Does anyone know alot about Vegan diets? Do Vegans get all the nutrients they need?

Question

One of the more common practices during these past few decades is to decrease the amount of fat in the diet and many have done this by eliminating animal derived food products from their diets and becoming vegans. But are vegan diets really more healthful than diets with animal derived foods? Explain. Do vegans get all of their nutrient needs? How? Proteins are undoubtedly very essential to our survival, overall health and wellbeing. Are all proteins equal in value? Cells, tissues, organs, enzymes, some hormones are all proteins. How are these made? How does the body know what kind/type of protein to make and how are these made? Explain/discuss.

Answer 1

This sounds like a homework assignment. I'll just touch upon the most important and most misunderstood aspect.

Are all proteins equal in value? No, but it doesn't really matter as long as you get enough of all the amino acids. Plants are the original sources of amino acids and all the ones we need are in plants (just not in ONE plant). Legumes and grains together contain all the amino acids we need.

The body makes proteins from amino acids based on its own genetic code (DNA). All food proteins (meat, beans, veggies, anything) meet the same fate - breakup into amino acids and reassembled according to HUMAN specifications.

So really, it's a fallacy to say "you need animal protein". The body needs human protein, and you can't eat it, you can only MAKE it. It doesn't matter what you use to make it - plants, fungi or animals.

Answer 2

OK, multi question...

> Does anyone know alot about Vegan diets?
I think I qualify.

> Do Vegans get all the nutrients they need?
Well, if they are alive, then yes. If they have died exclusively from their diet, then no.

What do we *need*. Do we need coffee, cake, soda pop, chocolate bars, instant foods, canned foods, microwaved frozen foods, deep fried this and that... etc.? No, but most people live off of this stuff. Are they alive? Yes. Are they healthy? Most are not, but they get along fine. A vegan can indeed be just as unhealthy as anyone else. I could easily eat all sorts of vegan stuff and give myself a heart attack because of it or even cancer.

See, in N. America people PIG OUT on nearly everything including meat. Stuff is CHEAP in the USA compared to other countries. The typical American will eat a piece a meat for dinner that a family in Hong Kong would use for the whole week! Right? The ill health of America is not about meat, it's about excess.

That said, taking meat out of your diet, even if you eat very little meat, will improve your health. If not, why have millions of people such as myself experienced this? Placebo?

Proteins? Protein is protein. Doesn't matter where is comes from. That silly propaganda saying that meat protein is better than animal protein is just silly.

How are proteins made? The body joins together amino acids. We do not need to eat protein, we need to eat amino acids. Eating whole protein is actually inefficient compared to eating amino acids.

How does the body know? No one knows, we can only theorize. You see, the functions in the human body are mostly far too small to study, so we make theories based upon experiments and silly notions and propaganda etc. Most scientists are paid by someone and they are paid to find certain answers. Most scientists cannot be trusted, unfortunately. Look into Rife and his live microscope and the history of other such scientists who do things for the benefit of not profit, but for the benefit of human kind.

Anyway, start with Biology 101 and work your way up the ladder and you will see just how humans are herbivores then you will further discover just how little anyone knows about the intricacies of the human body. You will learn that even the simplest experiment done under the most neutral conditions will have different results every single time the experiment is performed, but scientists just round off the numbers to make things easier for them.

Answer 3

If you use your head and plan ahead, vegans and vegetarians can get all the nutrients that meat-eaters can.

Vitamin B-12 is difficult to find outside of animal products, but it's not impossible. This can usually be accomplished through supplements.

They'll also need to be careful about iron levels. Heme-type iron is only available in animal products and is the most well-absorbed form. Non-heme-type iron is the kind of iron that is less well-absorbed, but with knowledge about the right foods, it shouldn't be a problem at all getting enough.

Chances are, vegans/vegetarians will usually aim to include (and succeed) in their diet much more raw fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and beans than the average person ever eats. And if you do your research, you would be absolutely amazed to see how much protein exists outside of animal products. Broccoli, artichokes, whole grains, beans, nuts, and soy products are all rich in protein.

Answer 4

Like everyone else if Vegans eat the right foods they can be healthy. It's easier to be healthy on a vegan diet as many of the things that cause ill health are in animal foods.

For super health then hempseeds and algae are useful components

Answer 5

I have been a vegan for over 35 years. Protein is one of the most important things to consider when you begin a vegan diet. I get mine through nuts, beans and tofu. I use tofu for everything. It is in everything. Vegetables are a given......but knowing what vegetables goes with what is an art. Check out books on Microbiotic diets. That should help.

Toothfairy is wrong....vegans can get fat. Because they will eat chocolate or other foods with sugar. Sugar will make you fat.

Answer 6

health is not the sole reason people become vegans.

though for some it is.

Fat is not bad. really its not. in fact its an essential nutrient for us, many vitamins are fat soluable, and without fat in the body the body has trouble doing many many things.

its the cutting out of saturated fats from the diet that the decreasing consumption of meat and meat products is aiming to accomplish.

humans have no dietary requirement for saturated fat, we produce it all on our own from the essential fatty acids that we actually require.

over consumption of saturated fat significantly contributes to obesity and heart disease.

good fats are indeed incredibly healthy for us.

Protein is protein.

it does not matters where the body gets it from, all protein will be broken down into amino acids before it can be utilized by the body.

meat or legumes and grains, it doesnt matter, it has to be broken down before it can be used.

the difference is that legumes, beans, seeds and grains all come with essential fatty acids which we actually require, not the saturated fat like meat.

also many dietary sources of protein come with many other essential nutrients, not just essential fatty acids, like iron in beans and the vitamin E in whole grains.

Answer 7

check out The China Study for answers to all of those questions. A vegan diet should be substantially high in olive oil, extra virgin coconut oil and almonds as well as leafy greens.

Answer 8

All proteins are not equal and there is more to meat than just proteins. Meat also contains essential amino acids, which are the building blocks for our muscles. Many vegans can live a healthy life, but many are deficient in some areas. Many try to rely on beans, nuts and other legumes for their proteins. But sadly they don't get what they need, and end up taking a lot of vitamin supplements. Women that are vegan commonly suffer from iron deficiency. There are also many vegans that do quite well. Each person is different, so there is really no one answer for it.

I grew up on a farm and we raised all our own meat and vegetables. So to me, not eating meat is not an option. There are times I choose not to, but not very often.

Answer 9

nope - the vegan diet woud be good for a couple weeks to
shift the body's digestion - but then you start to run out of trace minerals that are found in meats, and vitamins chemicals are not wuite the same as the real McCoy

here is a good dissertation for a modified vegan diet
from one who was vegan for years

Answer 10

"Explain/discuss." Hmmm...

I had a nice answer all typed up for ya... then I realized that this is a homework question.