Plant-Based Problems (Problem post)
Hello and welcome back new and returning Nature's Nook subscribers! On today's blog post I will be reviewing plus discussing the problems that go along with veganism. The content in this post is different from one of my last post called "Becoming the Devil's Advocate for Non-Vegans", which was related to analyzing reasonings as to why not everyone can be vegan. This discussion will relate to the problems that a lot of new vegan's face in terms of community, health, foods, and more. I encourage my subscribers to leave a comment on their personal experiences. Let's begin!
The Viciousness of the Vegan Community Before I continue, this is just my opinion on the vegan community from a generalized standpoint. Subscribers are more than welcome to disagree with me in the comments. There has been a long notable stereotype of vegan trying to push their lifestyle views on others in an aggressive manner. As well as vegans displaying a sense or feeling of moral and ethical superiority. This is where I think a lot of the vegan community toxicity stems from. This does not go for all vegans, but many vegan related pages or groups on Facebook have been built around this aggressiveness and superiority, creating a hostile environment. Therefore, this reasoning is also why so many people are turned off by the lifestyle. Relating to personal experience, when first going vegan I decided to join a Facebook page called Chicago Vegans. After joining I posted in the group introducing myself, explaining how I am in the process of converting to veganism. Although there were many welcoming comments of positivity, I was also met with heavy criticism and backlash for joining the group if I was completely vegan yet. I do understand that vegans are very compassionate about this lifestyle, I can be too. This was one of the reasons I created Nature’s New Nook, as a safe and welcoming environment for both vegans and non-vegans. I wanted to address this issue for my beginner vegans, please do not let these toxic vegans turn you off from making the switch. I always encourage other vegans to create a supportive and encouraging environment rather that criticizing and judging non-vegans.
TMI: Difficulty with Digestion There have been many studies shown that a plant-based diet can indeed help resolve digestion problems. But the vegan diet can also give many others digestion problems, again this can depend on your body type. The easiest way for most individuals to help get on track with this lifestyle is using the processed vegan meat substitutes. Although these are still a great alternative to animal-based meats, typically these substitutes contain high levels of soy and beans. These high levels of plant proteins often are the cause of digestion difficulty. Digestion issues also can occur due to the high fiber in many plant-based foods. The bottom line is when your vegan, you will need to go to the bathroom a lot. This for some is a good thing while for others this can be a problem, which is what I wanted to make you aware of.
Sometimes, Vegan Food Straight Up Sucks I know this problem goes against many of my past posts about how delicious vegan food is, and it still is! But I can fully admit there are just some plant-based versions of animal byproduct foods that just absolutely suck. Primarily, the common brands that produce vegan version of "cheese". For me personally, I have not found a non-dairy cheese sold at groceries stores that has yet to wow me. The problem ranges from the odd taste all the way to the flehm like texture, they haven't quite nailed a vegan Kraft cheese-like slices version that I haven't found just yet. Then there is the problem with vegan meat substitutes. They have plenty of delicious meat-like tasting substitutes, but the problem is the good ones are expensive. Being a college student on a budget, I often resort to Aldi for my vegan grocery needs. Aldi is super cheap and is very vegan grocery friendly, but the Aldi brand versions of meat substitutes should be illegal. They don't hold together at all and are basically just a patty of mush.
You Will Bruise, A LOT. This by far is the biggest problem I have had when it came to becoming vegan. You are more than likely going to bruise badly and frequently at first. The key is to up your calories and healthy fats. This problem is caused at first because you are making a big shift within your diet and it is easy to become vitamin deficient. Before you were able to meet your iron and B12 needs from one easy meat-based meal. But once you start transitioning into plant-based foods, you need to make sure you are the correct types of food and enough of it. Therefore, I highly recommend taking iron and B12 supplements when first adopting this lifestyle. I also recommend making annual doctor visits to get your blood work done an to make sure you are at the right numbers in terms of vitamins and minerals.
Hello and welcome back new and returning Nature's Nook subscribers! On today's blog post I will be reviewing plus discussing the problems that go along with veganism. The content in this post is different from one of my last post called "Becoming the Devil's Advocate for Non-Vegans", which was related to analyzing reasonings as to why not everyone can be vegan. This discussion will relate to the problems that a lot of new vegan's face in terms of community, health, foods, and more. I encourage my subscribers to leave a comment on their personal experiences. Let's begin!
Before I continue, this is just my opinion on the vegan community from a generalized standpoint. Subscribers are more than welcome to disagree with me in the comments. There has been a long notable stereotype of vegan trying to push their lifestyle views on others in an aggressive manner. As well as vegans displaying a sense or feeling of moral and ethical superiority. This is where I think a lot of the vegan community toxicity stems from. This does not go for all vegans, but many vegan related pages or groups on Facebook have been built around this aggressiveness and superiority, creating a hostile environment. Therefore, this reasoning is also why so many people are turned off by the lifestyle. Relating to personal experience, when first going vegan I decided to join a Facebook page called Chicago Vegans. After joining I posted in the group introducing myself, explaining how I am in the process of converting to veganism. Although there were many welcoming comments of positivity, I was also met with heavy criticism and backlash for joining the group if I was completely vegan yet. I do understand that vegans are very compassionate about this lifestyle, I can be too. This was one of the reasons I created Nature’s New Nook, as a safe and welcoming environment for both vegans and non-vegans. I wanted to address this issue for my beginner vegans, please do not let these toxic vegans turn you off from making the switch. I always encourage other vegans to create a supportive and encouraging environment rather that criticizing and judging non-vegans.
There have been many studies shown that a plant-based diet can indeed help resolve digestion problems. But the vegan diet can also give many others digestion problems, again this can depend on your body type. The easiest way for most individuals to help get on track with this lifestyle is using the processed vegan meat substitutes. Although these are still a great alternative to animal-based meats, typically these substitutes contain high levels of soy and beans. These high levels of plant proteins often are the cause of digestion difficulty. Digestion issues also can occur due to the high fiber in many plant-based foods. The bottom line is when your vegan, you will need to go to the bathroom a lot. This for some is a good thing while for others this can be a problem, which is what I wanted to make you aware of.
I know this problem goes against many of my past posts about how delicious vegan food is, and it still is! But I can fully admit there are just some plant-based versions of animal byproduct foods that just absolutely suck. Primarily, the common brands that produce vegan version of "cheese". For me personally, I have not found a non-dairy cheese sold at groceries stores that has yet to wow me. The problem ranges from the odd taste all the way to the flehm like texture, they haven't quite nailed a vegan Kraft cheese-like slices version that I haven't found just yet. Then there is the problem with vegan meat substitutes. They have plenty of delicious meat-like tasting substitutes, but the problem is the good ones are expensive. Being a college student on a budget, I often resort to Aldi for my vegan grocery needs. Aldi is super cheap and is very vegan grocery friendly, but the Aldi brand versions of meat substitutes should be illegal. They don't hold together at all and are basically just a patty of mush.
This by far is the biggest problem I have had when it came to becoming vegan. You are more than likely going to bruise badly and frequently at first. The key is to up your calories and healthy fats. This problem is caused at first because you are making a big shift within your diet and it is easy to become vitamin deficient. Before you were able to meet your iron and B12 needs from one easy meat-based meal. But once you start transitioning into plant-based foods, you need to make sure you are the correct types of food and enough of it. Therefore, I highly recommend taking iron and B12 supplements when first adopting this lifestyle. I also recommend making annual doctor visits to get your blood work done an to make sure you are at the right numbers in terms of vitamins and minerals.
Comments
Post a Comment