🐮🐸🐷 Are You Vegan? Just Don’t Make These 5 Common Vegan Mistakes (#MakeItHealthy) 🐮🐸🐷
Being a vegan is a major decision that more and more people are making and committing to these days. People do it for a wide variety of reasons, ranging from health to ethical ones. Though it is a challenging diet to follow, so far there are many scientific studies revealing its many benefits for health and longevity.
This, however, doesn't mean the vegan diet is the best diet out there. Do your research and make sure you feed your body whole, healthy ingredients instead of foods coming from a factory. More about that later. Let me first briefly explain why we became 99% plant-based munchers. Who knows our story might inspire you to do the same ;)
Why We Decided To Go Vegan?
Until September 2017 we still ate animal products in 2 to 3 meals a week and felt great. It's what they call the flexitarian diet. Though I often even excluded these meals from my diet for my once meat-loving hubby, vegan was just one step too far.
After seeing so many scientific studies and the two documentaries “What The Health” and “Earthlings'” my hubby and I decided to go vegan for 99 percent of our time. Sometimes we still make an exception for Cambodian wild honey, homemade yogurt, and eggs from the chickens that freely roam our garden.
A healthier way of living has made it possible for my hubby to control multiple sclerosis through the power of living a healthy active lifestyle. Amazing, right? We haven’t felt better in our entire lives and no issues for my hubby whatsoever.
Though my hubby is doing super well and almost never cheating our plant-based rules, the other day he ordered a dish with meat and said that he should have ordered the veggie option as it tasted better.... he has come from such a long way... but as you see it's just a matter of perception and habits. Once you get used to the delicious flavor of whole foods they will never fail to amaze you again!
Going vegan, however, is not always the healthier option since there are still a number of mistakes and misconceptions that vegans are likely to come across.
I’m not asking you to become a vegan, that’s a decision we all have to make for ourselves, but if you still eat meat at least drastically reduce your intake and up the quality of your sources to avoids hormones, antibiotics and other nasty chemicals. And of course.... next to cruelty-free food, exercise and no processed foods are super important too.
Google Image
Here Is A List Of The 5 Most Common Vegan Mistakes
1. Falling short of the vitamin B12
Most of the vitamin b12 we get comes from animal products. It is not uncommon for vegans and vegetarians to struggle with b12 deficiencies. Since b12 is involved in bodily processes such as maintaining healthy blood cells and regulating DNA replication, it is essential we make sure our body doesn't fall short of this important nutrient.
Avoid this vegan mistake by eating vegan food sources containing vitamin B12 or taking high-quality nutritional supplements if needed.
2. Not consuming enough calories
This was a mistake I made when I switched to eating mostly vegan foods. Apparently, I am not the only one.
Generally speaking, those who eat a mainly plant-based diet eat fewer calories than those who still eat meat, fish, and dairy. While this is going to help you lose weight, such prolonged deficit in calorie intake can sap all your energy. Also, when you don't feed your body enough nutrients nutrient deficiencies may occur and metabolic issues can arise.
3. Not drinking enough water
We are big bags of water and need to make sure we keep our body well hydrated to maintain all our vital functions. Especially vegans need to drink plenty of water as they eat more dietary fiber. Adding more water to a diet rich in fibers is essential to prevent digestive issues such as constipation and bloating.
4. Not eating enough whole foods
While vegan diets encourage people to eat fresh, whole foods at all times, some vegans don’t really eat enough whole foods. In the recent years veganism has become a hype and with so many people making the switch, vegan, processed convenient foods are flooding the market.
More often than not, their nutritional value is lacking and they often contain preservatives, colorants, and other nasty ingredients you want to avoid.
Though you can eat these vegan processed foods on occasion, make sure that you keep an emphasis on eating whole and natural foods.
5. Assuming that being vegan automatically makes them healthy
The vegan diet has a lot of benefits when done correctly. A lot of people, however, fall into the trap of thinking that they are already healthy because they are vegan. Big mistake. Some of the unhealthiest people I know, feasting on cookies, ice cream, tv-dinners, are vegans.
There are more factors involved in maintaining good health and staying away from illness and disease than simply turning to the vegan diet. Being a vegan alone is not enough to ensure this. Knowing your food options (no processed crap), as well as getting enough exercise and managing your stress, are all important factors for maintaining good health.
As said earlier, don’t fall for the vegan processed foods. Every day new artificially produced or highly processed vegan foods enter the fast-growing market. Say no thanks to pre-made veggie burgers, fake meats, vegan ice cream, vegan cookies, soymilk or other vegan convenience foods. Say YES to fresh whole foods instead.
IT LOOKS GOOD AND TASTES GREAT!!!! EMBRACE THE WHOLE FOODS!
Veganism can be one of the best diets out there as long as you do it right. Correct these vegan mistakes and others that may not be covered by this article (and are very welcome in the comment section below). Just like we transformed our lives for the better it can make yours so much healthier and happier too.
