Why Vegan

[essieL]

Someone close to me has recently become a vegan. I'd like to know a little more about it. What are your reasons to be a vegan? What are some of the positives but also some of the negatives?

Thanks for your input 

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

Could be many reasons. Surely, plant-based diet brings lots of benefits whether it's 100% plant-based or mostly plant-based. I've been "meatarian" ( there should be the word for it 😉 ) and still I am however I decided to reduce meat-based meals. Now only maybe 20% of my calories intake in a month comes from the meat. Also, I reduced dairy and eggs. I am surprised how well this diet ( not a strictly weight-loss but a daily diet ) works for me. First, I find lot more energy. It's easier to wake up in the morning, to perform better at work etc. Since I log my meals with minding nutrients and calories breakdown I prepare my meals very carefully but in plants world the general rule seems to be "the more colourful the better".

For better health:

It is known due to lots of research that meat may be a cause of various diseases including several types of cancer. Of course, even scientific research should be carefully filtered as among the scientists we will find those who are biased towards meat/dairy and towards plants-only diets. But still, it's worth to find out what today's science says about our modern eating habits. One of the diseases that the science considers to be linked to the meat is colorectal cancer. I am at high risk to have it in the future due to the case in my family. This dramatically increases my chances ( some papers claim it to be even 20% chance ). So reducing my meat intake, at least as long as the current scientific research connects it with colorectal cancer ( who knows, maybe in the future the science will "disconnect" it 😉 ) is just my way of preventing it. One of my friends went vegan due to his allergies and asthma. The result is incredible. All symptoms are gone once he eliminated potential culprits from his diet. A plant-based diet is not a cure for everything and we shouldn't expect miracles but in certain cases, it may be worth a shot.

For weight-loss:

I think I would recommend this diet for weight-loss too. With plants you need to deliver a larger volume of food in order to get the same amount calories as you would normally get from meat. While eating the meat thr stomach will be still almost empty while the calorie intake will be enough to cover a large part of the daily needs. The stomach has stretch receptors which play role in feeling satiety and fullness. It's much easier to trigger those if you are able to fill the stomach and still deliver good amount of energy and nutrients. Also, I make fruits+vegetable juices in my juicer and sip it at work. I can fill 500ml of the bottle with such juice and sip it even for 2-3 hours ( I call it "juice" but I include the pulp which is extra-blended to be more smooth ). Lots of nutrients, not many calories and I won't even think of being hungry.

Moral and ethical choice:

Some people ( or maybe most of them ) go vegan because of that. I can't tell much about it and probably some vegans here would elaborate more but I understand this choice although I am not the right person to elaborate it.

For sure I can recommend at least trying to increase the amount of plants in the daily diet. Going vegan may be too extreme from a point of view of food for many. Myself, searching through vegan recipes I found that lots of ingredients, despite being plant-based, they can be easily placed into the category of "processed food" which pushes me away a bit ( especially soy-based ingredients created to imitate meat-like food ).

As not a vegan but plant-based eater, I find one downside of such diet - it's expensive. I can't believe how expensive fruits and vegetables are, at least in the UK. And if you compare it with processed and fast food then if one's fridge is stocked with veggies and fruits then one may consider self to be posh 😉 It makes living healthy lot harder. Apart from the financial side, I see no any other drawbacks of such diet, at least up to now.

[SantiR]

Less belly and you feel kind of lighter. Also, vegan food, when cooked the right way, tastes awesome! 

[TXAnneV]

It's the latest fad, along with avocado toast, and hummus!

[Dominique]

I’m not a vegan, but I wouldn’t call it a fad. For one thing, vegans as a group are among the most healthy people, it can’t be a coincidence.

[SunsetRunner]

There are lots of vegans who actually lack nutrients, especially "new joiners", who don't quite know what to eat ( except the general "vegan rules" 🙂 ). Being vegan is harder than it looks. Requires huge amount of creativity in order to avoid many commonly used ingredients like for example eggs or cheese. It's a lot easier to go vegetarian. If one decides to go vegan it requires lots of care about building own meals and not doing that makes some vegans being less healthy than we could expect. Also ( what one of my vegan friends told me ), it's easy to be vegan. Just eat for example potato crisp or live on huge amounts of fries. Despite counting as a vegan food, it definitely won't make you a healthy person 🙂 I'm not a vegan either, however, my diet is plant-based ( and I battle using the term "plant-based diet" as a synonym of the vegan diet 🙂 ) and even without excluding meats, dairy and eggs entirely I see benefits of such diet. Despite my approach is simpler than a vegan one, I also need to be careful about what I eat ( for example, I can very easily get myself into uncontrollable weight loss, which at this point is something unwanted - I like my current weight 🙂 ). So I can imagine, how it is a lot greater challenge for vegans. I agree it's not a fad. It's a lifestyle with certain goals and way of thinking. Being vegan after all is not only about food but a lot more ( there are non-food vegan products, like perfumes, shampoos and many many other things ). I don't want to get into that area and prefer to focus on analyzing actual dietary habits which undoubtedly bring lots of health benefits.

