Deficiencies
A common argument is that vegans aren’t healthy and they’re nutritionally deficient. And this is true is some cases. Vegans typically consume less vitamin B12 and omega 3 than the meat eater. And this is a problem. Vitamin B12 deficiency can be very, very harmful as we need it to maintain nerve and blood function. A deficiency can lead to vision loss and heart palpitations.
Meat eaters, get their vitamin B12 and omega 3 from animal products (meat and oily fish) so they’re less likely to be deficient. But anyone who knows anything about the food chain and vitamins and minerals knows that organisms can’t manufacture “essential” nutrients. That’s why they’re classed as essential. So where do these animals get their vitamin B12 from?
Vitamin B12 is created by bacteria which are found in soil and fresh water. Because we humans are fairly clean, we wash the bacteria producing vitamin B12 off of our fruit and veg which are intensively grown. Cows however don’t wash their food. But due to intensive farming, they can still suffer from vitamin B12 deficiencies in which case they’re supplemented.
To conclude, the only reason why vegans may be more likely to suffer from a nutritional deficiency is because
1. we wash fruit and veg
2. they don’t eat livestock which has already been supplemented with a vitamin B12 supplement
The solution? Just take a supplement! The only difference is that is hasn’t passed through a cow first
Omega 3 is stored in fish after they consume algae. We can gain enough omega 3 from sources such as linseed and chia seed
Health implications
When we look at a sensible diet, vegan or omnivorous, the closer we stick to a plant based diet, the better. To argue against this, you would have to say that there is a negative consequence of consuming as many of your recommended daily calories from fruit and veg, as possible. This is a pretty crazy argument since all of our essential nutrients come from plants. We have for hundreds of years, evidenced that a reduced consumption of plant based vitamins and minerals results in:
* scurvy (vitamin C)
* anemia (iron deficiency)
* infertility and nerve damage (vitamin B12)
So we can safely assume plants are good. So the other question is what happens when we increase the consumption of animal products?
* type 2 diabetes
* heart disease and all cause mortality
* cancer (china study, linking dairy casein to cancer rates)
* alzheimers and vascular dementia
* erectile dysfunction
Basically, if you want to be able to get hard, remember the beauty in the world and stay around long enough to create new memories, it is pretty much recommended that you increase your consumption of fruits and vegetables and limit your consumption of meat.
Remember however that the body is an ecosystem of many complex interactions. A plant based diet isn’t a fix for everything, but it seems to fix a lot of what we struggle with in the western world, health wise
Behaviour
People who consume a whole food plant based diet are far more likely to be at a healthy BMI . This is because of two reasons. 1 people on plant based diets tend to consume less calories; fat contains more than double the calories of carbohydrates and fibre creates a lot of satiety, so we eat less.
Humans are meant to eat meat
This statement I have a difficult time with. I think the point that people are trying to make is that because we can, we should. Or because we have adapted to eat meat, it must be good for us to eat it.
The reason this doesn’t make sense to me is because it bastardises the theory of evolution. Evolution is purely based on who can pass on their genes most effectively. The average life expectancy in England in the mid 19th century was 40 years (ref). The average age to suffer from your first heart attack in 2016 UK is 65 (ref)
To put it simply, it isn’t until people have started to live longer that we see the variables such as the consumption of meat, really effecting how we die or how long we live for. The average UK man would have to live more than 50% longer on average before he fell victim to his first heart attack, which is significantly predisposed by the consumption of meat and dairy (ref).
Simply put, just because you can and just because your ancestors did, doesn’t mean that you should.
Taste
Many people will claim “but I just love meat”. This to me is the most logical reason to continue to eat meat. Stick to this argument. If you love it, keep eating it, but accept that the health consequences above are the price to potentially pay.
full post at www.revitalizeclinic.co.uk/blog/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-being-vegan
