Vegans with ethical concerns are strong in their objections to maltreatment of animals. For example, there can be a concern for the poor treatment of cows in a dairy farm as the reason for not consuming dairy products. A vegan can make a case that a dairy cow is forced to calf each year to keep the profits coming and that they might be subject to steroids to increase daily yields.

Other vegans could object that calves are taken away a bit too quickly from their mothers for the sake of future production of veal and beef. They might object to the living conditions of these animals, their living quarters and what they are fed.

Of course a vegan will point to the numerous hygienic and long term health benefits that come from adopting a vegan diet. This can include low amount of saturated fat, low cholesterol, higher levels of carbohydrates, fibre, magnesium, potassium, antioxidant vitamins C and E, etc.

Some vegans can have problems with digesting lactose. Others can have a blood-iron or diabetic complication related to milk protein. Vegans can also object to the fact that milk and cheese, etc. contain a bit of undesirable hormones that are fed to dairy cows to increase their production.

Some people become vegans because of environmental reasons. One of the biggest environmental concerns with meat production is pollution and the excessive use of fossil fuels, water, and land. Vegans will of course argue that the production of meat by involving all these factors makes itself environmentally unsustainable.

While veganism has found new popularity in reason times it is, as a concept, not new at all. In countries where everyday cuisine does not involve the use of dairy products, for example China, Japan, and Taiwan, veganism has become of the national tradition and is now centuries old. Buddhism has been a big influence factor in this.

In every country there are dishes that are exclusively plant based this making them suitable for vegan consumption. Vegans need not have any fear of running short of recipes or running short of the number of vegetables that can be consumed. According to Sturtivant’s Edible Plants of the World (published in 2002) there are 2,897 plants that can be consumed by humans.

Prospective vegans should think a bit and ask themselves some pertinent questions relating to the decision that they are pondering. The biggest question of course being as to why do you wish to become a vegan and after that, do you really think you can stick at it?

There are many reasons for adopting veganism. These could be ethical, environmental, and personal reasons like health, spirituality, or even religious reasons.

According to a survey conducted by Time/CNN about 0.2% of adult Americans are vegans.

In the United Kingdom, only 0.25% of the population is vegan.

As per the British Vegan Society, the definition of veganism is: “a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude – as far as is possible and practical – all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment.”

In regards to diet the British Vegan Society says, “the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.”

The definitions of the American Vegan Society are quite similar.

As per veganism, “animal product” can be anything derived from animals for human use. So while human breast milk is fed to babies it is okay but a human being cannot drink the milk of a cow or any milk giving animal because it is designated as an “animal product”.

Other animal products include: meat, poultry, fish, eggs, fur, leather, wool, pearls. There are even byproducts that are avoided by vegans, some of them are: gelatin, lanolin, rennet, and whey. Insect derivatives include: silk, honey, beeswax, shellac, and cochineal.

Some vegans will also avoid cane sugar filtered with bone char or beer and wine clarified with albumen. Others will avoid food cooked in utensils used for cooking non-vegan foods.

Toothpastes containing calcium extracted from animal bones are also among the list of items to be avoided. Same goes for soap.

Vegans also do not support industries that use animals. Circuses and zoos are included in this category.

The word vegan (pronounced vee-gun) was derived from the word vegetarian in 1994.

Elsie Shrigley and Donald Watson had become frustrated because “vegetarian” had included dairy products and so they formed the UK Vegan Society. The first three and last two letters in “vegetarian” were combined to get “vegan”.

Since then, 1994, the word vegan has grown to include people who have a common interest in eliminating animal products from all aspects of their lives and not merely the avoidance of eating animals.

Therefore in other words, no external forces should be used. In the olden golden days, there was no such practice as is prevalent today, and farms consisted of close knit families who did not take help of anything beyond Mother Nature. But today the scene is different, even though these traditional farms are more prosperous and promote a far healthier atmosphere.

However these rising sales have led to supermarkets as outlets which are reducing the power of the farmers. This has a flipside, as when one purchases through a super store one can not very clearly see the way the food is being manufactured, and the whole deal is not as transparent as before. This is where the National Organic Program plays a most important role.

Organic food is namely fresh fruits and vegetables, and they are usually bought straight from the farmers who practice organic farming or supermarkets or particular shops. Earlier, fresh equaled to organic, and the farmers who grew them were the best consultants. Today ‘organic’ has been stretched to the definition reached by further studies than mere conversations with farmers and noticing the going-ons in a farm.

The processed food is food converted from a natural state by a singular method. It can be both organic or not, and in the latter case use is made of chemical additions. The fresh, organic food is obviously healthier and more expensive and is the product of super food chains. The food is mostly pre-made, canned or ice-covered. Unprocessed food is that which is not made by a special process and is therefore not canned or preserved using any other procedure.

