinagenic foods, smoking cigarettes, coffee that messes up the body's adrenal glands' ability to manufacture adrenaline, and 500 - 600 other things.
If you become vegan, you are taking the first of many steps to choosing that your health is important to you, and that you want to live a happy and functional life, and you are demonstrating to everyone who sees you that it is not hard, that you can satisfy your taste buds, and that it is a rewarding path to feeling good and right and free.
If you have any doubts, meet a vegan, and you'll notice the smile on their face!
long term effect is better health. Generally vegans have a lower risk of heart disease and cancer.
The magic of the vegan diet is not that it makes you a healthier individual on its own, it forces you to look at what you eating and how it affects you and others. I never cared about nutrition before I became a vegan. Veganism helped me understand that my body is constituted of what I eat. I don't know the exact statistic, but I think that your body is largely made up of what you ate in the past 8 months.
And I don't want to be a downer, but it always helps to do the occasional nutritional check, to make sure you are getting all the vitamins and minerals you require. I recently increased my iodine intake.
Eating animal fats and proteins has been associated with heart disease, colon and lung cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, kidney disease, hypertension, obesity, and various other degenerative diseases. . Cows' milk has perfect quantity of fat and protein for young calves, but quite a lot for humans. But research carried out on vegans worldwide shows a diverse plant-based diet improves health and wellness and yields various positive health benefits. It offers protection against major killers like heart disease and cancer.
I have been Vegan for about 4 years and Vegetarian 4 years prior to that. I have noticed that I don't get sick as often as I used to with colds/flu. I went to the doctor recently and had a full blood workup to see where I stand with vitamins and minerals (ie, B12 and iron) and my doctor said that my vitamins and minerals were more in range than most people he sees. The only thing that was low on my panel was sodium, I don't use much salt. I think the diet is great. I do worry about what I will do once I near menopause since you are not supposed to eat soy during that time.
i've been vegan for seven months now and i feel healthier. I don't have as many headaches and stomach pains and I don't feel as lazy. i also eat mostly organic food though. my boyfriend has been vegan for 10 years and he hasn't had any problems.
Well, you are no longer MURDERING or RAPING creatures and so that's the BIG POINT with being vegan.
There is a greater "health" to be concerned with... the health of your SOUL. (the health of our COLLECTIVE-SOUL)
That being said EATING a PLANT BASED DIET is the way humans are suppossed to be, and it treats you nicely. A lot of what most of us would come to be concerned about is WATER QUALITY and concerns with "farm-chemicals" in general...what is the 'crop' grown with>?
I am transitioning to vegan but eat a lot of junk and fake meats/cheese, and I tend to be unhealthy (possibly partly to do with that), but I was unhealthy as a vegetarian and an omnivore. I also indulge in candy way too much - proof that just because something is vegan doesn't mean it is good for you. But I have noticed that many of the vegans I know in real life are quite fit, even the ones who don't exercise much. I've even met a vegan bodybuilder in my town. I'm scrawny, but I've been the exception so far*. The only negative change is that about once a month I will feel totally famished and eat a lot of heavy foods. The one positive change is that even with my poor diet, I don't feel sluggish after meals like I used to as an omnivore.
The nutritional content of your meal is what determines how healthful your diet is, and your diet is only part of your total health, so being vegan on its own has little to do with your general health unless you are overly limiting your variety.
*For comparison, my best friend has been vegan since age 5 and he is the healthiest person I know. He eats a wide variety of whatever he feels like, but avoids sugar and overly processed food. The only thing he is careful with is to consume B12 and the omega fatty acids, which he gets from nutritional yeast and flaxseed, respectively.
Hello. I have been vegan for about 4 years and was vegetarian for 2 years before that. Being vegan is great for me for the following reasons:
my cholesterol went from 265 to 154 (in about the first 7 months) and a lot of that is good cholesterol. i totally avoided my doctor's suggestion for the drug lipitor by eliminating cholesterol from my diet. (did you know that cholesterol only is ingested from animal products?)
my skin is clearer generally.
i love to eat, and since my snacks are generally lower in calories and lighter, i never get fat (with regular-ish exercise).
i smell better in general. i notice that it takes a lot more sweating and time for me to get body odor and that i almost never have bad breath. probably because i don't have rotting animal flesh inside my body or animal secretions (milk, etc).
i rarely get sick (less than once per year) and i used to get colds and flus every year when i ate animal stuff.
the last benefit i can think of right now is that i developed a joy for cooking and a heightened appreciation for many more foods because i've had to think more about what i'm eating.
oh, and i like knowing that the footprint i'm leaving on the earth is smaller.
hope this helps! :)
I can't say for vegans as I'm a vegetarian and I'm healthy as a horse but somewhat overweight.. I was underweight when I use to eat meat. Meat was clogging my arteries and even causing bloodclots. That's evidence enough to me that some people like me are not ment to eat meat! Not everyone gets fat and not everyone gets thin by becoming a vegetarian.. if you become vegetarian or vegan it's up to you but read up on it and do it properly.. there are lots of books in local libraries about vegetarians and vegans! I never been in a library that didn't have such books!