by Vegalicious Elena on May 3, 2012
Today I want to conclude the topic of how we can properly and safely transition into a plant-based diet, avoiding major pitfalls and myths, which, if we are not careful, might set us up for a world of disappointment and failures. Make sure to read the first two installments,before embarking on this one, so all things make sense:
- Vegan Done Wrong (Transitioning to Vegan Living While Avoiding Major Pitfalls Part I)
- Vegan Done Wrong (Transitioning to Vegan Living While Avoiding Major Pitfalls Part II)
Do Vegans Need to Supplement?
According to the latest vegan-lifestyle bashing articles, being vegan is hard, because one has to make sure to get certain vitamins not to be deficient, and one has to make sure to mix certain foods to get proteins, etc. But nothing could be farther from the truth.
While mainstream SAD (standard American diet) is void of many minerals and nutrients our bodies need to operate, while it is rich in empty calories, a whole foods, plant-based diet is rich in both, and then some, and low in calories, while also rich in fiber.
In real life, plant foods (fruits, veggies, greens, grains, etc.) are MUCH better and superior to any bottled vitamin you will find on the market, save one, but more about that in a few.
- Vegetables and Fruits are complex with multiple vitamins and nutrients working together, like a symphony, to ensure that you get the best of all you need, while extracted vitamins are often synthetic (made in a lab, not grown), and, in concentrated forms, as they come, might become toxic
- Nutrients are important when consumed as whole foods, not isolated nutrients
Let’s take a look at a partial list of nutrients and vitamins you will find in deceivingly simple food–spinach.
[click to continue reading…]
by Vegalicious Elena on May 1, 2012
In yesterday’s post Vegan Done Wrong (Transitioning to Vegan Living While Avoiding Major Pitfalls Part I) I started the discussion of what makes for a successful plant based lifestyle and what pitfalls need to be avoided while doing so. We established several important points:
- Education is needed
- Guidance is strongly encouraged
- Junk is to be avoided, vegan or not
- Vegans can be as unhealthy as the general population, if their diet is done wrong (yes, if you are using vegan substitutes for all of the former junk you used to enjoy, you are most likely to have the same health issues–potato chips, vegan ice creams and desserts, filled with fats and sugar, fake cheeses and processed meat substitutes hardly make for a healthy diet)
- Vegans come in a few different forms: health vegans–those who go on a plant based diet only for health reasons (that is how Hubby’s and my journey started), unfortunately some of them never learn the art of animal compassion and still use animal products, thus still contributing the the carbon footprint, waste, environment pollution and unnecessary animal cruelty; ethical vegans–those who become vegan because they love animals; it is often this group that has very deep health issues because anything vegan goes, even if it is junk and has a pound of vegan butter in it; and then there are BOTH vegans, which would be people like Hubby and I and a lot of Vegalicious readers–they become vegan for either health or ethical reasons and then learn the other side of plant based living–some to be compassionate toward all animal life, and others to eat healthy not only to save animals but their own lives as well. And who said that we have to be either/or? Why not be both? And why not go all the way and be even more than that–a responsible citizen of our planet, thinking not only about animals, foods, but about resource preservation, reducing chemical load on our planet, and living unselfishly with tomorrow on our mind, thinking about the legacy we will leave for our children and grandchildren?
- We also covered the topic of protein and learned that vegans are not protein deficient as long as they eat a variety of foods, enjoying the most of what God gave us, as opposed to omnivores, who consume a poor source of protein, which is not fully digestible by the human body, and tend to get stuck eating same depleted foods over and over again, thus become malnourished, while being overfed.
Today we will continue this discussion (and oh, how I enjoyed you all chatting back with me about these topics on yesterday’s post and on FB!). We will talk about not understanding commercialized topics, which are important but often misunderstood by new vegans or those who would like to become vegan but are a little scared: [click to continue reading…]
by Vegalicious Elena on April 30, 2012
When Hubby and I went vegan it was done with achieving optimal health in mind. I spent several months doing nothing but researching, reading and preparing for the change. At that point I did not know that there is a right and a wrong way to change to a vegan lifestyle, but I soon learned that there is… and more than one! Now that we have been “walking the walk” for a few years I have personally seen a lot of VEGAN DONE WRONG. I now live and breath to make sure that when my readers and whoever else I meet along the way, who are ready to make the change, do so optimally, avoiding major pitfalls, which would lead to nothing but disappointment and a high rate of quitting a lifestyle which could be good for them for a lifetime.
Vegan Done Wrong
Is going vegan really as scary and hard as the recent news portrayed a vegan diet to be (more about that in another next post)? Do we really have to count calories, combine certain foods to get our protein, be cautious of carbs, stay away from fruit, eat spoonfuls of oil and eat nothing but grass?
So, what makes for a right or wrong transition to a vegan lifestyle? Here are some common mistakes made by those who DO VEGAN THE WRONG WAY:
Too much too soon
- Making a transition without proper understanding of the basics/research
- Making a transition without guidance or using wrong guidance
- Thinking it is a temporary change or a way to diet to feel better and/or to lose weight
And here are some commonly misunderstood topics by the new vegans:
You can eat anything vegan and be healthy
But they forget that: Junk is still junk… even vegan. I have seen way to many vegans loading up on sugary treats, fatty foods and common junk that can be considered vegan, such as potato chips or fries.
Not understanding commercialized topics, which are important but often misunderstood:
- Fats/Oils
- Protein
- Carbs
- Green Smoothies
- Supplementation
- Raw vs. High Raw or… ANYTHING GOES
When these important issues are either ignored, not studied enough or misunderstood (as certain truths can be interpreted differently by different audiences) a lot of well meaning people end up in a big heap of trouble. [click to continue reading…]