Despite everything that is said above, the whole matter is still very controversial. Some places allow certain substances to be categorised as ‘organic’, depending on the NOG. There was a time when organic food was not in as much demand as it is today. Even though non-organic food sales are much more today, their growth rate is much lesser. In fact many think that the future is organic food, no matter what the situation today is.

Then come the problems with modern day diet: too much saturated fat, not enough complex carbohydrates, all sorts of ingredients (and lack of others) that can lead to heart problems, obesity, etc. Sometimes, reading these statistics causes a lot of people to opt for vegetarianism to stay healthy. There are three major types of vegetarian:

1. Vegans are the extreme form of vegetarians

They do not eat or use animal products. This can include meat, eggs, milk, honey, yeast. Vegan lifestyle also eschews the use of products made out of leather, fur, or another materials sourced from animals.

2. Lacto and Lacto-ovo vegans

Lacto vegans are similar to pure vegans except that they see no objection in consuming milk and other dairy products. Lacto-ovo vegans go one step ahead of lacto-vegans and add eggs to their list of permissible consumables.

3. Fruitarians are tangential vegans

They stick to the vegetable kingdom and avoid all animal foods. They are called fruitarians because their diets do not include vegetables either. They eat only fruits, seeds, and nuts.

The possible negative result from a pure vegetarian lifestyle is protein deficiency. It depends largely on how the vegetarian diet is planned but bad diets can result in the individual not get the minimum amount of rations required daily.

Vitamin B-12 is one ingredient that is most likely to be missing from most vegetarian meals. The reason for this is that B-12 is present only in meat, poultry, and eggs. It is an essential part to the development of new red blood cells and keeping the central nervous system in top form. Because vegetarians are likely to avoid most food products containing B-12, they are more likely to be B-12 deficient.

Symptoms of B-12 deficiency include dementia, hallucination, fatigue, vision problems, and balance problems.

People who have been vegetarians since birth are at a higher risk of B-12 deficiency.

Vitamin B-12 cannot be reabsorbed. This means that people who change to vegetarians later in their lives are not likely to notice any B-12 deficiency symptoms before five or more years have passed. In most cases, B-12 deficiency is almost irreversible so it is best to avoid that situation.

It has been noted that over 20% of people who suffer from heart disease have high levels of homocysteine. This is an antioxidant that can cause toxic reactions in high quantities. B-12 deficiency has a direct impact on increased levels of homocysteine.

The body needs at least 10 micrograms of B-12 daily. If you are a vegetarian then you should get a blood test done regularly to make sure that you are not running deficient in B-12.

While results cannot be guaranteed you should note that if other forms of weight loss have not worked for you then perhaps you could try a vegetarian diet.

There is no fixed definition of a vegetarian diet because there are too many different types of vegetarian diets that people are following. Some vegetarians eat only vegetables, fruits, beans, and nuts. Some will eat eggs in addition to all that. Others will include dairy products.

However, most vegetarian diets tend to be low in fat and cholesterol. Besides weight, these diets can also help you avoid heart problems and other health related issues.

With a vegetarian diet it needs careful planning to decide what you are going to eat, when, and why. Vegetarian diets can leave you deficient in iron, proteins, and vitamins if they are not well balanced.

Eating raw fruits and vegetables is one of the best things that can happen to your body but the diet should not consist of these elements alone. Soy is an important ingredient of a vegetarian diet because it helps to avoid protein deficiency. Similarly, spinach and beans guarantee a adequate amount of iron intake.

Use cereals, soy milk, and spinach to avoid deficiency of B-12, vitamin D, calcium, and zinc.

A vegetarian diet does not mean you can eat sugary foods that you were avoiding earlier. Staying off those high calorie foods is still important.

Maintain a lot of variety in your vegetarian diet. Dairy products are not forbidden but if you do include them then go for non-fat milk and cheese.

Vegetarians typically consume fewer calories per day as compared to non-vegetarians. You must still pay attention to portions and calories.

Do not fall into the error that a vegetarian diet is a shortcut. Results take time to show and the only way to speed things up is by following a good exercise regimen. Many people also go back to a full blown meat diet after desired results are achieved. Avoid this trap. Try to maintain at least a partially vegetarian diet if it helps you to control your weight.

It might sound like a good idea but such a drastic diet change is not possible for everyone. Even then the chances are great that if you enjoy fruits and vegetables and have healthy meals a vegetarian diversion can help. Fruits and raw vegetables are rich in fiber and they help in flushing out excess fat out of the body.

Like all diets, the key to the success of a vegetarian diet is your commitment to it.

How can a Vegan or Vegetarian Gain Weight

There are several health benefits of planned vegetarian diets. Even with carefully planned vegetarian diets a certain amount of caution is prudent because vegan diets can run short on certain essential nutrients. The more restrictive a vegan diet the greater is a risk of this sort.

