Is it healthy to be a vegan?

Answer 1

In a sense, yes but over-doing it ain't good.

My brother was one, but it killed him. He ate too many fruits that were acidic and that caused a tiny hole in his stomach lining. His refusal to see a doctor caused him to collapse and die 6 years ago.

One can eat almost anything, but it should always be in moderation.

Answer 2

I have been vegan for 8 years and was ovo-lacto vegetarian for 4 years prior to being vegan. I am not a pale waif of a person like most people think vegans are. The calcium you get from non animal derived sources are absorbed by your body better anyway. Think about it. What other animal has to live off of another animals breast milk to be healthy? It's GROSS! The protein issue is not as serious as most people make it out to be. If you are moderately active then 20-28 grams of protein per day are sufficient. Americans tend to eat three times that amount which is unhealthy. Protein can come from all different kinds of unmurdered sources. My favorite happens to be chick peas- I am a hummus fanatic! Lentil soup is chock full of protein, tastes great, and is good for you. I like tofu cooked on my George Forman grill, but it does take some time to get the hang of cooking tofu. They make all sorts of meat alternatives. Tofurky is a great brand if you miss meat. Think of the reasons why you want to be vegan and just do it. Take care of your body without harming the lives of others (animals count too!) Good Luck!

Answer 3

Sigh. Of course it is. Those who get unhealthy on a Vegan diet either have a specific health problem (ie anemic) or simply don't know enough about the foods they eat to ensure a ballanced diet. Read a little and you'll be fine. An easy way to make sure that you're getting the right ballance is to follow these rules:
1) The darker the green the more iron it has. Eat pleanty of this.
2) Tofu, beans and nuts and seeds are all good sources of protien. Make sure you have lots of these each day. When cooking, add a little bit of salt. It releases the protiens in the vegetable and makes them easier to absorb.
3) Make your meals colourful. The more colours it has in it, the larger the variety of vitamins and minerals.
4) Veganisim is not a get thin diet. You will lose weight, but that is just because most fats will be cut out. Eat so that you are content. Your body will need it to stay powered. Don't forget to add things like rice and other carbs to give you energy.

Answer 4

Yes, apparently as long as you aren't and idiot about it. A lot of vegans just cut out the animal products and eat packaged high, carb foods and that is not healthy. As long as you replace the protein and vitamins with vegetable sources you'll be healthy. Vegans need to really learn a lot about nutrition. I'm very healthy and I've been vegan for 7 years.

I highly recommend going to your local library for more information. They can provide access to books, DVDs, databases and more information.

Answer 5

Only if you follow the rules for maintaining a healthy diet. Just eating vegan by itself is not enough; you need to make sure you get balanced proteins and enough vitamins and minerals. Beans and rice together make complete protein, but the grains amaranth and quinoa both already have complete protein; corn is a good grain to eat, but it does not have any vitamin b6, so if you eat predominantly corn as a grain, you might want to supplement b6. Vitamin B12 is mostly available in beef, so you may need to supplement that.

Research your nutritional components and eat a balanced diet, and you'll do great.

Keep in mind that soy, while it is very popular, is NOT healthy. Research done in the past 10-15 years has shown that it prevents the absorption of calcium, iron and zinc, which are vital minerals for health; also, it retards neural development in children, because zinc is important for neural growth. It also depresses the thyroid, so if you have a week thyroid, you should avoid soy like the plague (I can't do anything for a WEEK after I eat something with soy in it). Miso and soy sauce are safe, as is soy lecithin and soybean oil. Soy bean oil, in fact, is an excellent source of Vitamin K, which is the clotting factor otherwise most available in green, leafy vegetables.

Answer 6

Absolutely the healthiest of all people...There is abundant evidence that vegetarian diets are more healthful than the average American diet, especially for preventing, treating or reversing heart disease and reducing the risk of cancer.1 Research has shown a low-fat vegetarian diet is the single most effective way to stop progression of coronary artery disease or prevent it altogether. Several other health conditions, such as diabetes,2 obesity,3 gallstones,4 and kidney stones,5 are much less common in vegetarians. The health benefits of a vegetarian diet may be linked to the fact that vegetarians tend to eat less animal fat, protein and cholesterol and more fiber and antioxidants.6 Simply put, the fewer animal foods and the more varied, whole plantfoods consumed, the healthier the individual will be compared to the general population.

Answer 7

Any dietary lifestyle is healthy if it is balanced with sufficient protein, fibre, minerals, carbohydrates, vitamins etc. Eating less red meat seems to be the recommendation for omnivores. A vegan diet can only be unhealthy if it is deficient in some nutrient or other, but of course, getting back to balance it won't be.

Answer 8

Yes it is.By being vegan u cut out nearly all saturated fats but u do need to watch calcium levels,u can do this by eating tofu or taking supplements.Keep a varied and fresh diet,plenty of beans,nuts and seeds.
I'm veggie but love cheese too much to become vegan,although i tried for two weeks.

Answer 9

Not really, unless your an expert on nutrition.
I was a vegetarian for a year, then I was a vegan, also for a year.

I eat meat in moderation.
I eat meat like 2 or 3 times a week. No beef for me, it makes me feel sick.

Being a vegan didn't work out so well for me, my friends and I didn't really know what we were doing.

Answer 10

It's easy to miss out some of the essential amino acids (the building-blocks of proteins) in a strictly vegan diet - but as someone else (Greenleaf?) said, certain grains are good sources.

Answer 11

no. both a friend and a brother were vegans for years and finally gave up, on the advice of their doctors that there health was poor for their age and immune system not up to scratch. They also looked dreadful, like corpses. They became ovo-lacto vegetarians and their health improved within weeks. I was a veggie for years with no health probs at all, I had no interest in living a life of beans and pulses and tofu like the vegans. But that's all in the past, a cracking bacon sarnie put an end to it all!