Just a little rant
So I told my best friend today that I a thinking about going vegan (less thinking more planning to just have to have a few things fall into place before I can make the change). I have been testing the water with by mentioning it to different people and her immediate reaction was. "vegan diets are the most unhealthy you can have" I said it is healthy so long as it is done right. She brings in the argument from her anatomy teacher who is also a naturopathic doctor and he says that vegan's are naturally unhealthy because you have to get certain nutrients from meat and you need protein from meat. We dropped the argument but i am a little miffed. She didn't give me a chance to defend my decision nor would she listen to the argument that it can be done in a healthy way. I was not impressed by her un-supportive attitude it just depressed me.
I am currently doing my research and make plan to make the switch and considering most of the information i read is positive regarding veganism I am not going to let one naturopathic doctor who I don't know, change my opinion.
My nutrition professor basically said the same thing...Read a little of Dr. Dean Ornish Or Dr. "something" McDougall. I did one of my research papers and an argumentative paper and debate on the health benefits of a vegan diet...I receive A's on all of them and convince my English Prof. to seriously consider it for healthy reasons. He was overweight and asked me tons of questions after returning my paper. :o Dr's get very little instruction in nutrition and what they do get revolves around the fed. gov. food pyramid.
If she doesn't support you and won't even listen she is pretty disrespectful...
(((hugs))) I'm sorry your friend is being so unsupportive of your decision to go vegan. I think it's wonderful that you are taking that step and I hope one day to do the same. It seems like there are lots of people ready and willing to criticize the veg*n diet. My mom and one of my docs are the same way. I just tell them it's perfectly healthy and that I am getting everything I need, so they haven't pushed "too" much. I eat waaaaay more fruits and veggies than I ever used to, more fiber, and get more nutrients, so how can that be a bad thing? ??? How can they conceivably think that a proper veg*n diet is any less healthy than the typical American diet, which is filled with fastfood and junk?The way I look at it is you can have an unhealthy diet regardless of whether you are a veg*n or omni. It's all about food choices.
"vegan diets are the most unhealthy you can have"
um, I'm gonna go with, FALSE.
The American Dietetic Association even has a statement saying the a proper vegan diet is appropriate for all stages of life:
"Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence. Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals. Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than nonvegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer."
June 2003 (Vol. 103, Issue 6, Pages 748-765)
way to cite, KMK. impressive.
Thank you all for your support. I bought the book "Becoming Vegan" a while back and I am making my way through it and I am also trying to collect as much information as possible on going and being vegan I want to be informed I am not about to go into this knowing nothing that in my opinion would be unhealthy.
She told me the "healthiest" diet is mainly vegetarian with some meat. I thought that was stupid because since going vegetarian I have felt wonderful and other than a bought of low iron have not had a nutritional deficiency since I can get almost everything I need without meat.
She told me the "healthiest" diet is mainly vegetarian with some meat.
Hm, so..not vegetarian at all, but omni? I don't think vegetarian and meat can logically be in the same definition.
She needs to read your book with you, and open her mind! You keep doing what you're doing. Make sure you know how to go about it, and be healthy...and you will feel so fabulous! :)
"Becoming Vegan" is my go-to book. whenever I'm uncertain or doubting my veganism, I just read a couple of chapters, and I'm motivated to keep it all up. hurrah!
I know a lot of people are skeptical about veganism, but when you ultimately make the change, it'll be a positive change. just be true to yourself and what you want. friends sometimes aren't really friends...
Choose your battles. Someone like that obviously isn't worth your time. When people are genuinely interested I will talk all day and answer any question. But those with closed minds, and I can spot them in an instant, I don't waste my breath.
We do not have to defend ourselves to anyone anytime.
Good luck to you!
If you're ever looking for other books, we love The Vegan Sourcebook and Why Animals Matter:The case for animal protection (especially the latter).
