surviving on a vegan diet

[In My Memory]

SkepticLance,

As I understand it, the main problems that stem from vegan diets are lack of vitamin B12 and too little iron. The best source of dietary iron in assimilatable form is actually red meat. A lot of iron in vegetable foods is not readily assimilated by the human body. This is of special concern to women who are in their menstruating years, thus regularly losing iron. The consequence is that anemia is very common among vegan women. It is important for these women to either eat a little meat, or take iron pills.

I think you overstate the nutritional risks, because I'm the only vegan in my family, and I'm also the most healthy. My sisters, my mom, and my aunts are all anemic, but my iron is perfectly fine. There is a lot of iron in spinach and other dark leafy plants, watermelons, sunflower seeds, black peas, almost every kind of whole grain cereal, and so on; and more importantly, a lot of the food you can buy from vegan suppliers is already fortified with B12 and iron, so its not even much to worry about in the first place.

 

The only "irregularity" I had was slightly less painful menstral cramps, but that was it. Everything else including my normal menstrual cycle was fine.

 

If you are too extreme in your views to do either, then it is vital to concentrate strongly on foods that have a bit extra iron.

Actually, in my experience, iron deficiency doesnt have anything to do with being extreme. I'm a very strict vegan for ethical reasons (no animal products, no commercial clothing or food brands like Coca-Cola or Gap, no chain stores, no products produced outside of the US), and I'm proud to be the most extreme vegan I know. And I plan to live for another 100 years, as long as I still look good in skirts

 

The only time I've ever seen anyone have health issues is when they buy into fad diets or spiritualism, especially raw food diets and fruitarian diets. Believe me, there are books out there that say "menstruation is the bodys natural defense against itself, its flushing toxins" so women try all these kinds of diets to make them stop menstruating. And I try to say "no, menstruation is a *good* thing, its a sign of health!", and women reply back with a Deepak Chopra quote about how certain foods maintain good alignment of their chakras. People who put all their trust into Zen Kundalini or whatever spiritual journey their on almost always get very sick.

 

The trick to staying healthy is just keeping a good variety of foods in rotation, which comes naturally for most people (who wants to eat the same thing night after night?). 800 million hindi, 20 million Buddhists, 5 million UKians, 5 million USians, and millions of aussies, and myself manage just fine on a vegan diet everyday, so it cant be that hard to stay healthy on an ethical diet

[Aardvark]

800 million hindi, 20 million Buddhists, 5 million UKians, 5 million USians, and millions of aussies, and myself manage just fine on a vegan diet everyday, so it cant be that[/i'] hard to stay healthy on an ethical diet

 

I think you may be mistaking vegetarianism for veganism. For instance, Hindus are not vegans and i doubt that there are 5 million British vegans.

[olifhar]

Actually, squeezing a bit of lemon juice on the spinach helps with the calcium absorption. Even better than spinach, though, is kale, which as a ton of calcium (though again, I think the lemon juice is needed)

 

What exactly in lemon juice does the trick? Is it the citric acid?

[SkepticLance]

In My Memory.I am delighted that you have found a system for maintaining good health. My point was the need to keep up iron and vitamin B12 intake. Clearly you have found such a way. Fortified foods are a good means.

 

However, I will still use my own method, and that is to maintain a wide variety of food intake, including animal protein.

 

Not a good thing to use third world obligate-vegetarians (obligate due to poverty) as a reference. Their health is anything but good.

[bascule]

no commercial clothing or food brands like Coca-Cola

 

That's too bad, because Odwalla Superfood is the single most nourishing beverage I've ever tasted, and an entire serving of fruit in a single bottle! Mmmm

 

I also had a tasty tempeh reuben for lunch today. Yummy!

[reor]

I am a forced vegetarian / vegan.

I can't eat meat, animal products (milk products, eggs, gelatine, etc.), flour and nuts, because it makes me sick, sleepy and slow in the head and most of it tastes horrible (meat, eggs, gelatine, nuts). Oddly, fish is somewhat okay. The doctors i've been to said it's in my head. Well... maybe. I'm investigating. Unfortunately, i can't keep my hands off pizza with lots of cheese. My day starts with veggies like a lettuce or cucumber, fruits for lunch and often ends with that darn tasty pizza. Inbetween alot of honeyd water. Been thinking about supplements, but i doubt they'd keep me from pizza.

My blood has always been "great", except for a short period of "a little low" iron.

 

Question: Do cucumbers have the same stuff spinach and sorrel have?

[SkepticLance]

reor

Did you ever onsider a slow acclimation treatment?

This is now being tried for recalcitrant cases of peanut allergy. The patient is fed peanut meal at a dose equivalent to one 300th of a peanut. This dose is continued and slowly increased till that person is acclimated. It seems to work, and there is no reason why it should not work for you also, if you have the patience.

[reor]

I've been thinking about it and tried it myself, but it seems the more i get exposed to certain things the greater the effect. Maybe the doses were too high. At least, it worked with water.

 

Edit: But it's interesting. My senses of smell and taste are incredible! I can distinguish between the smallest amounts of ingredients and i can tell if something is good for me or not, but it's also a drawback as you can imagine.

[olifhar]

I've been thinking about it and tried it myself' date=' but it seems the more i get exposed to certain things the greater the effect. Maybe the doses were too high. At least, it worked with water.

 

Edit: But it's interesting. My senses of smell and taste are incredible! I can distinguish between the smallest amounts of ingredients and i can tell if something is good for me or not, but it's also a drawback as you can imagine.[/quote']

 

Supertaster?