October 3, 2017
Taking Care Of Your Nutrition As a Vegan
For most of my adult life I have chosen to eat a mostly vegan diet. There is a lot of miss information out there and a lot of self proclaimed experts on how to be your healthiest. I myself am no expert but I am learning. My choice to go vegan is personal and not the focus of this post but since the switch people have come in droves to warn me of my malnourished, and anemic future. This can happen if one is not careful but as I have discovered, eating a carefully planned vegan diet can provide all the necessary nutrients.
The nutrients that are most obvious are protein, calcium, omega-3, and B-12.
First lets look at protein. Protein is found in almost every cell in our body and is required for many processes in our body. Protein should make up about 35% of your daily diet and not all proteins are created equal. Many plant proteins such as beans and legumes are not complete proteins and must be paired with other foods such as rice, seeds, or nuts to make up the missing amino acids. This is easy to do as rice and beans are a delicious and affordable combination! There are also plant proteins that are complete such as soy, hemp, buckwheat and quinoa to name a few.
Next we’ll look at Calcium. Calcium is a mineral that is essential to bone health and can be a little harder to manage as a vegan. I try to ensure that I am including calcium rich foods each day. Many plants such as dark leafy greens are rich in calcium as are chia seeds, fortified soya milk and beans. If I know that for some reason I have not been getting enough dietary calcium I will add a supplement or chew a calcium antacid.
Omega-3’s are predominantly found in fish and seafood but there are plenty of vegan sources that also provide other essential nutrients. Ground flax seeds and flax oil are rich in omega-3’s as are hemp seeds and chia seeds. Sea weeds and sea vegetables are also a great way to add omega-3’s to your daily diet.
Vitamin B-12 is the final nutrient we will look at and the one I had the hardest time with. I try my best to eat my nutrients from whole foods and keep supplements to a minimum but finding a reliable B-12 source has been difficult. B-12 is essential for brain and nervous system functioning. One way of ensuring you are getting B-12 is to eat brewers yeast or fortified nutritional yeast. I sprinkle this on most foods as it has a very salty and cheesy taste. This is a great start but it ultimately will not be sufficient. A simple B-12 supplement is the best way to ensure you are getting all that you need.
In closing, eating a vegan diet can be very rewarding and healthy if it is full of variety and whole foods.
