Is a vegan diet healthy for me? Please help?!
Does this mean I could never go vegan?
Is it healthy to be vegan?
I would especially love to hear from Vegans!
Love scottie xxxxx
Answers: I've been a vegetarian (with no supplements) for ten years. I don't like supplement tablets.
Does this mean I could never go vegan?
Is it healthy to be vegan?
I would especially love to hear from Vegans!
Love scottie xxxxx
Take it from me, I've been vegan for over a year and I am completely healthy...and I take no supplemental vitamin pills. It's all about balanced diet.
I have my lazy days where all I eat are quick foods like veggie burgers, hummus, crackers, and fruits. But other days I eat lots of whole grain products, tofu, soymilk, veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, and the like.
A vegan diet can be healthy for you if you eat a balanced diet. You probably already know your way around all the vegetarian staples as you have been vegetarian for 10 years. Therefore you should be OK making the transition - there's vegan alternatives to dairy and eggs, so you will hardly miss much except perhaps cheese (that was hardest for me to let go of as well!). There's some alright vegan cheese analogs, some melt and taste alright, like Follow Your Heart or Toffuti's cream cheese.
You might want to look around online and familiarize yourself with vegan sources of iron, B12, calcium and other things just so you're covered. Otherwise, it's not that big of a jump from vegetarian - I did it around my 18th birthday (I was pretty much vegetarian since I was 13).
A good link:
http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nu...
(Look at the menu box at the right, it has links to information about iron, protein, B12, etc. It's pretty concise).
I've been a vegetarian for 31 years and all my kids were raised vegetarian. More recently I've considered going vegan because of the issues associated with dairy industry, and for better health. What I'm finding difficult is avoiding dairy products when family members cook. But as far as health goes, I think the main thing you have to worry about is calcium. I drink soy milk or almond milk, and these products have calcium added, along with vitamins. I've never considered taking supplements - basically if you have a well-balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruit and veg, along with good oils (olive, flax), grains, and pulses, you're not going to go wrong, especially since the products like soy milk have the added ingredients that obviate the need for supplements.
No, you can go vegan without the supplements. I'm a vegan, and I take supplements, but only because I'm lazy and can't always get 100% of what I need because I don't like to cook.
If you eat foods with lots of iron, calcium and vitamins, you can be a vegan without the supplements. Keep track of what you eat and make sure you're getting a full serving of everything you need.
I think a vegan diet is very healthy. The only issue is Vitamin B12 and calcium. But if you don't want to take supplements, it is easy to consume fortified foods.
Once you are already an established vegetarian, going vegan isn't excessively difficult. Start by making small changes. Replace your milk with fortified soymilk (with added calcium and Vitamin B12) or fortified hemp or almond milk. You can also exchange yogurt for soy yogurt, found in Trader Joes or Whole Foods or other health stores-- sometimes they are even in the refrigerated health section at regular stores.
Instead of omelets, you can have a tofu scramble for breakfast. Just chop up tofu and veggies and throw them on a skillet with a bit of oil. Also, if you like baked goods-- like cakes and pies, just look up some easy vegan cake recipes-- as they taste delicious. Just be creative and try to find recipes online-- I've even tried delicious vegan alfredo sauce over pasta, which was amazingly good. As far as cheese goes, there aren't very many good cheese replacements yet (though I am confident there will be someday). However, one brand-- Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet makes some good vegan cheese blocks that taste good melted (they taste funny cold, but taste good when you bake them.). I like the Mozzarella version, as you can shred it and put it over pizza dough and it tastes very much like pizza cheese when melted.
If you want to buy vegan cookbooks, Isa Moskowitz is a popular vegan author who makes nice dishes that teenagers and young adults really seem to like-- both entrees, appetizers, and desserts. I'm sure most big bookstores would carry her stuff, and you can also order her books on Amazon. com. So try her food out. Good luck!
Well im not a vegan Im a lacto-ovo but being a FULL vegan is VERY difficult. if you want to just ahve a vegan diet, you have nothing from animals. if you try being a FULL vegan you cannot wear any clothes from animals ( you cannt wear jeans ) and you can't use certain products like hairspray or something i believe.
Some people will rave about vegan diets and tell you how wonderful it is, and how great they feel, and how their health issues have gone away, which does happen to a lot of people. Unfortunately, on the other hand, there are people who will condemn it to death and criticize the hell out of vegans. A lot of times, I get asked, and this drives me INSANE, "well if you don't eat meat, where do you get your protein?" Absolutely the most ridiculous question I've ever heard. The key to a healthy vegan diet, is balance, which many people have already stated. Vitamins you have to make sure you're getting enough of (more than meat-eaters) are B-12, calcium, iron, and yes, protein. None of these are difficult to get, you just have to be sure to incorporate good, healthy, natural, whole foods in your diet. B-12 is probably the most difficult to find because it is mainly found in animals. Of course there are alternative ways to get essential vitamins being vegan, and not taking supplements, you just have to eat mindfully. (:
Bottom line: You can absolutely become a vegan, you do not have to take supplements (I dont like them either), personally, I believe it is very beneficial to your health to be vegan, and good luck!
Of course it's healthy. It's as healthy as any other diet where you know what you're doing and make wise choices. I find it fascinating that nobody ever says "is an omnivorous diet healthy for me?" It's as if you eat Mickey D's cheeseburgers your health will soar & you have no worries because you're getting your meat and cheese. I mean, really... I digress...
The American Dietetic Association and the Dietitians of Canada support vegetarian and vegan diets for ALL stages of life.