All of these changes conspire to make vegan eating easier and more appealing than you may have ever imagined. Vegans still eat beans and rice, but they also eat pasta with artichoke pesto, tempeh roasted in apricot barbecue sauce, hot fudge sundaes, and veggie cheeseburgers. With better food, more information, and a growing appreciation of the health benefits of plant foods, the world is becoming more vegan friendly.
WHY VEGAN?
Since 1950, profound changes have taken place on farms, driven by efforts to cut costs and produce cheap meat, milk, and eggs. The changes have given birth to factory farms, where animals are crammed into sheds and cages with virtually no room to move. Modern farming ignores the basic instinctual needs and welfare of individual animals. Many die before they ever make it to the slaughterhouse from disease or injury or because they couldn’t access food or water. Conditions at slaughterhouses are deplorable and cruel as well. Today’s farm is less likely to be a friendly family enterprise and more likely to be a factory where efficiency takes precedence over respectful treatment of animals. The plain and simple—and uncomfortable—fact is that production of animal foods (even dairy and eggs) contributes to animal suffering.
Thanks to the work of animal-rights organizations, more people are becoming aware of these abuses. One answer for many has been to seek out foods from animals who were raised more humanely. Many products that boast “humanely produced” type labels come from animals who lived under somewhat better circumstances, but often the differences are negligible. And all of these animals usually go to the same slaughterhouses. Likewise, the term “organic” doesn’t translate to “humanely produced.” A large percentage of organic animal foods come from animals who were raised on factory farms.
Any truly meaningful welfare improvements can take place only on very small farms where every phase of the animal’s life (and death) is monitored. But that’s a costly and inefficient way to produce animal foods. Even if people could afford them, there isn’t enough land for farms of this type to feed the American population.
In Chapter 16, we’ll look at these issues in more depth. It’s not easy to read about the lives of these animals, but if you are wondering whether a vegan diet is the right choice for you, we think that the information will provide some perspectives on food choices. Whether you are concerned about the suffering of factory-farmed animals or embrace the belief that animals should never be used by humans, a vegan diet is an effective and meaningful way to put these beliefs into practice.
Meat, dairy, and egg production is also wasteful and harmful to the environment. Land that is used to raise food for billions of farm animals could grow food for direct human consumption, saving forests, water, and fossil fuels. A reduced dependence on animal foods is a significant step toward making your carbon footprint smaller.
Finally, those who opt for a plant-based diet are likely to enjoy personal benefits as well. Vegans have lower cholesterol and less hypertension and are less likely to develop diabetes. And vegan diets have been used as part of successful programs for treating chronic disease. We’ll look at those issues in Chapter 13.
ARE VEGAN DIETS SAFE?
According to the American Dietetic Association, vegan diets are safe for all stages of the life cycle as long as they are well planned.
1
The “well-planned” caveat has been a source of annoyance among vegan dietitians for nearly two decades. Any diet, vegan or not, has to be well-planned. Those who consume animal products don’t automatically meet all nutrient needs and can fall short on fiber and other compounds that are abundant in vegan diets. Likewise, vegan diets require more attention to some nutrients like vitamin B
12
and iron.
The point is that everyone, no matter what type of diet they eat, needs a little nutrition know-how. But yes, vegan diets can—and do—support optimal health throughout the life cycle. Many of the negative stories about vegans, especially children, who suffer from nutrient deficiencies are actually due to very restrictive types of vegan diets such as macrobiotic or raw foods.
A vegan diet isn’t difficult; it’s just a different way of meeting nutrient needs. This book is a guide to vegan nutrition and meal planning at all stages of the life cycle as well as for those who wish to adopt a vegan diet to reduce their risk for chronic disease. We’ve provided steps that translate nutrition information into real food choices and realistic menus for everyone.
Going vegan for life is a choice that has win-win written all over it. It respects the lives of animals and represents a refusal to contribute to their suffering. Many people feel a sense of relief when they start taking steps toward veganism because it reflects how they feel about animals. A plant-based menu is also broadening and will introduce you to new foods and menus; it’s very likely to make your diet more interesting, not less. And depending on what your diet is like right now, making the move toward veganism is very likely to improve your health.
This book is for everyone who wants to reap these benefits and is ready to get started on the path to compassionate and healthy eating.
A Few Definitions
Omnivore
In this book, we use the terms “omnivore” and “meat-eater” to describe anyone who chooses to include meat and other animal foods in his or her diet. So, an omnivore is someone who eats plants, meat, dairy foods, and eggs.
Plant-based diets
Some omnivores eat a plant-based diet. That is, they eat meat, dairy, and eggs, but they emphasize plant foods in their meals, usually for health reasons. The terms “flexitarian” and “semi-vegetarian” are also used to describe people who eat this way.
Lacto-ovo vegetarian
Vegetarians who include dairy and eggs in their diet are lacto-ovo vegetarians, sometimes abbreviated as LOV. Historically, most vegetarians in the United States have eaten this way, and much of what we know about vegan diets is actually extrapolated from studies of vegetarians.
Vegan
The word “vegan” was coined to describe a lifestyle that avoids all animal products for food, clothing, and personal care. It’s based on ethical concerns regarding animals. However, a vegan diet—which includes no meat, fish, dairy, or eggs—is chosen by people for a variety of reasons, including issues regarding animal use as well as health and environmental considerations. Since this is a book about nutrition, when we use the word “vegan,” we are referring to anyone who consumes a diet that includes only plant foods.
