What is a vegan diet

Similar to a vegetarian diet, that does not eat meat, but aswell as all other animal products such as dairy, gelatin etc. Also, vegans don’t wear or use animal skins or other by-products.

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Contributor By Dr. Rick and Dr. Karin Dina eHow Contributing Writer Contact: www.rawfooddoctors.com Dr. Rick Dina, D.C. has been studying health and nutrition since 1986 and has been a primarily raw food vegan since 1987. He worked at Hippo…

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A vegan diet is a kind of vegetarian diet which not only eliminates meat, chicken, fish but also eggs, milk and dairy products. It reduces consumption of fat and cholesterol and is rich in plant nutrients. There are four groups of food in t…

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Related Questions Answered on Y!Answers

How could a vegan diet be safe and practical for infants and small children?

Q: This girl was put on a strict vegan diet, and ended up with a degenerative bone disease that left her with the spine of an 80 year old:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article4087977.eceI understand the philosophy of veganism, and I am interested, BUT people do come first. How could this girl’s diet have been structured safely and still be considered vegan?

A: She didn’t end up with rickets because she was vegan, she ended up with rickets because her parents didn’t bother to see to her vitamin D intake. There’s a big difference.The American Dietitic Association and the Dietitians of Canada agree that a properly planned vegan diet is appropriate for ALL life stages, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence. It’s the reponsibility of all parents to make sure that their children are getting the nutrition they need, regardless of the diet they’ve chosen for their families. A few isolated cases of malnutrition splashed all over the media should not constitute an indictment for a dietary plan that nutrition experts approve of. What the general public never hears about is the thousands of perfectly healthy vegan kids. I know four vegan kids personally ranging from 3-14; their parents are informed and responsible and the kids are happy, healthy and thriving.I don’t know all of the details of this particular case so I don’t know if there were deficiencies beyond vitamin D, but that’s all that was covered in the story. In that case, since she lived in Glasgow, which is too far north to get the necessary sunshine to form vitamin D most of the year, her parents could have added fortified foods or a supplement to her diet. Note that dairy products do NOT naturally have vitamin D. Rickets used to be a common problem. Vitamin D and calcium work best in conjunction and government officials needed a vehicle for getting sufficient vitamin D into children’s diet, so they chose milk because it already had the calcium and most children drink it regularly. There’s no reason, knowing those facts, that a vegan child drinking fortified plant milk would be any different than an omnivore child drinking fortified animal milk.

When on a vegan diet, do you need to count calories to loose weight?

Q: I heard that vegans stay naturally thin without counting calories because they dont have lots of tokins or bad foods (cause most non animal product foods are healthy).So, if Im trying to loose weight on a vegan diet, do I really need to count calories? (If so, how many should I have daily?)Thanks :]PS) *Im not going vegan strictly too loose weight, Im going for animal rights and general health reasons, weight loss is just an added bonus!

A: Yes, you still need to count calories. There’s plenty of ways to be vegan and still consume empty calories, and even too much of a good thing can make you gain weight. The good news is that if you’re eating vegetables, it’ll take a lot more food to get up to your daily calorie quota than if you were eating meat and dairy, so you’ll be able to eat more and still lose weight.You should look up how many calories you need based on your gender, height, weight, activity level, and how much you want to lose.Here’s a link to the Mayo Clinic’s calorie calculator:http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calorie-calculator/NU00598Hope that helps!

Is a Raw Vegan Diet healthful for diabetes and high blood pressure?

Q: Is a raw vegan diet healthful over a long period of time, especially with diabetes and high blood pressure? I am trying to switch to a raw vegan diet, but my dietitian insists it is not healthful. Has anybody here tried it long-term, or know anybody who has? I’m wanting to lose a lot of weight, and I’ve been making a lot of salads, with cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, green bell peppers, celery, onions, carrots … and then I pour on a bunch of vinegar and lemon juice. It’s tasty, nutritious, and very low-calorie. It seems to be working for me, but my dietitian isn’t happy. And I didn’t even tell you what my primary care physician thinks about my decision to quit all my diabetes and blood pressure medications and just rely on a raw vegan diet instead of the meds … except that I’m going to have to find another primary care physician.

A: I have heard of people curing diabetes and high blood pressure with a raw food diet. I am not raw myself (though I have played with recipes, and incorporated some things like green smoothies into my daily life), but I have met several long-term raw foodists who have overcome illnesses including diabetes, allergies, eczema, and even one who beat cancer – and all are very healthy now and off of all medications. One book I would highly suggest is ‘Eat to Live’ by Joel Fuhrman – it is primarily raw food, and addresses the issues of diabetes and high blood pressure. He also has articles about this and many other topics on his website, and he is available for consultations if you want him to create a plan for you to get off your medications. (but I wouldn’t just go cold turkey on your medications – your body will need time to adjust and gradually wean yourself off of them). check out these links:http://www.drfuhrman.com/default.aspx (click on the ‘reverse disease’ link for info on diabetes)http://www.rawfamily.com/http://creativehealthinstitute.com/ – the creative health institute has a fairly inexpensive two-week residential program that teaches you all aspects of how to live and eat raw. I know people who have done this program and had great experiences with it. good luck!