A few recent mainstream media reports mention various celebrities quitting their years-long plant-based diets. Most of them claim that veganism is to blame for severe health issues they developed over time. It makes people think that a plant-based diet might be not as healthy as they used to believe. It is a very disturbing trend since the only reason for the bad rep is a horrible lack of understanding of what a plant-based diet is and what it isn’t.
Vegan diet isn’t bad. Vegan diet isn’t good. Vegan diet is simply not a thing! Diet is not about what you don’t eat - it’s about what you do, and it’s totally up to you! It applies to vegans as much as to omnivores. So you can make your vegan diet as healthy (or as unhealthy) as humanly possible.
Root cause
While people switch to plant-based they do it for various reasons and they have different, but typically insufficient, levels of knowledge of how it works. They have no clear understanding of the basics. Some of them heard about macros, but that’s about it. Typically dietary habits of any society develop for generations, learning from past mistakes and successes and slowly evolving. Nowadays people decide to switch to the plant-based diet overnight without learning the very basics, having no reliable sources of information so it’s no surprise that health issues start popping sooner or later. Some of the most prevalent health issues related to improper implementation of the vegan diet are:
Mental health
Kidney stones
Iron deficiency and anemia
Vitamin B12 deficiency that potentially leads to various serious health issues
Leaky gut
Human body is a very complicated machine that requires proper care, and a big portion of it comes from food. Nutrition is not a simple topic that one can learn overnight and perfect it. If you decided to do it - do it right, learn from reliable sources, for example, work with a vegan nutritionist.
Here is what you must know to not only stay healthy but also strive on the plant-based diet, achieving levels of health unavailable to carnivores.
Getting enough micronutrients
Many people who care about healthy eating try to get their macronutrients right, paying special attention to protein. Well, protein is important and I admit, being a competitive powerlifter with state and national records I care about my protein intake, but I never heard about people being sick due to protein deficiency. It’s simply not a thing. So while I do count my macros, I also calculate my micronutrient intake (Cronometer app does that) and I put a lot of effort crafting my meal plan to get enough of iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, copper, potassium and phosphorus. I am also conscious about consuming Omega-3 and all the vitamins: A, C, K, E, complete B group (besides B12 that you HAVE TO supplement), and D (I get it from sun exposure when possible and supplement when it’s not). Trust me, it will not happen automatically, just because you believe that your diet is well-balanced. As you start tracking, you will be surprised to see that you don’t hit the mark on some of them without paying special attention.
Correct food prepping
Ancient societies that eat predominantly plant-based knew things that later generations forgot:
If you eat lots of beans and grains (as you should), you better soak them and dispose of the water used for it. This reduces harmful compounds plants use to protect themselves, making them safe to eat. Otherwise, you are calling for kidney stones and leaky gut. The same goes for nuts.
Some foods (spinach is #1) require boiling
Consumption of certain nuts (especially Brazil nuts, cashews and almonds) should be limited
Even though it has nothing to do with food prepping, it’s important to know that consuming lots of salt will reduce your calcium levels, and caffeine, consumed with iron and calcium-containing food will inhibit the absorption. Also, there are ways to increase the absorption of iron by combining it with vitamin C containing foods.
Vitamins that do not come from food
Everyone needs to supplement vitamin B12 since it’s simply not available from food unless you eat fortified foods like nutritional yeast and some cereals. By the way, animal foods don’t come with it either, carnivores force-supplemented since meat has been injected with synthetic B12. Vitamin D can be produced by your own skin if you get at least 15 minutes a day of sun exposure, otherwise, you need to supplement it, vegan or not. Iodine actually can come from food, mostly salt (that you should limit anyway) and seaweed but it might be hard to get enough, so consider supplementing as well (I strongly suggest testing your iodine levels first).
Conclusion
Needless to say, if you do things right, there is no risk of getting any of the famous “vegan” health issues. Back to the list:
Mental health - can actually be improved on a proper diet. Read my article for more information.
Kidney stones - can be avoided by proper soaking beans, grains, and nuts
Iron deficiency and anemia - watch your micronutrients, getting enough iron from plants is not too hard. Also, avoid consuming iron-rich foods with caffeine and other absorption-inhibiting foods.
Vitamin B12 deficiency that potentially leads to various serious health issues - you have to supplement. Same for Vitamin D - supplement if you don’t get enough sun exposure.
Leaky gut - will not happen as long as you soak your grains and beans. (Tip - also prevents bloating!)
So if you recently heard about another celebrity giving up vegan diet to solve health issues (and you will probably hear about it from time to time), just realize that their “vegan” and your “vegan” doesn’t have to be the same - make sure to do it right and you will feel great for the rest of your life.
More information will be available in the BeHealthyVegan aggregator that is coming in the next few weeks - please visit again soon!
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