Comments on: 57 Health Benefits of Going Vegan

By: Nicole

Nicole — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:51:30 +0000

Awsome! Thanks for sharing.

By: Lane

Lane — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 05:24:18 +0000

Hi Sam,
The protein thing seems to always come up when you tell someone you’re vegan/vegetarian.
If you’re looking for some additional reading, I’d suggest “The China Study” by Campbell. He talks about the many health issues solved by a vegan diet.

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:31:53 +0000

I have never once heard of anyone having a protein deficiency because they didn’t eat meat or animal protein. All of the protein that a human needs can be found in plant based proteins. My boss, who is a physician, gave me an excellent book to read….there are some really good points made in the book titled Skinny Bitch (sorry that’s the name).

I have adopted all of the habits encouraged by the authors, by giving up foods that are no-no’s and paying attention to labels and what is in the foods that I eat. I have lost weight and I feel fantastic!

By: Lane

Lane — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:18:05 +0000

Hi Billy,
That happens.
Yes, it’s always good to have vegan-focused articles on more mainstream sites.

By: Billy

Billy — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:33:43 +0000

Ha, I just blogged about this as well. I only found your article on Digg after I published.

I really enjoyed it. It’s wonderful to see an article on veganism on a nursing website.

By: Lane

Lane — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:24:53 +0000

Hi Jaime, LaTara, & Lindsey,
There is a lot of conflicting information regarding protein out there and neither Jane nor I have a medical degree. So we encourage people to see a physician or nutritionist to get information specific to their individual physiques. Having said that… Jane and I don’t obsess about protein, but we do make sure we’ve eaten some for at least two of our three meals. Since the information available is often conflicting , and protein is such an important nutrient, it’s worthy of some consideration. It’s a fact that the typical American is consuming significantly more protein than necessary. As vegans, we represent less than 3% of the population, therefore we’re not “typical.” It’s certainly possible to eat a less-than-healthy vegan diet, where a dearth of protein would be likely.

Hi Gary,
Actually, many of the numbers on her list overlap. But it was still worthy of a read.
I read a bit of the China Study and was shocked to learn of the link between animal protein and cancer (and dairy and osteoporosis!).
We love veganhealth.org — and have a link to their site on our resources page. Thanks for sharing.

By: Gary

Gary — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:32:18 +0000

57 is impressive! Although #11 and #35 seem to overlap quite a bit.

The main health problem I hear about with too much protein is increased risk for osteoporosis.

As the China Study and other studies show quite clearly, the biggest problem (IMHO) with getting too much protein from animal sources is increased risk for cancer.

Here is a pretty good source of info on protein and vegan diets: http://www.veganhealth.org

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:56:26 +0000

Awesome! Thanks for the article link! I’ll have to send this to my sister who is in nursing school right now.
Responding to comment above:
As for protein, I think the latest figure is 0.9 g protein/KILOGRAM of body weight.
So for a 150 pound person, that would be a need of about 61 grams, which is really pretty easy to get. But I would imagine athletes and growing children would need a bit more.
My personal opinion on the protein thing is that with the SAD, most Americans (not vegans) do get too much. If you think back to when humans were hunting for their food and ate a much more natural diet, I highly doubt they were eating meat at every meal, and even if they were, it would have been very small servings in order to conserve resources.
I do definitely agree that we should make sure to eat something richer in protein everyday, but then again, we’re all different and have different metabolic makeups – some people do better with a higher dose of protein; some do better with a higher dose of carbohydrates (these carb people REALLY do well with a vegan diet). It really all comes down to listening to your body after every meal and seeing if it’s satisfied with what you ate and isn’t craving some other macronutrient.

By: Jaime

Jaime — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:56:01 +0000

I really think that’s a misconception. Look at the grocery store – there’s one aisle with fruit and vegetables and meat, and then the rest is processed carbohydrates. I’m not saying eating meat is good, but overprotein isn’t the scourge of the American waistline.

By: LaTara

LaTara — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:54:24 +0000

Great list and it is true that many Americans get to much protein. That is evidenced by their SAD diet in which meat is a main meal.

Thanks for sharing Lane!