The KInd Life Community Forum

I live in new zealand, am 20 years old, and am in my third year of human nutrition degree, maybe going for dietetic snext year. im vegan at the moment and have been for almost 2 years, and have been vegetarian for 5. Im concerned about my job prospects though, especially in NZ where meat and dairy consumption is high and of course we have some of the highest prevalances of heart disease, osteoporosis, in the world.I know that lower consumptions these foods will benefit health, but I'm concerned that if i advocate a plant based diet I won't be seen as credible.

I don't want to have to work in an environment where i have to feed people meals that I know are harmful to them. When I first started my degree, I decided I wanted to work for a company like PCRM or something, but they have nothing of the likes of that here, or at least to my knowledge.

When I first transitioned to a vegan diet, I felt way better, my skin improved, I lost weight, felt happier, among several other things-not getting sick as much. Recently, over the last few months or so my health is going downhill... my skin problems (severe exzema etc) are returning and I am starting to not believe in this diet as much as I previously did. I know that the production of these foods are not ethical in todays society, but since I have been studying nutrition and doing more and more research I have been hearing some disturbing things about the vegan diet , particularly in regards to vitamin B12, D, and other nutrients.

Melody - do you realize that, as far as I understand it anyway, the reason we need a B12 supplement is because the soil has been so depleted and we have become so ridiculous about 'sterilization' to the point of scrubbing veggies clean of everything? B12 should be available to us naturally by eating vegetables grown naturally. Unfortunately, that is not the case anymore. We need B12 because of what we have done to the environment. Most people in the U.S. are vitamin D deficient and are being advised to take supplements. Many ominis are deficient in things and are told to take supplements. Most people today are probably deficient in something because of how they eat (or not going into the sun!). Vegans only need a supplement because of environmental depletion, not because our diet is normally deficient. Furthermore, if you think about adding fish in, which it is your right to do, think about the total environmental destruction that is happening as a result of commercial fishing practices and the fish farms that have expanded in which fish, like cattle before them, are being fed an unnatural diet of corn, which makes them unhealthy, and then is passed on to those who eat them. Not to mention mercury concerns, as well as the evidence of increasing amounts of microscopic plastic in the oceans which are being digested by fish. This is the reality of the world we live in. We are not paleolithic hunters living off of hunted animals, we are (largely) a capitalistic people living off of animals that have been bred in an unhealthy way to maximize profits. So, we can choose to eat the unhealthy animals (leaving ethical concerns aside), or we can choose plants and supplement with B12. Just my two cents from a layperson's perspective. (And think about religions that are vegan or vegetarian which have existed for centuries or more - they're still around.)

Thank you everyone for your responses! It means alot to me. I am well aware that many people on an omni diet , or a vegetarian diet, still need supplements, and that doesnt automatically make you healthy. I used to believe that the b12 thing was an issue due to our soils being depleted of good bacteria, etc, butI have been doing research and some people have come to the conclusion that that would not supply people with enough b12 for this to be an adequate solution to the issue.I personally love spirulina, and include it in lots of smoothies i make for breakfast/after i go for runs in the morning, but I am not positve the b12 is in a form usable by the body---the b12 is a analogue that may not be usable by the body. Nevertheless, I think it is beneficial to consume spirulina anyway.

My mother is a doctor and she is worried about me, seeing lots of vegan children with rickets recently, and other extremely seriuos health problems from suscribing to a vegan diet. Research shows that even with supplementation of some nutrients, vegans are not all protected from deficiencys of the nutrients in concern. Im not saying that everyone will have bad health from following a vegan diet, it is definitely better than the standard western/SAD in many respects. The promotion of fruit and vegetable consumption definitely sounds like the best first step to take, rather than telling everyone to stop consuming all red meat, icecream, etc, ...baby steps.

HOWEVER my health is declining rapidly over the last couple of months, and it is not due to an issue with my diet.. im very aware with what i need to be supposedly healthy on a vegan diet, due to my personal interest and university study and have suscribed to this about 95 % of the time, and taking b12 supplements. I eat lots of fruit, green veggies/of all colours, sea vegetables, legumes, wholegrains, pseudograins, nuts and seeds, including some raw veggies but not soley.

Melody - I would still seek the advice of other medical professionals who follow a vegan diet and are healthy. As I said, I do believe part of the issue with eating animals from a health perspective is the environment, and unless you raise your own there's no way around it. Ethically, no I don't believe in eating animals, but I would be much 'happier' about things if animals were raised naturally and humanely, and eaten only as occassional supplements to meals so that they could be raised in numbers that are sustainable, though I still believe it's wrong. But we don't live in that world, and I personally don't see how it can be healthier to eat unhealthy animals that not only have been fed an unnatural diet and hormones and antibiotics, and then are pumped full of fear at the time of slaughter, than to eat a plant-based diet. It's not like backyard chickens who run around and aren't slaughtered and just have their unfertilized eggs taken (though I personally still wouldn't eat them). To think of everything that I would be eating along with the farmed animals makes me doubly ill, and I would not want to feed that to myself or my children or anyone else, I just don't see how that can be healthy, but that's my perspective. I do think it would be beneficial if another health professional could respond to you, and maybe give you some insight, about your health and dealing with others. I know Justin Bean has mentioned this before, and there's that newer doctor on here, Jenna - Plant RX or something like that. Maybe you could find their profiles?

as an extra note- i still believe all dairy is detrimental to health/contributes to osteoporosis, etc. Im pretty sure im allergic to it anyway.