VEGAN /? is it healthy to be a vegan ?

Question

my 17 year old just turned into a vegan...I am worried about her nutrition , I dont't understand why would she be a vegan? is that something healthy???anybody vegan out there ?

Answer 1

I went vegan as a teenager. Vegan diets are very healthy when they include fruits, veggies, beans, nuts, and grains. The American Dietetic Association is the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. It says: "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."

Your daughter just needs to use common sense. She shouldn't starve herself on low-calorie foods like salads, or try to live on a junk food diet.

Here is a list of vegan foods high in protein, iron, and calcium: http://www.tryveg.com/cfi/toc/?v=08sourc...

People have different motivations for being vegan. Some are vegan for the health benefits, but many young people make the switch in order to reduce animal suffering in the meat, egg, and dairy industries.

Egg industry: http://www.chooseveg.com/eggs.asp

Dairy industry: http://www.chooseveg.com/dairy.asp

I hope this helps!

Answer 2

im very healthy, i am a vegan, just make sure she can get calcium from other foods...and protein as well.

Answer 3

Wow, thats great you are trying to get information about the vegan diet. When I wanted to become a vegetarian, my mom and dad just said, "No".  

I'm not a vegan, but I have been reading about dietary information for a vegetarian and vegan diet. ( I love milk products too much to give it up.)

Why she might desire to be a vegan:

There are health and ethical reasons to give up meat products. The meat industry farms their animals. Not all farms mistreat their animals but many that produce large quantities do so. Also, a plant based diet consumes less energy to produce. Farming animals takes an enormous amount of energy and waste to do. There are many health benefits to a well rounded vegan diet.

I have some links that will help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan#Preca...

http://blog.nutritiondata.com/ndblog/200...

http://www.vegansoapbox.com/

The Wiki article has precautions. Another precaution is Omega-3 fatty acid. This is essential for dietary needs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3

Vegetarians obtain their Omega-3 from milk and eggs. However, vegans can obtain their Omega-3 from Flaxseeds and Walnuts.

I don't know what your daughter's diet is like now. If she is still eating meat, I would suggest she adopts a vegetarian diet first. The American culture and cuisine is SATURATED with meat and switching to a vegetarian diet can be difficult for most Americans.

Also from what I have read, a STRICT vegan diet and be unhealthy. Typically a vegan diet is adopted for moral reasons. A great compromise is to eat local farmed and free ranged eggs or milk once in a while/month. This will supply her with ample amounts of b-12 and omega fatty acids. It assures that your daughter will not be neglecting needed nutrients for the sake of animal welfare for unnecessary reasons.

http://www.annecollins.com/vegan-diet.ht...

Answer 4

Vegetarian foods are a major source of nutrition for most people in the world.

Vegetarians have lower rates of heart disease and some forms of cancer than non-vegetarians. I used to be a vegan, unfortunately it's hard to stay committed. It is healthy, and your daughter is making a good decision in her life. Don't worry, it'll be okay.

here's a link to an article that might help you....

http://kidshealth.org/teen/nutrition/die...

Answer 5

Don't worry about her. If she enjoys a varied vegan diet she will be ok. Veganism is healthy.

Answer 6

I was vegan for a few years (just developed after being a vegetarian for so long) and even though I made sure to get enough protein from soy milk, etc. I became sick and lost a lot of weight and was hospitalized for 5 weeks. My doctor said that my body could not handle the lack of protein in my diet and the fact that I was raised eating meat, it just didn't work. I'm not saying you can't do it, you just have to be extremely careful. your brain just can't function without a balanced diet, and when your brain's not working you can't judge if you have a problem. This is probably why anorexics think they are fat and don't have a problem, they can't think clearly. just be careful. Talk to a doctor if she really wants this.