[Esya]

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@SunsetRunnerwrote:

Despite my approach is simpler than a vegan one, I also need to be careful about what I eat ( for example, I can very easily get myself into uncontrollable weight loss, which at this point is something unwanted - I like my current weight 🙂 ).

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Our diets are very much alike, focus on plant based while not excluding meat or dairy. I really struggle at the moment with my weight going down as you pointed out. This is why I picked up calories logging again to learn how much is in what meal. I wish I could go further down on meat and dairy (only one meal a day containing either, preferrably vegetarian), but at the moment I remedy the calories deficit mostly with cheese. Any tips on having the focus on plant based while still getting the calories would be most welcome. And yes, I should eat more avocados and hummus again, but other ideas are also very welcome.

[Dominique]

@Esya: be generous with your use of olive oil for salad dressings, cooking your veggies, spread on bruschetta etc. This should provide you with the extra calories without making you feel full. I love olive oil so much I could drink it by the spoon. Unfortunately, I have to restrict my caloric intake for a couple more months, so I can’t do it right now. Peanut butter (if you like it) is also a good way to add healthy fats, healthy carbs as well as protein.

[SunsetRunner]

@Esya what @Dominique wrote ( olive oil, peanut butter ) plus seeds and nuts are a good fuel. Olives are great too. You mentioned avocado - great choice. Also, food like lentils, brown rice, quinoa, beans - these provide a higher amount of energy and make a nice addition to salads, soups and as side dishes.  Eggs as well are a good source of energy ( if you don't want to go vegan, no reason to quit on eggs, you can make great foods from omelettes to home-made pasta ).  I use wholemeal flour to make bread ( try Jamie Oliver's quick flatbread recipe - you can make it in the frying pan and the whole process takes just 10 minutes, I replace plain flour with wholemeal and add extra crispiness by toasting it at the end and freshly made bread smells and tastes delicious! ) or pizza ( using wholemeal home-made pizza dough ) too - lots of calories, good nutrients, all ingredients are under control and again - you know what is in your meal. I like sweet potatoes, I've been experimenting lately with cassava and got nice results. Still, you don't want to overeat but I find it a lot harder to overeat and feel hunger when my diet is mostly plant-based. I'm stuffed with food before I overeat anything. In other words, most of the food that during the weight-loss we should rather avoid it's more desired during the "weight-keep" process 🙂 Still it's all plant-based and by picking wholefoods and mostly healthy ingredients it should be doable to live healthy, maintain your weight and stay with mostly plant-based diet ( I use word "mostly" as it doesn't have to be necessary to completely ditch animal-based products ).

[Esya]

@SunsetRunner@Dominique

Thanks for the tips! I already eat a lot of the foods listed, but seems like I should not be afraid to eat more fat (be more generous in the use of oil). I hardly track macro nutrients, just want to be sure I get enough protein, but I notice that almost every app points out to me that I overdo it in the fat department. I should feel confident enough now to ignore that and specially with the feedback received here.

[SunsetRunner]

