Diet Analysis

One of the biggest concerns for people when becoming a vegetarian or vegan is your daily intake of nutrients and vitamins. I used a dietary tracking program to find out whether or not I was crossing any dangerous bridges, and it turns out that on my new diet I am actually consuming much more of my recommended daily values. I recorded a week before and after my diet started and the week before was lacking in more vitamins an nutrients than the week I started my vegan diet. Now I don't really contribute all this souly to becoming a Vegan. It's not like I couldn't have eaten the same things in addition to my regular diet. But the fact is, I wasn't. I filled myself with more convenience foods that were high in sodium and low in diverse nutrients. Especially my meat and cheese sandwiches or burritos.

On a Vegan diet you are forced to eat more vegetables and fruit just to fill yourself. And the more you have to pay attention to your diet, it is inevitable that you will begin to eat healthier. I noticed that I was eating more regularly because I was forced to pre plan my meals. And those meals consisted of more diverse vegetables and fruits because I grew tired of the same vegetables and fruits faster than I would normally do with my convenience foods.

There are however very valid risks when avoiding all animal byproducts. The most significant being your bodies need for B12 (which if you didn't already know, is only found in animal byproducts). Vegetarians are still able gain B12 through dairy products, but as a Vegan this vitamin would have to be supplemented. There is also the problem of maintaining complete proteins. Meats and dairy are made up of complete proteins that also have properties that help the body better absorb the proteins from vegetables. So without the meat and dairy products it's a good idea to pair your protein intake from other sources to create complete proteins. Here are some other great things to consider when adopting a Vegan diet.

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