Going Vegan?!
Going Vegan?!
By Daniel Rocha LMT CPT CNS
Veganism is a dietary and lifestyle practice that promotes health and peace by reducing the suffering of people and animals while protecting the environment. Vegans are vegetarians who do not eat any foods derived from animal sources (e.g., eggs, dairy products, meat) and do not use products derived from or tested on animals, such as leather, fur, wool, down-filled garments, and blankets, and certain cosmetics.
The benefits of a vegan diet include: lowered blood pressure, lower rates of cardiovascular disease and stroke, lower blood cholesterol levels, and lowered risks of colon and prostate cancer. But vegetarian diets are still at risk for many conditions, including heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, gallstones, and kidney stones. A vegan diet contains no cholesterol because cholesterol is found only in animal products, which can significantly affect hormone production and disrupt certain body system functions.
Vegan diets are more challenging to follow and cause more social friction with nonvegans due to the evaluation of foods, clothing, cosmetics, and other items as not containing animal products. Such items as vitamins, dietary supplements, and prescription medications are asked to be processed using non-vegan ingredients (gelatin for capsules, glycerin in some liquid medications). The complications of replacing animal-derived ingredients in recipes and or finding restaurants that offer dishes acceptable to vegans also contribute to it being a demanding lifestyle.
Nutrition is crucial to understand when it comes to dietary guidelines and nutritional supplements. People may display nutritional deficiencies or may require additional supplements to encourage healing of soft tissue damage or to aid in living a healthier lifestyle. Many people may not be educated of the risks of certain supplements or dietary practices such as vegan or ketogenic diet. Remember that restricting macronutrients can cause the body to be deficient in certain vitamins and minerals.
I recommend that those who practice Veganism, consume HumaPro as an addition to their protein intake. Please read my full write up on HumaPro here on this blog.
Dupler, D., & Blake, S., ScD. (2020). Veganism. In D. S. Hiam (Ed.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine (5th ed., Vol. 5, pp. 2741-2746). Gale. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX7947800898/HWRC?u=lirn33148&sid=HWRC&xid=a758a677