@Esyathe matter of proteins is a bit controversial. There are 20 types of amino-acids that proteins are made of. 8 of them are essential and must come from your diet. If you eat animal products you get the full set. There is a misconception where plant-based diet will make you lack of proteins. It's some truth in it. If you consider that this is a BAD plant-based diet. However, well-balanced diet will deliver all you need in terms of proteins. Also, I think we care a little bit too much about a number of proteins because we don't really need so much of them as we think ( but we think so because we are being told by all the companies manufacturing protein-rich foods and supplements like protein bars, shakes etc. ). Depends on the sources, mostly I see numbers 0.8-1g/kg of body weight as a recommended daily protein intake. The lower end is recommended for women, the upper end - for men. This recommendation doesn't target athletes but people who are active on, let's name it "normal" level ( walking the dog, going for shopping etc. ). So now, let's say if a woman weights 60kg she needs ~48g of proteins a day. Considering that 1g of proteins converts to 4kcal so only 192kcal of daily calories intake should come from the proteins ( just a reminder - non-athlete woman, 60kg, not sedentary, "normal" activity level ). Now let's look at the living example - me 🙂 Male, 52kg ( I'm not underweight, I'm very short 😉 ). According to the recommendation, with "normal" activity level ( means all days I do not do any workout ) qualify as 1g of protein per 1kg of my body weight. 52g of protein in total. My lunch today, according to my log brought me 23g of protein. My breakfast brought me 16g of protein. In total 39g and I'm still before my largest meal. Of course, I eat less than larger people ( for example because of the smaller stomach ). All meals today were entirely plant-based. Most of my proteins came from lentils, brown rice, flatbread, and porridge. I will reach ( probably even exceed ) 52g by the end of the day with no problem at all. If you don't go entirely vegan you can additionally eat protein-packed eggs and other animal-based products. You have to really try hard to deliver not enough proteins to your body. Even if you are an athlete. Your diet habits would have to be just horrible. The reason why I mentioned the "colourful food" in the very first reply is that colours may help you balance nutrients in your meal. True that one plant, even if protein packed, may not deliver all 8 essential amino acids, but you're not going to base your diet only on this one plant, right? 🙂 Plant-eaters must look for nutrients among many food sources. I admit this could be considered a downside. But on the other hand, if we don't quite give up on eggs and dairy then there is still full-set available in case we're in need of it.

Now something about fats. Fats are important. Very important. But let's look at the proteins again from the different angle. We were always told the proteins is always a good stuff for our bodies. In comparison, one medium ( approx. 130g ) chicken breast contains ~30g proteins. This is more than a half of needed intake in my case. True, it's easier to fulfil the requirement eating meat but it's also a lot easier to eat too much of protein. Can you eat too much protein? Of course, you can. Can it bring any problems to your health? Unfortunately, it may. Starting from the bad mood, feeling thirsty, having bad breath ( dragon breath ) and finishing on an actual heart disease or kidney disease. We need fat to digest proteins. There is a link between these two types of macronutrients. Many people still try to reduce fat intake because too much fat in our food must mean too much fat on our body. This thinking is outdated but still alive in our minds. Hence we deliberately avoid fat. We choose 0% or low-fat products ( which on the other hand are packed with sugar in order to compensate an awful flavour ). Everyone tells us that we constantly need more and more protein and less or no fat at all. This, in a long run, may bring really unwanted results like mentioned diseases as well as to the protein poisoning, also called "fat starvation" ( guess why? 🙂 ).Now something about fats. Fats are important. Very important. But let's look at the proteins again from the different angle. We were always told the proteins is always a good stuff for our bodies. In comparison, one medium ( approx. 130g ) chicken breast contains ~30g proteins. This is more than a half of needed intake. True, it's easier to fulfil the requirement eating meat but it's also the lot easier to eat too much of protein. Can you eat too much protein? Of course, you can. Can it bring any problems to your health? Unfortunately, it may. Starting from the bad mood and feeling thirsty and finishing on an actual heart disease, kidney disease, We need fat to digest proteins. There is a link between these two types of macronutrients. Many people still try to reduce fat intake thinking that this is what causes them to gain weight, so they deliberately avoid it. They choose 0% fat or low-fat products ( which on the other hand are packed with sugar in order to compensate an awful flavour ). Everyone tells us that we constantly need more and more protein and less or no fat. This, in a long run, may bring really unwanted results like mentioned diseases as well as to the protein poisoning, also called "fat starvation" ( guess why? 🙂 ).

Going back to the vegan or plant-based diet and what I said above about fats and proteins it's easy to figure out why a plant-based diet is actually beneficial. Consuming smaller amounts of proteins coming from various plants we don't throw a "lump sum" into our body but consumes it slowly and pretty much in the amount that we actually really need.

[Esya]

@SunsetRunner

Thanks for the lengthy informational post, but I already knew those things and that is not what I meant 😄 . But I am sure it is useful to a lot of other people, so I appreciate you typed that all out. I had to change my food around to even get to the 48 grams a day (I am just below 60 kg). That has been a while ago now. I know I get enough protein now in my diet even during my vegan days. I have never stayed away from fats and actually add them mindfully to my diet. It is just that to up them even more goes against all the macronutrients breakdowns I have seen and feels weird to have that much fat in my diet. But I am sure I will get used to it. I just started tracking again mostly as I saw my weight going down and I need to get a handle on that in time.

[DanielleinDC]

I went vegetarian in January of 2002 and vegan a few months later. For me, it was a bit of health and a bit of ethics.

