Should you go vegan this January?

Happy New Year everyone! I thought I’d start the year with a post about vegan diets and whether they’re worth following. This post is perfectly timed with Veganuary, which is where people try being vegan for the month of January.

Veganism excludes animal products of all types, including food and clothing. This means no meat, fish, milk, cheese, eggs, honey, wool, and leather. For this post, and part 2 coming next week, I’ll be focusing purely on the dietary aspect of veganism.

Following a vegan diet can have lots of health benefits and it can mean you’re more likely to get more nutrients like fibre.

Lower risk of some diseases:

Consuming a vegan diet can reduce your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and can mean your cholesterol is lower. It can also lower the risk of certain cancers, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.

As the diet is typically higher in fruit, veg, and wholegrains, it contains lots of nutrients that are protective against disease. Also, a higher intake of red and processed meat leads to an increased risk of heart disease, some cancers, and diabetes so by being vegan and not eating meat, this increased risk goes.

Increased intake of fruit, vegetables, and fibre:

A vegan diet focuses on eating fruit, vegetables, grains, and pulses. All of these foods are high in fibre and so by following a vegan diet, you’re likely to increase your fibre intake. Fibre aids digestion and helps keep you regular in the bathroom. An increased fibre intake can also reduce the risks of heart disease, stroke, and bowel cancer.

The recommended amount of fibre for adults is 30g a day, but most people get 18g on average. People following a vegan diet get on average 29g of fibre each day.

People following a vegan diet are also more likely to be meeting their nutritional requirements for vitamins and minerals like magnesium, vitamin A and vitamin B9.

More likely to be a healthy weight:

Vegans are also more likely to be within the healthy range for body mass index. Body mass index (BMI) is a calculation that divides your body weight by your height squared. It’s a quick way to tell if you're underweight or overweight for your height.

The healthy range for BMI is 18.5-25kg/m2 and people that follow a vegan diet are more likely to be within this range compared to non-vegans.

However, this doesn’t mean that by following a vegan diet you’ll automatically lose weight or that you’ll be a healthy weight. It does depend on what you eat, and there are some vegan foods that can be less nutritious. I’ll pick this up in more detail in part 2 of this post which you can read here!

Key points:

• A vegan diet excludes all animal products.
• Following a vegan diet can reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and some types of cancer.
• Vegans are more likely to have higher intakes of fibre and fruit and vegetables.
• Being vegan can mean you're more likely to be a healthy weight, but veganism is not a weight loss diet.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and it’s given you some insights into the positives of following a vegan diet. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Bye for now! 👋

References:

Veganuary: https://veganuary.com/

Processed meat and heart disease: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2885952/

Lower risk of disease: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-nutrition-society/article/dietary-patterns-and-risk-of-cardiovascular-diseases-a-review-of-the-evidence/F7C871995757C62410ABB17AE1C532CE and https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/89/5/1627S/4596952

Fibre recommendations: https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/fibre.html and https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/ndns-results-from-years-9-to-11-2016-to-2017-and-2018-to-2019/ndns-results-from-years-9-to-11-combined-statistical-summary

Vegans get more fibre: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2991173/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19279075/ and

Vegans get more micronutrients: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21616194/

Vegans have a healthy BMI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4081456/