Our Journeys: How We Became Vegan Dietitians
Jack
I was nineteen years old and went on a fishing trip with my dad and grandfather. It consisted of putting out a number of lines at the same time, sitting back, and waiting for one to be tugged on. When a fish was reeled in, they put the fish in an empty watercooler, where it thrashed around for a good long time as it suffocated to death. I felt horrible about it and decided not to reel in any fish. I realized that if the fish were human, we would do all we could to save the person from such pain, but since it was a fish, no one cared. Yet the suffering seemed very similar. My grandfather and father were a bit confused by my reaction. Still, it took me another two years to stop eating fish!
Over the next two years, I read a few pages from
Animal Liberation
, which one of my philosophy professors showed me, which got me thinking, and then purchased
Animal Liberation
, which was a benefit album for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. I wrote to PETA for more information and started to learn about factory farms. The first food I gave up was eggs, followed by mammals and birds. My first couple of weeks not eating mammals and birds were hard because meat was very tempting, but soon I discovered some high-protein vegan foods and was satisfied with them. I gave up fish a few months later, and my only animal-product consumption at that point was one glass of cow’s milk each day for calcium. When my chiropractor told me that I could get calcium from greens, I gave up dairy and went vegan in June of 1988.
After college, I became a full-time activist for animals, founded Vegan Outreach with Matt Ball, and spent two years traveling the country handing out our booklets on veganism to college students. In that time, I came across numerous people who said they had been vegan or vegetarian and had not been healthy. Due to this and all the other nutrition issues surrounding a vegan diet, I decided to become a registered dietitian so that I would know what I was talking about.
Ginny
When I headed off to college to become a dietitian, I was a carefree omnivore, chowing down happily on hamburgers and baked chicken. I’ve
loved and felt great compassion for animals all my life, but for two and a half decades, it didn’t occur to me that this had anything to do with how I should eat.
The little light bulb went on over my head just after I obtained my RD. I was newly married and cooking up all kinds of gourmet dinners, including—just for fun—some vegetarian ones. The first vegetarian cookbook I purchased was
Laurels’ Kitchen
, and I credit it with nudging me onto the path toward ethical eating. Standing in the little kitchen in my apartment in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I opened it and read:
This book is dedicated to a glossy black calf on his way to the slaughterhouse many years ago, whose eyes met those of someone who could understand their appeal and inspire us, and thousands of others like us, to give the gift of life.
Just like that, something clicked. Those simple words spoke volumes to me, and I knew right then and there that I wasn’t going to eat animal flesh again.
Five years later, in 1989, I took a job working for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and once again made a huge leap in my understanding of what it means to eat ethically. As the staff dietitian, I did a lot of reading about dairy and egg production—and what I read absolutely stunned me. I learned that animals suffer just as much on dairy and egg farms as they do in meat production. I went “mostly vegan” and continued to refine my choices over the next several years, eventually removing all animal products from my diet as well as other parts of my life. I also dedicated my work to learning as much as possible about planning healthy animal-free diets. And my work as a writer and a consultant continues with that focus—sharing information about vegan nutrition and helping others make a safe and happy journey toward compassionate food choices.
Top Ten Myths about Vegan Diets
While vegan diets are gaining status more quickly than anyone could ever have imagined, they still sit well outside the mainstream. We have a big challenge in getting the message out that this way of eating is not only safe and healthful, but enjoyable and realistic too. At the same time, an enthusiasm for vegan eating among its proponents has given rise to unfortunate myths that cause some vegans to make poor food choices.
We’re going to do some myth-busting in this book, and here are ten of the biggest ones that we’ll tackle:
1. Vegans need less calcium than omnivores.
2. To reap the health benefits of a vegan diet, you need to avoid fat.
3. The healthiest vegan diets are based on 100 percent unprocessed whole foods.
4. People don’t need to start taking vitamin B
12
supplements until they have been vegan for three years.
5. If a vegan diet is good, then a raw-foods diet must be better.
6. Eating soy gives men female characteristics.
7. When you first go vegan, you’ll experience unpleasant feelings from detoxing and withdrawal from animal products.
8. Vegan teens are at risk for developing eating disorders.
9. Plant proteins are missing some essential amino acids.
10. Vegans need to consume only 5 to 6 percent of their calories as protein.
CHAPTER
1
UNDERSTANDING VEGAN NUTRIENT NEEDS
N
utrition science was born in the early 1800s with the discovery of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. But long before that, humans knew a lot—strictly through trial and error—about food and health without actually understanding what the protective factors in foods were.
The first documented nutrition experiment was performed in 1747 by Dr. James Lind, a ship’s doctor with the British Royal Navy. At the time, being a sailor was a dangerous occupation, not just because of storms and piracy, but because as many as half of all sailors who set out on long voyages died from scurvy. Theorizing that it had something to do with the lack of fruits and vegetables on board, Lind fed different diets to a small group of sailors and noted that those who consumed lemons and limes didn’t get scurvy.
While the navy made good use of the information, ordering all British ships to carry limes, the reason that these foods were protective wasn’t known for another two hundred years when researchers discovered vitamin C. (And while Lind got all the credit for discovering the cure for scurvy, Chinese sailors had been growing greens on their ships to ward off scurvy since at least the fifth century.)
As early as 1916, well before the discovery of many vitamins, nutritionists were recommending intake of certain “protective foods.” The first RDAs were read over the radio to Americans in 1941 and have been updated and expanded a number of times since then.
Today, recommendations for individual nutrients are set by the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the National Institute of Medicine. While these are official recommendations, the science behind them is sometimes still not entirely settled. In some cases, there isn’t enough research for anything more than an educated guess. And actual individual requirements are affected by lifestyle, overall diet, and genetics, which means that it’s impossible to pin down the exact nutrient requirements of any one person.