And let's not forget we are not doing this only for ourselves but mother earth will also thank you for showing some respect!
Google Image
Thanks for reading! Until next time.
I dont know where are you from amy... but want to invite to taste indian foods in india or indian sub continental. i think you will get both a vegan or a nonveg here but the nutrition are so rich in the both's.
I love vegan Indian food. So good. I live in Cambodia now and India is definitely on the to-visit list but first need some time. Busy with a few projects ;) Thanks for the invite... we'll keep in touch :) Always nice to meet fellow steemians!
It will be a pleasure to get you as a guest..... :)
Fellow happening vegans in #Cambodia @abelartist !!! :)
Amy, this is a great article! I would just add one more, Eating Enough Carbs. I'm actually going to be writing a feature about this soon, since I was led to believe for years that complex carbs were the enemy, where as now I live a vegan 95% of the time and i'm consuming more carbs than ever before, but I feel so much better for it. Thank you for always inspiring me!
You are absolutely right! Whole grains are a must in a mostly plant-based diet! Happy to connect with you too. Let's inspire each other. Love your HUX creations btw. I am sure we will meet up soon. Always wanted to visit Bali or KL.
Great article, well deserving of my full upvote, I love being vegan, everything about the human body says we should not eat meat/dairy. Have a great day!!
Agree. Thanks for your comment and support!
This is a great one! People still have so much carb-phobia! It's crazy because a lot of the research with type 2 diabetes points to fat as the culprit, not carbs. I will look out for your feature!
True that and processed foods... which are also full of fat and refined sugar! Complex carbs are just fine and yum!
Hey Amy,
thanks for these inspiring words. I am just a vegan for a long time, but still conquering all the possibilities of plant based food preparing. My biggest problem was a bad iron deficiency. I fixed this by turning form vegetarian to vegan.
Steemit is a great place to connect with fellow vegans and get some inspiration and tips. Thanks for stopping by!
I heard it's more difficult to get protein too so have to have more beans and toufu.
I say yes to beans and no to soy! Soy has many anti-nutrients that can mess up hormone balance. All my milk glands in my breasts always swell when I eat soy. Hurts so much! So no soy for me ;) And most vegans get enough protein... all plants have protein... you just have to eat enough of them! It's b12, iron, and zinc that we have to be careful of.
OK, bit problem for me because I do love toufu.
Really good point @ace108 and Amy, as always, has provided a truthful response here. What I would just add is, if you look at some of the biggest, strongest, mammals on the planet, they only eat plants. Look at elephants for example. If you investigate more about how these animals function and survive without eating animals it tells us a hell of a lot about the way marketing from the meat and dairy industry is affecting our choices to live a 'healthy' life. Yes we do probably need to eat more beans, but we could just eat much larger quantities of spinach or other green plants. :-)
OK, just like Popeye. Not the the chicken joint. :-)
Thank you very much, I enjoyed reading your article. Interesting.
we are not 100% vegetarian, but most of the time, I cook veggies to my family.
I love serving vegetables for my family.
We have been flexitarian for so long. No pressure. It is already a great achievement to eat vegan dishes most of time ;) Thanks for stopping by!
This is a really good post. Great for new vegans to read and also a good reminder for us who have been vegan for a while =)
Thanks @nicoleslife for your continuous support!
Of course :) <3
Eating enough is such a big one! That's usually the first thing I tell people so they don't get hangry and quit! Sometimes I find it hard to eat enough to make sure I'm getting enough calories to support my active lifestyle, but I love food so it can be a benefit, too. :) Great article Amy!
Hehe... same here. I love food and munching on whole fruits or veggie sticks! Thanks @plantstoplanks for all your support and love ;)
I don't like telling people I am vegan. I always said plant-based whole food. Many vegan junk food are made by the same meat producer. They see vegan not buying their junk products, so they make a vegan version of the junk. Junk is still junk. Vitamin B supplement is important unless we want to eat dirty soil, don't wash vegetable and drink unfilter water. Even my meat eating wife still crazy about taking vitamin B supplement.
I hear you. Most of times I am the same trying to avoid to v-word but sometimes you have to call it what it is being vegan hehe. being vegan is indeed no guarantee that you are healthy... whole plant-based foods are most important here! Thanks for your comment. have a great day!
How do I check my steem power? I read it in the somewhere, when I give too much upvote, my upvote become no power. And it recharge very 24 hours?
You can check it here: https://steemstats.com
Great post! I've been vegan for a while now and I'm sure this can really help people who are new to veganism :)
Thanks @nina.ser ;)
So true indeed, Even for me is hard to say "no" I need to try especially of my hypothyroidism, which appeared actually not so long time ago. I began to watch my body more closely and changed my diet. Staying in Poland is a meeting with my family, but I also visit doctors. Thank you so much for your great article :) Lot's of love and kisses my dear friend. I've checked some of your posts and like always I enjoyed so much :)
Thanks @margaretwise for all the love and support. Big hug coming your ways ;)