With how popular a vegan diet has become in the world around us, it’s quite tempting to follow or try it out for yourself. Especially if the benefits like improved digestion and weight control, added energy, and more sound useful for your own life. But is it really possible to live vegan? And what does that mean? How could the human body possibly survive and thrive without any animal products at all? Well, let’s talk about it!
Veganism refers to a lifestyle that doesn’t use or consume animal products or items that have been tested on animals. Mainly, this means no dairy products which are common in our foods, meats, or eggs. It can also mean no leather items, some brands being avoided because of their testing, and plenty of additives derived from animals not being consumed or utilized.
This eliminates quite a large portion of some people’s diets, since meat is our main usual form of many vitamins, minerals, and most importantly the main source of protein. So most of us will think that a vegan diet couldn’t be sustainable or get us the proper nutrients our body needs. Or we think of the common saying that humans are made to primarily eat meat.
Saying that humans are supposed to eat animal products is actually factually quite incorrect. Most of us have thought this or been told this which isn’t horrible to think, but can provide us with starter biases against vegetarian and vegan diets because it seems so improbable for us to survive off of non meat then. In actuality, our bodies are made to run based off of certain nutrients and vitamins.
We all need a sustainable amount of many vitamins and minerals as well as healthy levels of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. This is how our bodies function and continue to do well. All food has these, but some are easier to find in animal products. However, with proper research and some planning a vegan diet can easily provide these.
Vegan foods are also higher in minerals our bodies love but don’t get much when we focus on animal-based foods in our meals, such as all the great vitamins in leafy greens or in legumes. You can also get protein from sources like nuts, tofu, and more. And many vitamins in animal products exist in other items all around us, it just takes more careful attention to what your body needs and what you intake.
Sometimes those eating vegan do need some supplements to keep up with the specific nutrients they miss out on because of how they eat vegan. But it’s not always a necessity, and it doesn’t mean you have to take a bunch of vitamins in order to survive while living vegan. But how can you avoid this step in your lifestyle change? You’ll just need some thought behind your process.
You can easily research what nutrients happen to fall behind in vegan diets since many people have data compiled on these choices, and figure out what foods you can find those in for your body. You can also calculate how much protein your body needs and find some protein-rich non animal products that you enjoy to make that protein content in your day.
Overall, a vegan diet can be quite beneficial for folk that want something new in their life as well as better health and wellness if animal products cause them suffering in any kind right now. You can definitely not only survive but thrive from eating vegan, as long as you think of some planning ahead of time and go into it with a healthy mindset. If you just eat junk, you’ll feel junky. No matter the diet. We hope this helps!