Is being a vegan unhealthy?

Question

I mean, vegans do not eat products that contain things that come from an animal, I know, but I don't understand. I mean, where do you get the protein and other stuff from? Vegetarians eat at least eggs and they drink milk also.

Answer 1

I think so we where meant to eat the flesh of creatures lower on the food chain, I prefer cooked flesh personally

Answer 2

Like any diet, there are healthy and unhealthy versions of it depending on how clued up you are on getting the right nutrients. Vegan diets can be the healthiest diet there is, if it's done properly. Good sources of protein are beans, chickpeas, nuts, seeds, tofu, lentils. Combined with grains these supply all the amino acids the body needs.
On the other hand, if a vegan was to eat a diet of fake meat (which is processed) and white bread and chips, for example, their diet would be very unhealthy. As you can see, it's a matter of what the vegan choses to eat. The vegan diet isn't set in stone.

Answer 3

Absolutely not unhealthy. The key is obvious; balanced healthy diet. People seem to think that all vegans are thin and pasty faced; it is actually surprising to a lot of folks that many meals they eat are actually vegan. It is not hard to get sources of vitamins and protein. My husband has been vegan for many years and is probably one of the healthiest people I know. Part of the the scaremongery of becoming a vegan I would say is certainly down to the meat industry and companies which shift a lot of these foods; I can say this even as a carnivore myself! You don't have to live off raw veg and seeds to be a healthy, energetic vegan!

Answer 4

Tofu, soymilk, fake soy meats, beans and legumes, nuts, seeds, grains, vegetables have some. Buckwheat is a grain with high protein (TJ's country place has buckwheat pancakes, last I checked.) Bean burritos at Taco Bell.Soymilk is an acquired taste, but it is good, just a different taste than cow's milk. Sometimes you can take a multiple vitamin if you feel the need to. Nutritional yeast is good for B vitamins , I think (I am just trying this out in recipes). People use Bragg's aminos to recipes for protein too (just learning about this..some kind of soy sauce?) .

Answer 5

Nuts and legumes contain sufficient protein even for body builders. Generally people eat far too much protein and it leads to health problems. I recently saw a video on youtube of a guy who's a vegan, and believe me, he's bulky, almost too much to my taste!

It stuns me that people seem to think you need to eat meat to get minerals and vitamins. Fresh fruit and vegetables are far better sources of these!

To answer your question: vegan and vegetarian diets are generally very healthy! This is what dietitians have to say about it: "It is the position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada that appropriately
planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the
prevention and treatment of certain diseases. ... Well-planned vegan and other types of
vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy,
lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional
benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher
levels of carbohydrates, fibre, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins
C and E and phytochemicals."

Answer 6

The world has brainwashed many people into thinking that we need animal products to stay healthy, the average American eats 2 to 5 times more protein than needed, excess protein is unhealth and can lead to kidney failure, kidney stones, osteoporosis, and many other health problems look here -http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougall/040100puproteinoverload.htm . Today we know that this is untrue, a low percentage of people are vegans, but there is allot of them out there in the world, and the ones who know how to eat a balanced diet a very healthy. Ever wonder how other herbivores get enough nutrition? I am talking about Horses, elephants, cattle.

Gorillas which are cousins to us humans have a 98% to 100% vegan diet depending on how their family group raised them. But a gorilla does not need meat, cow milk, and eggs to keep healthy. It eats mostly fruit, plants and leaves, nuts, seeds. Some gorilla family groups do eat termites, eggs, but these foods are really only eaten if they are on a shortage. The truth is that all plant foods contain amino acids (the building blocks of protein) a whole protein is made from the 23 amino acids. Your body on its own creates 15 of the 23 amino acids, the other 8 must be eaten in foods. All plant based foods contain some or all of the 23 amino acids, by eating a diet with a little variety you will receive all the amino acids your body need to make human protein cells (this goes the same with all animals, but every animal has a slightly different protein) Lets say for example you eat chicken meat or some nuts. Your body can't absorbe the protein in the form of nut protein or chicken protein, it has to break the protein down into its amino acids, and then reconstruct it into a human protein. The human body is quite something is it not (=?

Ever wonder how powerfull animals like horses, cattle, elephants get enough nutrition? Lets talk about cows.... A calf is born weighing 75lbs, in 45 days the calf will double its birth weight (150lbs), in 6 months it will weigh about 500lbs, in less than 3 years it will weigh 800lbs to 1500lbs. Ever seen how muscular a bull is? http://www.anthonymosley-photographer.co.uk/images/CAPR/wLivestock%20Agriculture%20Cattle%20Beef%20Belgian%20Blue%20Bull%20Three%20Quarter%20Rear%20View%20Web%20Display%20ANM-D169-CN645-84-698-55.jpg all they eat is grass and a little grain. Look at horse http://www.dreammooreranch.com/talisman2.jpg

Elephant http://www.davidwallphoto.com/images/%7B122F07B8-B244-4C79-A123-8491F02BA43F%7D.JPG

Gorilla http://www.americazoo.com/kids/graphics/gorillas2.jpg

Vegan human body builders (no supliments or steroids) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvEH7W_w1NA
http://sport.ard.de/sp/weitere/news200602/14/img/bodybuilder_buehne_dargatz_300.jpg

I have been a vegetarian for 7 years, and been a vegan for a liitle over 2 months. I feel very healthy, full of energy, and I love to keep in good shape and I do some muscle building to keep toned. Being a vegan has done only good things for my health. I have even more energy, I only need to sleep for 5 to 6 hours, a skin rash I used to have is gone (dairy related I think).

Do some research on google to learn tons more information. But here are a few good sites

http://www.drmcdougall.com/medical_hottopics.html
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/images/kennethwilliams.jpg&imgrefurl=http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/natural.html&h=187&w=310&sz=14&hl=en&start=11&tbnid=_OJ6GoSJfkJ_MM:&tbnh=71&tbnw=117&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvegan%2Bbodybuilder%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Answer 7

No, it isn't unhealthy, but it is a huge departure from the regular diet most of us have. Nuts tend to fill in the protein quotient, as well as nutritional supplements. I have a few vegan friends and I will tell you every single one of them is skinny. Motivation can change between people, but as to the core of your question, you can be vegan and very healthy (and happy).

Answer 8

Well, I've been vegan for about a year now, and I tell you that I have never felt or looked healthier. I haven't dropped dead of a protein deficiency yet! :)

Answer 9

They'll get their protein from things like beans,soy and nut products mostly. It's only unhealthy if they appear to not look or feel very healthy with that type of restrictive diet. They'd also have to use supplements to make sure that they're getting enough quality vitamins and minerals.Most of the vegans that I've seen over the years look kind of sick, pale and thin.Of course some people don't have a choice about eating that way because of extreme allergies or food sensitivies.I sure wouldn't recommend it for anyone on a long term basis but it would be ok short term as a part of an overall cleansing diet.

Answer 10

The way I see it, if you can afford it, it's probably better for your health to be a vegan or at least a vegetarian. Meat is pretty pathetic these days (unless you buy the expensive stuff, which would cancel out part of my argument).

In practice, though, meat is easily acquired and relatively inexpensive (not to mention delicious, but that's beside the point). Furthermore, some people require some type of animal protein in order to live. Not everyone, then, is actually capable of becoming a vegetarian or vegan, whether for health or economic reasons.

It is difficult (and I essentially mean expensive) to live entirely off non-animal products. We are omnivores, whether we accept it or not.

God bless.

Answer 11

It is not totally unhealthy aside from the fact that they dont eat meat. But they find other ways on how to substitude it with another element.