"I Was Vegan for a While, But..."

While many people thrive on a vegan diet, others have a hard time. When someone is committed to reducing animal suffering, there are often solutions to these dilemmas, and finding answers has been a major focus of my nutrition writing. I feel that it is important to bring attention to these issues. While doing so might not initially attract as many people as claiming that a vegan diet is a health panacea, getting people to stay vegan is the more important task.

Something as simple as not eating enough calories might be a problem for an uninformed person who decides to give the vegan diet a try for a few days. They might only be aware of low-calorie vegan foods (e.g., salads, vegetables, fruits), and eating only these foods for a day might leave them feeling hungry and weak.

Of course, many advocacy groups are actively trying to educate people about the wide variety of satisfying vegan foods. In promoting the diet, each person could help prepare potential vegans for the real possibility that they won't feel good if they don't choose some calorie-dense foods.

Vitamin B12 in plant-based diets has long been a source of controversy and ideas that have turned out to be wrong. (In fact, it has been surrounded by so much controversy that a large portion of this site is dedicated to discussing vitamin B12.) This has led to many vegans getting B12 deficiency. Even today, many vegans do not understand the importance of a reliable supply of vitamin B12.

Nutritional myths have a way of going from one extreme to the other - either something is such an issue that people should not be vegan, or it is not important at all. The truth is often in the middle. Protein, calcium, and vitamin D are examples.

People once believed that in order to rely on plant proteins, you had to combine particular foods at every meal. We now know this is not true, but in countering the myth, claims have gone from "You don't need to combine proteins," to "It's easy to get enough protein on a vegan diet," to the harmful "It's impossible not to get enough protein!" On average, vegans get enough protein, but vegans who avoid legumes and soyfoods might not be getting enough and could feel unhealthy.

As for calcium, you can pick and choose a few studies to support the idea that animal protein, including protein in milk, is the main cause of osteoporosis. And following this line of logic, it would make sense that vegans therefore do not need to worry about osteoporosis since they are not eating animal protein. I wish it were true, but someone who evaluates more of the research will likely conclude that vegans, like non-vegans, should ensure good sources of calcium and vitamin D on a daily basis.

I would like to see vegan advocates promote the diet in such a way that we minimize the chances of someone having a bad experience. In so doing, future, long-term studies on vegans could show us to have better health than our meat-eating counterparts.