• Thursday 17 April 2014

What To Eat Now: a vegan diet, but only with dedication

Expert nutritionist and author, Ian Marber, tilts his hats to vegans whose first-rate diet requires vigilance and knowledge

BY Ian Marber | 09 December 2013

What To Eat Now: the perils of veganism

What To Eat Now: the perils of veganism Photo: © David Malan

If one was to identify all the elements of a generally healthy diet I think it would include lean protein and complex carbohydrates together with essential fats and fibre. What would be excluded, or at least minimised, is sugar, alcohol and refined carbohydrates. Aside from dairy, this pretty much describes a vegan diet (although protein and essential fats are still included but harder to find without animal derived products).

READ - What To Eat Now: Nuts, in moderation

A vegan is someone who lives without exploiting animals 'for the benefit of animals, people and the planet' (from vegansociety.com) and eschews all animal products including eggs, honey, leather, silk or anything animal derived that is used to make clothing or anything else. According to figures on the Vegan Society website, fewer than 1 per cent of adults in the UK are vegan.

Living a vegan life is no small investment, as avoiding all animal products is obviously hard work and requires knowledge and commitment. The Vegan Society sums up a vegan lifestyle as being 'fair, sustainable and compassionate' - a worthy aim indeed.

READ - What To Eat Now: cold-fighting foods

But given that living a vegan lifestyle requires such vigilance and knowledge, it isn't something that people take on lightly. It follows that most vegans are passionate and have strong convictions - this is certainly true of the vegans that I know.

There are two areas that vegans pay special attention to - namely protein and essential fats. Protein food consists of amino acids, 22 of them to be precise (there are 24 listed in the US). The human body takes specific amino acids and combines them in various pairings - these base amino acids have to be there for this to happen and so are known as 'essential amino acids'. Without all 14 it is possible that protein levels will be lacking and some of the functions of protein can be affected. As animal products contain all 14 they are known as a 'complete' protein. Not all vegan sources of protein do contain all 14 but that's easily remedied by eating more than one source of protein with each meal. Inevitably the result is that all 14 essential aminos will be digested at once. Luckily there are several complete protein sources that will suit a vegan - quinoa, beans, nuts, tofu and chickpeas for example.

READ - Beyonce and Jay-Z jump on the vegan bandwagon

Essential fats in the form of omega 3 are usually found in fish but a vegan could solve this issue by including rapeseed oil, walnuts and purslane (an edible plant, sometimes called a weed).

It is possible that vitamin D and B12 could be lacking in a vegan diet but that's easily taken care of with supplementation.

On the plus side, veganism is a diet that is naturally low in the unwanted fats, such as hydrogenated and saturated (the latter not being half as bad as experts used to think), refined sugars, simple carbohydrates and processed food. That's quite a worthwhile list.

I am not a vegan, but I doff my cap to those who are and congratulate them on a first-rate diet and their dedication. I'm afraid that I like my steak too much to give it up. And yogurt. Fish. Chicken. Squid. I could go on and on.

Five signs that you aren't getting enough protein:

Frequently tired
Increased appetite and cravings for sugar
Poor muscle tone
Hair weak or falling out
Ridges on finger and/or toe nails

For more information on, or to contact, Ian Marber, log on to www.ianmarber.com or follow Ian at @IanMarber

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