SOFTengCOMPelec
Platinum Member
- May 9, 2013
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I thought the test was revealing though, and served a strong point: if you want to do veganism, you can't just eat whatever sounds good to you. With a typical omnivorous diet, you don't have to try all that hard to get enough of the basic micronutrients. Questions that ask where you would get your protein and more specifically where you would get your vitamin Bs, and what other nutrients might detract from that goal (nutrients that cause absorption issues for other nutrients). I stand by the notion that veganism is not a life-long sustainable diet, not for a fully healthy body, but if you are an adult you might be able to scrap by between regular meals and supplements (vitamins, minerals, oils, etc). Don't dare push it on a child though, and anyone that does should be charged with child endangerment! But on the idea of scraping by, to do so with veganism you absolutely need supplements and an intelligent approach to your diet or else you may end up missing some crucial nutrients or not getting enough of them. The body is fairly adaptable and can get by on less than it really needs but you risk a whole lot more than needed.
You have raised some very good points about veganism.
I have to admit (even though, I think that I am fairly knowledgeable about food and diet stuff), that I am NOT 100% sure, how one would safely become a vegan. (Without seeking the necessary information from books, the internet and professionals etc).
For example, I sometimes wonder, how such people, manage to meet their daily protein requirements, from just eating fruit and vegetables.
Because many fruits, and some vegetables, don't seem to have much protein in them (perhaps 1g to 5g (or more) per 100g of food). Even the ones that do, sometimes don't really have that much protein per 100g, compared to meat and fish, which usually have tons (e.g. 30g per 100g of food) of protein per 100g of food stuff.
Also, you need to keep the appropriate balance of (especially the essential ones) amino acids.
Most meats, fish and diary products (e.g. Cheese), have the full range of essential (and some/all non-essential) amino acids. So you can freely eat them, even singly, and easily meet your daily amino acid requirements.
But, in general, fruit and vegetable protein sources, are usually not complete amino acids (which make up protein). I.e. they may be low or missing, one or more of the essential amino acids.
So, what you have to do, is eat the right mix of fruit and vegetables, to ensure you have a mix (and the right quantity), of the essential amino acids. Offhand, (i.e. without looking it up), I would be unsure, how to do that, specifically. But might get away, without such knowledge, if I had a big enough mixture of different vegetable and fruit sources, each day.
In other words, if you just ate tomatoes and nothing else, for a month or so. You could run out of certain amino acids and/or be eating too little protein.
Similarly, vitamins, are probably similar, and would also probably need, appropriate mixtures of foodstuffs.
Some vegetables, such as beans and nuts, are rather high in protein (especially nuts), so I guess that is one way. But they are rather high in fat and calories , unfortunately.
Even some fatty acids (fats/oils), are essential (since the body can't make them, such as omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids).
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