After I turned 30, my body started reacting negatively when I ate meat. First it was beef, then eventually chicken. (I never really ate seafood.) So one day I was eating these wings and got kinda grossed out and decided to stop eating meat. My boyfriend has been veg since 1993, so not a problem.  Then I did some reading, discovered ethical issues with dairy and eggs, and decided to go vegan. I'm not perfect. If I'm in a place that's not very veg-friendly, I might not ask about whether the buns on my sandwich are vegan. (The term I've heard is vegan diplomacy.) And sadly there is a lot of vegan junk food out there that is just too tempting (although I try to limit my consumption).

I guess some of the positives are you have to be creative when it comes to eating. You will try new foods you never tried before. (I now like kale, as long as it's prepared right.) Some people get clearer skin, although I'm lucky that good skin runs in my family. Some people lose weight or have cardiovascular benefits. I never really had any until I started exercising regularly. Hypercholesterolemia runs in my family, so I was pretty happy to see my cholesterol get below 200 for the first time in I don't know how long. (Only animal-based foods have cholesterol, although sat fat can raise it too.) I also recently realized it's made me a bit more sensitive to other people's dietary needs. I have a colleague who is gluten intolerant, and I've tried to point her in the direction of gluten-free foods. (If they're vegan, even better.) When another colleague was getting married, and we had a party for him, I made vegan gluten-free muffins so we'd have something to eat.

The negatives? Well, you've heard the saying about hell being other people, right? The biggest negative is having to live in a non-vegan world where not everyone understands why you do what you do and in some cases will be hostile. It's having to figure out how to cobble together a vegan meal at a decidedly non-vegan restaurant, sometimes in a veg-unfriendly town. And passing the meat counter at supermarkets--ick. Having to read labels to ensure you can eat the food or wear the clothes (I don't wear animal-based fabrics) or the makeup/shower gels/household cleaners, etc. (I avoid companies that test on animals and animal ingredients in non-food items too, as being vegan is a lifestyle.)

Luckily, plant-based eating is becoming more popular, and even meaty places have vegan options. And meat-heavy companies are investing in plant-based "meats", which are becoming more popular.

I hope this helps.

[Daves_Not_Here]

I have some vegan friends who are eating according to the "nutritarian" diet and LOVE it.  They look great, are naturally lean, and have high energy level.

My understanding is that it maximizes and optimizes micronutrient content - here's a link:

https://www.drfuhrman.com/learn/the-nutritarian-diet

[SunsetRunner]

@DanielleinDC here in the UK I observe a growing trend of introducing vegetarian and vegan dishes in the restaurants. Even places like TGI Fridays, which is almost meat-based by definition has some V-options. In my town ( I moved out of London a month ago, now I live in very small town ) there's one restaurant which serves entirely plant-based food. I think what people don't like is preaching them and lecturing that is so much practised by some vegans ( especially those who just turned to be vegan ). This is what creates a certain tension. If one is a vegan then first thought is "oh no, he's gonna tell me how bad is what I do." and better if you won't get anywhere near eating your LBT sandwich for lunch ;). I met such people. However, I also met vegans who don't try to fix the world by force ( and it doesn't surprise me that those vegans have years of "vegan experience" ).

I like to experiment with food and I think it's quite beneficial to go veggie once in a while even in order to explore the world of plants. That's why "being creative" isn't really a bad thing. Western diet serves vegetables ( mostly potatoes 😉 ) but usually, the balance of a meal is greatly disturbed. 1/2 of a plate - meat, remaining chips/potatoes, sometimes huge amount of rice or pasta and a tiny bit of the plate occupied by something green - mostly for decoration :D. Not mentioning oversized portions like what I had Today in TGI, where I picked a veggie-only pasta, small size and I'm scared to imagine what "large" means because "small" serving was more than enough! There are so many ways of using plants in meals, so many flavours to explore. I found plants which I never thought they existed! Usually, if I see a plant without knowing what it is I don't think twice. I buy it and worry later how to cook it 🙂 Surprisingly this approach works really great. Every meal is different, it's a culinary adventure. Yes, with meat it's the same story. You can be creative and there's plenty of flavours to explore but focusing only on one side for so many years, now I feel like I was missing something out 🙂 I never thought there are so many types of squash ( I love coquina with its sweet flavour and "watermelonish" aroma!), I discovered bitter melon, purple sweet potato ( found it in one store a few days ago ), made my first red lentils soup ( yup, I never had lentils before ), green lentils stew, first black bean burgers and many many more. This took me even further - making homemade pasta or bread which allows me to experiment with different types of flours, nuts and other ingredients that can enhance flavours. Before that somehow my cooking was bit boring. Some dishes from time to time have meat but the balance of my meals is now different. It's meat that plays a role of a decoration, not plants. Tomorrow I'm gonna complete my first seitan ( the dough has to stay covered in water overnight ) as I'm just curious what it's going to taste like. So I can't see being creative as a negative thing ( unless somebody really hates to cook 😄 ).