Answer 7

it's probably a question of ethics- i was piscetarian for lent (yeah i'm a wimp) but it taught me a lot about this stuff--

animal cruelty is a driving force for abstaining from eating meat ("all those poor little animals!!") it might be that she feels bad and doesn't want to imagine that what she's eating was once a living breathing being like you and me. if you dwell on it long enough you can feel pretty bad... =[

it might also be a health issue- is she overweight? she might just want to be super healthy and stay away from animal products... though she's sacrificing a lot of nutrients there... amino acids and proteins are hard to find in vegan foods, so she has to be extra careful in her diet.

Try to convince her to become a vegetarian- there are more food options and she won't feel so bad at restaurants when she has to scour the menu for *hopefully* one vegan option. And I think that milking cows is a lot better than butchering them, so milk shouldn't be shunned just because it comes from a cow. Ants milk aphids, so she can't use the excuse that humans are the only creatures who milk other animals. Also, humans are much much different.

She'll probably enjoy boca burgers- go to http://www.bocaburger.com/ to check out their meatless selections. It's ethical AND healthy, the perfect choice for vegans. :)

Whatever you do, don't respond negatively to her choice. Explain to her that you're worried about her nutrition, and help provide healthy vegan foods for your home so that she doesn't feel there is nothing to eat. Vegetables, breads, soy, and other nuts and beans are great choices for vegetarians, vegans, or anyone for that matter. Look into what you want to give up and what is healthy and ethical to eat.

Support her, and whatever you do, don't sneak in meat wherever you can- it's rude to her because it shows you don't respect her choices. My mother did that to me so I refused to eat at all... It takes a lot of willpower to say "no" to meats, and it'll be a hard internal fight, but once she discovers a whole myriad of options, it'll be easier.

Being vegan can be healthy, but only if you do it right. Elimination of certain foods from your diet can boost your energy and provide other positive health benefits, but more often than not, major nutrients are lost when non-vegan foods are given up. Piscetarianism is a great choice because it incorporates fish in the diet, and includes all the vegetarian options, too. It's much healthier because fish provides protein and other nutrients that are often missing from a strictly vegetarian/ vegan diet. These missing nutrients can lead to acne, fatigue, and other effects such as chemical imbalances in the brain (which may cause in rare cases depression or anxiety). Sorry to worry you. Just make sure that she eats right and includes a wide variety of foods in her diet, and she'll be great. =]

Good luck and happy eating :)

Answer 8

Just do your research and make sure she is eating the right foods so she does get her vitamins and calcium, being vegan is  not only caring about the animals its caring for yourself and making sure your body gets what it needs, there are a variety of good foods out there!! Boca burgers, soy milk, lots of veggies and fresh fruit there is a substitution for everything!!

Answer 9

Veganism can be perfectly healthy.  If she eats a variety of healthy foods she should be just fine.  You can look at the nutrition FAQ's on this site: http://www.ivu.org/faq/index.html

Being vegan is a personal choice.  If you don't understand her motives, ask her about it.  I think most of us do it because we think raising and killing animals for meat, eggs, or milk is cruel.

Also, look into some vegan recipes.  My favorite site is http://vegcooking.com   I also like http://recipezaar.com , where you can search and filter your results to just vegan recipes.

Answer 10

o man..........why doesnt her like meat~~~

taste soo good~~~

bad bad choice

Answer 11

Depends on who your asking! I'm vegan and I healthy than i've ever been in my life!

Answer 12

Veganism CAN be healthy, but it's very hard work to make it so, and it certainly isn't healthy for a 17 year-old girl, she will not be getting sufficient iron in her diet and will have a number of problems (both soon and later in life).

Vegans generally do have a reduced risk for heart disease and various cancers, but active humans who burn a lot of calories each day and whose bones & bodies are still growing require a full spectrum of nutrients unavailable in the Vegan diet without taking many, many artificial supplements.

That said, for reasons that are not yet entirely clear, some individuals thrive on a vegan diet, and some become very unhealthy indeed; your daughter should probably take the following blood chemistry tests to ensure she is not seriously harming herself (and she should earn the money to pay for them, too!)

https://www.veganhealthstudy.org/VHS_Tes...