Vegan diet is harmful as it lack certain nutrients, it is low on carbohydrates and fat and cannot meet your energy needs.
We are not advocating a complete non-vegetarian diet, but seriously, did you think vegetarianism alone can meet all your health needs? There is no one right diet for everyone. While some require meat to function, others consider vegetables as the only source of nutrients.
But, the secret to healthy diet is a balanced between veggies, and meats. While go-green must be the hip new mantra, a vegan diet can actually harm you. Here are the reasons why!
Vegan Diet Lacks Certain Nutrients
Humans are omnivores by nature. We function best when nutrients from both meat and plants are consumed. While vegetables are a great source of nutrients like Vitamin C, they lack a crucial nutrient called Vitamin B12. A water soluble vitamin, B12 is important in formation of blood and proper functioning of the brain. Since vegetables do not have this nutrient, most vegans are deficient with it. Apart from this crucial nutrient, plants are also deficient in lesser known nutrients that can be found in animal meat.
Animal protein contains all the essential amino acids in the right ratios. It is important for muscle mass and bone health. Vegans also lack in essential proteins and omega-3 fatty acids, which are primarily found in animals. Two other nutrients that are required by our body in small quantities to build steroid hormones like testosterone – saturated fat and cholesterol are missing in plants. It is a myth that avoiding eliminating these two nutrients from your diet will make you healthy.
Vegan Diet Is High On Carb, Low on Fat
One of the most serious problems with vegetarian diets is that they tend to be high on carbohydrates and low on essential fat. This raises blood sugar and drives up insulin, two key factors that are now accepted as accelerating the aging of body. The carb-based, low-fat nature of vegetarian diets will tend to make people fat, further increasing the risk of heart disease. The high glycemic load from the grains and sugars, eaten by vegans to replace fats and protein, will make a person fat and likely diabetic, thereby raising the risks of heart disease.
Vegan Diet Cannot Meet Your Energy Needs
Any type of vegetarian diet must include a wide variety of different foods and enough calories to meet the energy requirements. Any deficiency in production of energy will make the body lethargic and will lead to degeneration. Intake of sweets and Junk foods should be reduced to the minimum, because they are low in nutrients and high on calories. Vegans also have to be careful with intake grains, because refined and over-the-counter grains eliminate fiber, depositing gluten in the body.
Food-Borne Diseases
While many individuals adopt a vegetarian diet for health benefits, unfortunately, living on a vegan diet doesn’t eliminate your exposure to nasty bacteria from food. In fact, almost as many food-borne illnesses are derived from plants as from meat. Although food-borne illness outbreaks occur almost weekly, only the most widespread make the news.
Malnutrition Babies
For babies and children, whose nutritional needs are extraordinary, the risks of a vegan diet are definite and scary. The breast milk of a vegan mother is dramatically low on critical brain fat, than the milk of an omnivorous mother and contains less usable vitamin B6. An essential amino acid found in meat and breast milk, which is required by babies in abundance, is missing from people o vegan diet. The most risky period for vegan children is weaning. Growing babies, who are distancing from breast milk, need complete protein, omega-3 fats, iron, calcium and zinc. Compared with meat, fish, eggs and dairy, plants are inferior sources of these. Lack of these nutrients in a baby can lead to stunted growth, thyroid problems and low immune system.
While vegetarians and non-vegetarians have been at loggerheads about arguing which one is better, the truth is it is not our choice to make, especially not on moral grounds.
Many of the health problems attributed to fat and cholesterol are in fact caused by sugar, not fat. So if healthy life is your motto, notwithstanding which kind of diet you follow, you should be avoiding his instead!