By the way, in London, there's a vegan restaurant named "Temple of Seitan". The person who named the restaurant must be a naming genius 😄

[DanielleinDC]

@SunsetRunner It's easy for me to buy vital wheat gluten online, which makes it very easy to make seitan--I can usually get it done in less than an hour, including 25 minutes of simmer time before popping one batch in the fridge and another in the freezer. I've never heard of soaking it overnight, unless you use regular flour. I'm still trying to perfect my method, though. I just love seitan. 

You're right that new vegans tend to be a bit more preachy (but then new followers of a religion tend to be that way as well). Over the years, I've worked on toning it down and focusing on the yummy food I eat. And since I know vegan is not for everyone, I encourage diets where people reduce their consumption of animal foods.

I love the name of that restaurant. I thought if I ever were able to write a cookbook, I'd call it "The Seitanic Verses."

[Esya]

I don't eat fully vegetarian or vegan, but I try to take the tension away between preachy vegans and their targets (specially since I feel I am somewhere in the middle). At the moment the majority of people does not live according to a vegan lifestyle. I think for most the step is a huge one and is hard to take fully and at once. Rather than judging the other side of the discussion or preaching how your way is better or more healthy, everyone agrees that cooking from scratch instead of buying produced foods is more healthy. So when people ask what is more healthy that is the advice I give, rather than discussing if one should go vegetarian or vegan. I also find there are way less emotions involved in the cooking from scratch vs produced discussion in comparison to the discussion about being vegan.

I find that by cooking from scratch and therefore being aware of what is in my food, I tend to steer away from animal products more and more kinda automatically over time. I think people benefit from going through this exploration/learning curve themselves and then make decisions based on what they feel is good for them. A lot of people I talk to are eating less and less meat.

[joyacreater]

i was going to try to a plant-based diet for weightloss, but read that it doesn't necessarily work for that. i definitely eat too many nuts/nut products when i cut out everything dairy. i have been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for over 30yrs. i use to be my ideal weight while cooking that way, but after 50 it has become a challenge. trying to combine less carbs (except legumes) with more excercise. thoughts?

[joyacreater]

the uk was where the "vegetarian" diet began. years ago my husband and i loved traveling there because of the amount of vegan and vegetarian restaurants (ahhhh CRANKS). we lived near paris for 2 yrs and besides the markets, i could pop into marks and spencer for some veggie togo foods. missed that when we returned to the states

[M1sterricky]

Being a Vegan is not "hard" and one does not have to do a lot of meal planning and mixing and such(I am a vegan who power-walked 11 miles today in two walks and biked 35 miles one day last week at age 62). First thing to get over is the question everybody asks: how are you going to get your protein? Did you know there is protein in rice, even lettuce(not much)? Did you know that a human mother's milk is just over 3% protein yet grows an infant into a toddler? The protein question is not a big deal. Personally I eat a lot of different beans, good organic 100% peanut butter(major brands like Peter Pan and Jif, etc. are horrible for your health and not 100% peanuts - read the ingredients), I eat lots of bananas and fruits, seeds and nuts, brown rice, avocados and everything that's not animal nor anything from an animal. The meat-agricultural industry is terrible and cruel as well as the dairy industry. Animals live horrible lives and face horrific deaths so people can have their meat. Plus, the industrial animal agriculture businesses contribute more Greenhouse gases than all transportation put together. Healthwise, there is no cholesterol in a Vegan diet - it's only from animal products. Fats such as Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Coconut Oil and from nuts, nut butters and avocados are healthy for you. Now, most potato chips and such salty snacks are Vegan, even Oreos! So one can be an unhealthy junk food Vegan just like meat eaters. For me I'm Vegan because of the suffering of animals. As someone once said, even if you supposedly raise the animals in a humane way, "there is no humane way to kill something that does not want to die." If you wish to try it, do some research and certainly educate yourself as to getting your nutrients. I do take very good supplements as well as eating Vegan. It's just the greatest way to live and my body loves it! Thanx for letting me reply. ~ Ricky

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