The health benefits/concerns about veganism?

Many vegans and vegetarians make the mistake eating mostly sugar and grain foods, and that is why they become unhealthy, and oftentimes overweight/obese.

Many also cook with refined oils/spreads in the place of butter, which is one of the worst things that you can consume (butter and lard is actually healthier). When selecting cooking oils, always opt for raw/cold-pressed virgin oils like coconut or olive (I mix the two quite frequently, and both are nothing but healthy).

Focus on consuming a lot of different vegetables (both raw and lightly cooked types), fruits (lower-sugar ones where possible), unrefined nuts/seeds of many types (no refined oils added), and legumes of many types. When you do consume limited "grains" in your diet, opt for things like quinoa (which is actually really a seed), plain oatmeal (spruce it up yourself with healthy additions), brown rice, etc. - while avoiding foods made from wheat/rye/barley ingredients & GMO corn.

Also, always opt for natural, whole fresh foods over processed/prepackaged foods, though frozen veggies are also healthy (just less tasty, and watch the sodium content in them). Avoid ALL foods with added refined oils in them, regardless of the type (read ingredient labels!).

If you are regularly consuming a good mix of nuts, seeds, and legumes daily then you should be getting enough protein (nuts/seeds + legumes = complete protein profile). Plus a little protein is found in many veggies and such also, as an added bonus.

Veganism is true. The claims about it are not exxagerated as people may think. There's lots of proof supporting veganism. Especially the Hygienic way. As for doctors supporting meat and milk that's normal. Doctors want your money. If America woild find out the truth about this stuff, the meat and dairy industries would lose profits, so tjese big companies MAKE SURE tjere are scientific "studies" to support eating meat and milk. Let me ask you a question. Perhaps you've heard it before, but are you a cow to drink that type of milk? How about most people losing the enzyme lactase to digest milk. Doesn't tjat prove naturally that we're not milk drinkers? Do you know that meat and milk and eggs are very acidic? What that means is your body pulls calcium from your bones to regulate you're blood's PH. If there was no meat and milk, you'd never have heard of Osteoporosis. I suggest the book Fit For Life II by Harey and Marelyn Diamond. There are some parts in the book I skipped because i am a christian. As for vegans having diseases too, it depends on way too many other factors. Health is a lifestyle and simply switching to a vegan diet only helps to an extent. You still have to exercise, eat regularly at well spaced meals, abstain from alcohol and wine, stay away from druggs, overeating, overtraining, undue stress, ect... The day you'll realise what really hapens in farms is the day you'll stop eating meat. I suggest also you take a look at the Hygiene System developed by TC Fry. It's got very interesting information.

Concerns:

iron

calcium

omega 3

vitamin D

zinc

are not as bioavailable than their animal product counterparts (despite them often being found in higher quantity in plant sourced foods). This guy in the link is a vegan registered dietician who is fairly unbiased in his view & talking about nutrition from a vegan standpoint. Its a great source for vegans.

http://jacknorrisrd.com/

As for the health aspect, you will not find studies comparing vegans to a healthy omnivore diet such as the meditarranian diet or the japanese diets which have been extensively studied & funnily enough show the same benefits vegans promote from their diet yet claim meat/dairy is the causation of these degenerative diseases. All the studies compare to the standard american diet & use populations who are unfit (vegans tend to take care of their health better by exercising, showing lower rates of alcohol/smoking intake).

For example america/france have a much lower rate of coronary disease than india despite americans & the french eating multiple times the amount of meat, creams, eggs etc that indians eat & indians being one of the largest vegetarian/vegan populations on earth. (see the french paradox)

If you were to become vegan you do not have to cook with expensive ingredients, many plant staples in anybodies diet are extremely cheap (grains/beans/lentils/rices/potatoes) but it does take a bit more creativity to spice up your dishes & the faux ingredients such as TVP etc can be used sparingly where possible.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has a Vegetarian Starter Kit which should answer any nutrition questions-

http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/

Organic produce and dried beans and peas are always cheaper than meat and dairy products.

have a good sense of knowledge with nutrition before making a decision to become vegan, I would start out as a vegetarian and go from there

vegan means you don't support any animal exploitation at all, which means you don't wear any animal products, you don't use things that have been tested on animals (unless you really have to like medicine) so you use cruelty-free products that neither have been tested on them and don't contain any of their products. Strict vegetarian is a vegan diet.

Americans eat too much meat. Hence the USA is the world leader for the most chronic disease (actually, pretty much everything you can think of - even parasites now! That's right, the US has overtaken third world and developing countries). Low protein diets solve a lot of health issues.

Organic is better, but for me it's a luxury.

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/uprooting-the-lead... Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNCGkprGW_o Food That Kills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4 The Best Speech You Will Ever Hear - Gary Yourofsky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ3hS9jpmm0 The Starch Solution and Salt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH-hs2v-UjI Are Humans Designed/Evolved to Eat Meat?

http://www.preventcancer.com/press/editorials/marc... Prevent Cancer Coalition

http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/why-we-should-not-... Why Not Eat Meat?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp9MwjW5QX0 Dairy: Essential Nutrition or Health Saboteur?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYlTElxeD5Q Maximum Nutrition - Transitioning Towards a Plant Based Diet