This week I featured (briefly) on the BBC ONE news chatting about veganism (I appear in the latter half of the documentary) .. here is more info..
Individuals may choose to follow a plant-based diet for a number of reasons including animal welfare, personal health reasons and environmental concerns.
A well planned plant-based diet can be both nutritious and healthy, and meat-free diets have indeed been associated with lower risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity and various cancers. It’s worth noting though that most of the research is only observational and many vegetarians may be more health conscious; thus being more likely to exercise and less likely to smoke/drink alcohol to excess .. having said this though deep fried chips and sugar are both vegetarian/vegan so it can be an unhealthy diet too!
Eating more plant based foods is always a good thing; they tend to be higher in fibre (more fruits, vegetables and wholegrains) as well as healthy unsaturated fats from nuts, seeds, olive oil, rapeseed oil and avocados.
If you’re vegan though you need to have a well planned and varied diet to make sure you’re getting enough of certain nutrients such as calcium, iodine, iron and B12; for which many vegans actually take a supplement:
Protein (muscle growth and repair) = Eat a range of different proteins to ensure you get all of the essential amino acids (which are the building blocks of protein) that the body cannot make e.g. tofu, lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, soya and whole grains.
Omega 3 (heart health) = flaxseed oil, tofu & walnuts/pumpkin seeds + Algae supplement (DHA) as the body doesn’t convert ALA (plant based omega 3) to DHA and EPA very well.
Calcium (bones) = fortified milk alternatives, figs, sesame seeds, calcium-set tofu and almonds (+ ?supplement for post menopausal women and coeliac disease).
Iodine (thyroid) = consider a daily supplement (levels vary in seaweed).
Iron (transports oxygen around the body) = lentils, soybeans, tofu, dried fruit, dark green veg, wholemeal bread, fortified cereals.. have with a source of vitamin C to enhance absorption (and keep tea/coffee to 30 mins either side as they can inhibit iron absorption).
B12 (energy) = supplement, fortified milk alternatives/cereals, nutritional yeast and marmite.
Selenium (immune system) = Brazil Nuts.
Vitamin D (absorb calcium) = oily fish/eggs.. 10 mcg supplement a day (especially in the UK autumn & winter months).
Eating a more plant-based diet is not only good for the environment but it can have a positive effect on your health too. There is however no need to cut out foods such as meat, poultry and dairy altogether (for health reasons), especially if you enjoy it!
A vegan diet needs to be well planned (& more often than not supplemented as above), otherwise it may be deficient in nutrients.