veganism: I'm a vegetarian right now (2 weeks woo!) and I'm wondering whether or not to go vegan next year once i'm a freshman in college and I can buy my own food. But what I'm concerned about is whether or not it would be really healthy for me or not? I love animals and I want to go vegan, but I don't want to pop 10 vitamins a day you know?|||Not at all. Vegans get zero Vitamin B12 from their diets. Meat is very healthy, especially red meat.|||Well vegetables contain every thing one needs and beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils have protein that one get from meat or fish and since vegetables have less calories one is less likely to gain weight. You may want to visit http://meatlessusa.com for info about food. Thank you.|||Western society has been conditioned to beleive meat and dairy is a normal part of a diet (a lot of animals eat neither), and that without it, something's missing. Reality is, plants are the original, natural food. Meat ultamately comes from plants, and sub-tropical humans only started eating meat during the ice age when plants were scarce. Our primate cousins are herbivores. They do fine because plant-diets are nature's design. Two years ago, I took my education futher, went raw and realized the limitation of supplements - so I quit them. With local small-farm ripe fruit and veg, I now get a balance of ALL nutrients (not just the ones that sup makers know of) 1. Science shows humans need 35 grams of protein a day......7% of a 2000 calorie diet. Nature made it near-imposible to be deficient in a nutrient as important as protein. 2. anemia. iron originates from the dirt. Then plants absorb it. 3. B12 comes from bacteria, which is on wild, un-washed plants, and even in the air we breathe.|||vegans and heavy meat eaters have the same mortality ratio which is lower than ovo-lacto vegetarian and pescatarians.|||According to the American Dietetic Association, very The lies and distortion of facts by Cliff et al, would be laughable, if they weren't so pitiful|||It will be a stressful time for you. You might want to wait a while to make the switch. Please, please understand that you can NOT get B12 on a straight plant based diet. You must eat animal products, eggs, meat, milk to get B12 or take a pill. It is available in fortified foods, but it's hard to gauge how much you're getting. Don't take this omni's word for it. Look at these veg links for the facts on B12: http://www.veghealthguide.com/vitamins-m鈥?/a> http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/ever鈥?/a>|||very i've been vegan for 3 days and in those 3 days i lost 10 pounds of fat. Lost 250 calories so really|||According to the American Dietetics Association A well planned Vegan diet can be healthful for humans of any age group and may prevent many diseases. Do your research and you will find reputable places like the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and others that are not vegan sites at all that agree with that. B12 is in many fortified products and as long as you eat those products you will be find with that.|||There is no health advantages of being a vegan. A poorly planned vegan diet can lack nutrients. Nutrient deficiencies are most common with an vegetarian or vegan diet. The American Dietetic Association position paper on vegetarian diets identifies several nutrients that can be inadequate in poorly planned vegetarian diets. These include protein, iron, zinc, calcium, iodine, vitamins A, D, B-2 and B-12, and omega-3 fatty acids. There are consequences of these nutrient deficiencies. Deficient intake of protein can stunt normal growth, impair immune function and affect a multitude of body functions. In particular, protein is needed for normal bone development. When both protein and calcium are low in the diet, the risk of developing early osteoporosis is greatly increased. Iron deficiency is extremely common. Even without the extreme state of anemia, low iron status can reduce physical endurance, impair immune response, disrupt temperature regulation, affect overall energy metabolism, decrease cognitive function and lead to behavioral disturbances. It is well known that inadequate iron intake during childhood impairs mental function and academic achievement, but it also affects young adults. In a recent study with more than 100 women age 18 to 35, normalization of iron status improved testing scores of attention, memory and learning ability by an amazing five to seven times more than women with low iron status. Like iron deficiency, vitamin deficiencies can affect brain function and cause a multitude of other health problems. Without a source of fish oils in the diet, omega-3 fatty acid deficiency is more likely to develop over time. Although this could take years, omega-3 deficiency can impair vision and brain function.|||i guess it could be good and bad. good because your not eating food that has all these chemicals in it. bad because it might take you body a while to adjust to the change and you can get really bad head aches :[ i've been veggie for 2 months and the 1st month i have hade extreme head aches :[|||Vegan is NOT healthy, but a vegetarian is somewhat healthier than being vegan.