Vegans and Omnivores alike, it's not Protein you should be worried about...
Thomas DeLauer breaks down the Top 3 Deficiencies Vegans face due to the depletion of these Vitamins & Minerals from our soils and plants on the latest #ScienceSaturday
Transcript by Rev.com
- What's going on, Jigsaw crew? It's Thomas DeLauer and I'm talking about going vegan right now. I'm talking about for those of you that are thinking about going vegan or for those of you that are that may not know about the common deficiencies that plague vegans, and quite honestly on the boards alike, but really can change your life if you address and correct appropriately. So let's dive into the top three deficiencies.
-But let me first off say, that most of the deficiencies come from two things. They come from either being too one track minded and eating the same kind of thing over and over again and not getting the variety, or it ends up coming from the fact that our soil is so depleted, that if vegans that are making concerned effort to eat a balanced diet aren't getting the minerals and vitamins that they need, simply because our soil is so depleted. So there are some ways to get around it. It's just a matter of making sure you pay close attention to the kinds of food that you're eating. And let me also say, that you can't knock something until you try it. I am huge proponent of even if you're a non-vegan taking at least a couple weeks a year to go vegan to A, see how you feel, but B, reap the benefits that are pretty obvious when it comes to veganism.
-Alright, so let's talk about the deficiencies. The first one is vitamin B-12. Unfortunately, vitamin B-12 is a vitamin that you get almost exclusively from animal sources. You see vitamin B-12 is extremely important when it comes down to helping you build your own DNA, but also building red blood cells which deliver oxygen to the rest of your body. This in part is really an animal product, an animal vitamin to begin with. So it's very difficult to get if you're a vegan but there a few foods that you can use, but one in particular and that is nutritional yeast. Okay, that's that powdery yellow flaky stuff. I highly recommend if you're vegan adding that whenever you can because it's definitely going to give you a nice boost of vitamin B-12, that you're going to hard pressed to find anywhere else in a non-animal source. Additionally there's always B-12 supplements. Okay, you've got Cyanocobalamin, and you've got Methylcobalamin. Those are the two kinds that you can get vitamin B-12 from, and they're both a non-animal form. So you're able to get it in a supplement that although one is synthetic, it's still not gonna really trigger with anything that's gonna break your veganism diet.
-The number two thing that most vegans are deficient in is going to be simply Omega-3's. And in reality whether you're an omnivore or a vegan it's hard to get enough of your Omega-3's, simply because you have to be eating copious amounts of fish to really get it. So regardless it's important to probably be using a supplement there. You see a lot of vegans will say, "Well I'm consuming flax so I'm getting Alpha-Linoleic acid, "which is an Omega-3." And that's good, it's a step in the right direction, the problem is that the body has to convert that Alpha-Linoleic acid into a usable form, known as Eicosapentaenoic and Docosahexaenoic acids. Those are the kinds of EPA's and DHA's, the fatty acids, that actually help the brain. ALA, like from flax, takes a lot of work to really get you there.
-So what do you do if you don't eat any kind of animal products, how do you get your Omega-3's? Well step one is, yes you can eat flax, you just have to eat copious, copious amounts of it. Step two is to eat a lot more algae and seaweed products or take a Docosahexaenoic acid, DHA product, that's derived from algae. In fact DHA that comes from algae is significantly better than DHA that's coming from a sardine source or a mackerel source. Then lastly, you can eat a lot cabbage, but eating a lot cabbage comes with some side effects too, like bloating and gas and overall GI discomfort. So you're probably best going for the algae, or the seaweed and living like a mermaid. Okay, the last one is calcium. Yeah, vegans don't get enough calcium,. Now a lot times we have a lot foods that are fortified with calcium, but the problem is most vegans are health conscious. That means that most vegans aren't eating a lot of processed foods which means, they're not getting the processed in fortification that these processed foods have to add extra calcium in. But I stress for you to think about this a little bit differently, rather than trying to get more calcium, because in reality we don't really need more calcium we have a lot of it, we need to absorb it more, we need more vitamin D, which poses another problem. Vegan's aren't getting a lot of vitamin D, because again it comes from animal sources, or proper sunlight and if you're living in area where it's hard to get enough sunlight that can be really tough. That leaves you with really only one option and that's taking a vitamin D supplement that is not derived from an animal source. That's really the only real way about it to get adequate amounts of vitamin D. So I highly recommend taking in 2,000 to 5,000 IUs of vitamin D and you'll dramatically feel a big shift in your mood and how you feel overall, but it's also gonna end up helping your bones in the long run, more so than just drinking a glass of almond milk.
-So there you have it. Those are the three simply deficiencies that vegans face. Although they're big ones, they're easy to fix, if you pay attention and add just a smidget of these little things throughout the course of your day. So when it comes down to being vegan, or hey even not being vegan, it's extremely important that you're focusing on these things, but also your adequate mineral balance. So as always if you wanna learn a little bit more about how minerals play a critical role, whether you're vegan or not, make sure you click on the link, and we'll explain intricate detail, how mineral are affecting your health. I'll see you soon.
