Dangers of a vegan diet can give way to deficiencies when the right regimen is not observed. There are many benefits of being a vegetarian. However, negative effects of an elevated vegan diet are not far from impossible.
Vegan diets, well most of them, are not created equally. Getting rid of animal products from the diet does not give any assurance to a health promoting diet. A little meat, fish, dairy products, poultry products, fruits and vegetables every now and then are the true ingredients of a healthy diet. So forget that notion that a strict vegan diet is healthy.
Dangers
Malnurtition– The primary repercussion of an unmonitored vegan diet is malnutrition, which denotes an inadequacy in a person’s nutrient intake. A vegan can put himself on the hazards of overlooking important vitamins and minerals the body needs to perform its functions normally.
Since vegan diet excludes animal products, it can rob you off substantial amounts of vitamin D, vitamin B12, iron, calcium, fatty acids, and proteins. Right, some of them are found in vegetables, yet the fact cannot be denied that most of them are also acquired from a diet containing meat, milk, fish and everything else a vegan diet does not include.
Fiber Overload– In adequate amounts, fiber is beneficial to our health. However, too much of it can rip the body of the essential nutrients it needs for healthy function. Some vegan diets are overflowing with fiber but take note that fiber is not absorbed by our body and offers no nutritional value.
Excessive Salt Intake– Among all else, vegan diet can potentially put you at increased risk of stroke or hypertension from high sodium intake. Many meat substitute products catered to vegans contain alarmingly high amount of sodium. Salt can make you bloat, so observing a vegan is like eating tons of French fries and chips that are loaded with plenty of calories. High sodium intake can lead to fluid retention in the body, one of the most prominent causes of high blood pressure.
Sugar, Oil and Flour Splurge– Vegans often consume large quantities of highly processed foods containing large amounts of oil, sugar, and flour to substitute their no-meat diet. If they believe that their avoidance of animal products alone will give them enough dispensation from the harmful consequences of the dietary pleasure trap, they may be utterly disappointed. They say that some vegans get headaches — from their halos being too tight. Uhmmm, that is probably true!
Conclusion
Vegan diets can either be an important element in short-term healing of certain types of cancers, or useful in purging your body from harmful toxins. Yet a healthy long-term daily diet consists also of some animal-source nutrients – especially animal fats.
Knowledge of which foods to eat is a prerequisite to a healthy transition to a vegan diet. Selecting the food alternatives with vital vitamins and minerals, and which ones you have to avoid is equally crucial. It is true that many vitamins and nutrients can be generally found in a vegetarian diet, yet others can be severely deficient or inhibited from proper absorption. A large intake of other active nutrients may react in a different manner in a vegetarian diet as compared to a typical one. Therefore, if you have been contemplating of abruptly switching to a vegan diet, you might as well weigh its pros and cons properly beforehand. This is something that involves your over-all health and well-being, so do not just turn a blind eye on it. What you do not realize is that all you really need is a well-balanced diet, and not an exclusive and rigorous vegan diet.