;)b
PV - If it makes you feel better, this week alone I was told, by two different people:
"Oh you're vegetarian, that's why you're so thin" and "you've been getting sick because you're vegetarian, you're not eating right"
Y'all would be so proud of me because I didn't say what I really wanted to, which would have been:
No, you dumbass. I'm thin because of genetics and because I don't gorge myself when I eat.
No, I've been getting sick for several reasons: 1) I work at a children's museum where everyone seems to be coughing and sneezing, 2) we live in a rural community where they use pesticides and 3) I had to stop taking my prescription allergy meds in order to take this job since I get paid shit.
Sorry - end rant.
Just ignore inane comments from others. I've found all too often that people are extremely prepared to present their opinions as fact on subjects that they have little to no understanding of.
Just add my voice to the list of others that say veganism can be very healthy and beneficial. I'm a biochemist with a long-standing interest in nutritional biology and I've done my research. Negative comments from people are deserving of only one reply: "meh."
It's like snakes--usually if you leave omnis alone (about their diet), they leave you alone :-D
The people in my life who were the most negative about veganism were the first to go vegetarian.
Also, everyone *EVERYONE* just goes by what they hear, including all kinds of doctors. Sure, some people who have been schooled in sciences make it their business to keep up on all the latest research about several things, maybe including diet, but most doctors have very little education in nutrition sadly =( Also, a number of the nutrition books are written by people with industry ties (not just meat industry)... point is, if you do your research (and not just research of popular vegan books), you'll see there are tons of health benefits out there and tons of evidence supporting a completely vegan diet. I like what T Colin Campbell said in The China Study, which was (paraphrasing) that controlling your intake of one single nutrient, be it fat, omega-3, protein, lycopene, or whatever, will not ensure longevity or longterm health.
Also, when people react to veganism they often get defensive. Saying you're vegan or thinking of going vegan is like saying "what you do is wrong and i'm telling you." People get uncomfortable when they feel uneasy about it already (I think that's why the most anti-vegan people i've known have gone vegetarian), and they feel judged when someone's bein' all super-vegan. At the same time, it's hard to say "oh no! i don't think it's wrong that you eat meat!" unless your reasons are purely for health. =/ I generally squirm out of the topic if they directly ask that if they're too edgy...
I've been taking nutrition this semester, and the book doesn't speak out against veganism at all. It just says vegans may have to take some extra precautions in their diets to make sure they are getting everything they need. So basically, it can be healthy when well-planned :)
Thank you all for your support. I bought the book "Becoming Vegan" a while back and I am making my way through it and I am also trying to collect as much information as possible on going and being vegan I want to be informed I am not about to go into this knowing nothing that in my opinion would be unhealthy.
She told me the "healthiest" diet is mainly vegetarian with some meat. I thought that was stupid because since going vegetarian I have felt wonderful and other than a bought of low iron have not had a nutritional deficiency since I can get almost everything I need without meat.
PV - If it makes you feel better, this week alone I was told, by two different people:
"Oh you're vegetarian, that's why you're so thin" and "you've been getting sick because you're vegetarian, you're not eating right"
Y'all would be so proud of me because I didn't say what I really wanted to, which would have been:
No, you dumbass. I'm thin because of genetics and because I don't gorge myself when I eat.
No, I've been getting sick for several reasons: 1) I work at a children's museum where everyone seems to be coughing and sneezing, 2) we live in a rural community where they use pesticides and 3) I had to stop taking my prescription allergy meds in order to take this job since I get paid shit.
Sorry - end rant.
Okay, so as some of you know, I'm not vegan, I'm a life-long pescaterian....In other words, I follow the diet recommended by your friend, Veela; and Jewel, I get the same comments by people when I am sick/my body decides to tell me I need to slow down. I have inherited joint/musculoskeletal problems, and repeatedly I have heard the concerned comments of friends/loved ones asking me if "perhaps if I ate red meat, I'd get better?" :uhoh:
Bottom line, it seems that as long as you don't eat steak and potatoes, anytime you're sick, it could be the lack of iron!! um...WTF??