Is Veganism Healthy?

​Throughout the month, these blogs have covered various aspects of veganism, so to round this off, let’s talk about veganism and health.

As you may have seen, one of the first blogs was an interview with Dr. Michael Greger. I won’t repeat it all here, but you can give it another read. In it, Dr. Greger talks about how the healthiest diets consist primarily of whole plant foods:

“The pandemic of chronic disease has been ascribed in part to the near-universal shift toward a diet dominated by processed foods and animal-sourced foods—more meat, oils, dairy, soda, eggs, sugar, salt, and refined grains.”

A vegan diet contains all of the nutrients your body need to thrive. This is something that is supported by the world’s major health and dietetic organisations.

Top tips!
1) Ensure the majority of your diet is healthy wholefoods.
Cakes and meat-alternatives are delicious, but as with any diet, these shouldn’t form the bulk of your diet. Ensuring that most of your diet consists of foods like fruits, vegetables, beans, pulses, legumes and wholegrains will guarantee that you are eating as healthy as possible.

2) Take your B12 supplements.
Vitamin B12 isn’t found naturally in plant foods, so it is essential that those following a plant-based diet supplement it in some way. The easiest way to do this is by taking a direct supplement. B12 is also found in fortified plant milks and cereals and nutritional yeast.

3) Eat your leafy greens.
It goes without saying that green vegetables are some of the healthiest foods on the planet. It is absolutely essential that we consume leafy green vegetables on a daily basis to ensure we are meeting all of nutritional requirements – particularly for iron and calcium.

Further reading
The Vegan RD: www.theveganrd.com

The Vegan Society: www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health

The NHS Eat Well advice for vegan diets: www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/the-vegan-diet

Vegan Health, evidence-based vegan nutritional advice: www.veganhealth.org