The human is a complex system and the basic elements that make it function are chemical processes and electrical impulses taking place or a cellular or even deeper level. Our diets are primarily responsible for maintaining a healthy balance of these chemicals in our bodies. The food that we consume contain the nutritional elements in the form of complex chemicals that are absorbed by the body and broken down to perform their specific functions. So nutrition is directly related to the good health and efficient functioning of our bodies.

The brain is no different in this regard from any other organ in the body. It also functions on chemical reactions and electrical impulses. Complex behavioral aspects like cognition, emotion, etc. are equally affected by nutrition as eyesight, hearing, and liver or heart function.

Deficiencies in vitamins and minerals can result in mental illnesses and retardation or cognitive dysfunction and emotional instability.

Vegetarians must pay special attention to vitamin B deficiency in their diet as this is one of the most difficult vitamins to replace in a vegetarian diet. Vitamin B complex is involved with every major body system. It is equally important to mental health as physical health. Since vegetarians do not consume some of the richest sources of vitamin B complex they must pay heed to this problem and plan their diets accordingly.

The most abundant sources of B2 complex are milk and organ meats. It can also be found in enriched breads and cereals. They should be consumed in the proper amounts on a daily basis.

Niacin, vitamin B6, and other B complex vitamins are also usually found in meats and in smaller concentrations in enriched breads and cereals. The vitamin B12 is found exclusively in animal products. Vegan diets simply will not have this vitamin because it does not occur in the vegetable kingdom. B12 is vital in the production of red blood cells and the normal growth of children.

Nutritional supplements are a good way to supply the missing ingredients in a vegetarian lifestyle. There can be some pretty serious consequences due to vitamin deficiencies and these supplements can help vegans to avoid these problems.

In a more milder and everyday form the vegan will avoid the purchase of animal products like steak, egg, bread with milk, leather shoes, belts, wallets, purses, etc. The core concept behind veganism is to eliminate the suffering of animals for the benefit of humans.

There are many practical reasons as to why people choose to become vegans. For example, it is little known that most poultry and dairy farm animals are slaughtered when their production rates decline. So a chicken that does not lay a certain number of eggs a day or a cow that fails to produce certain amount of milk is likely to be killed and replaced by a more reproductive animal. Some people even object to the conditions in which these animals are kept.

There is no clear definition as to what exactly constitutes an “animal product”. The Vegan society includes insect products such as honey into their definition though technical insects are not animals.

Some vegans protest the use of animals in human agricultural activities considering it inefficient and needlessly hard on the animals when machines can do the same work.

Other vegans do so purely from a health point of view. Animal fats and proteins have been associated with heart disease, colon and lung cancer, diabetes, obesity and other debilitating disorders. The milk of a cow contains sufficient amount of fat and protein suitable for young calves but human beings were simply not meant to consume such high concentration. Vegan diets are believed to be good precaution against heart disease and cancer.

Vegans believe that eating fewer animals and generally producing fewer animal products is good not only for the environment but also for the human conscience. The use of animals in agriculture substantial contributes to air and water pollution. Some studies estimate that 80% of the world’s annual deforestation can be attributed to animal agriculture.

Vegan products nowadays carry the vegan logo for easy identification in shopping centers so that they are easily distinguished from non-vegan products. The logo usually appears on products that have been registered with the Vegan Society.

If a product is not registered with the Vegan society and claims to be vegan without the logo then it is best to carefully check the packaging and labeling to read the contents of the product. There are certain animal food byproducts like gelatin and rennet that are usually found in sweet products for children which can be easily overlooked by a less observant vegan.

Then there might be cases where parents might not be vegetarians themselves but they have children who are either experimenting with vegetarianism or have already completely accepted it. For such parents the concern is that by rejecting meat foods their children might not be consuming certain essential nutrients that are just not present in an all-vegetarian diet.

In either case there is always the thought of whether or not the vegetarian outlook is good for a child. There have been reports of cases where putting children on a purely vegetarian diet has resulted in a permanent negative effect on their overall growth. Reports like these can give parents a pause before imposing a vegetarian routine on their children, or, force parents to try and break a child’s vegetarian obsession.

These concerns are justifiable because the fact is that vegetarian diets can lack essential nutrients required by the body on a daily basis. A consistent lack of these nutrients because of an ill planned vegetarian diet can result in health problems, especially in the end. Children are especially susceptible to this sort of problem because they are in a growth phase where vitamins, proteins, and mineral salts are required more urgently.

What is needed is for the parent to do a thoroughly research on the nutritional value of the vegetarian diet that they have planned. Once you know what nutrients are lacking from the planned vegetarian diet for your child, you are in a better position to take steps to rectify that deficiency.

While a lack of nutrients can result in certain problems because of a badly planned vegetarian diet, the advantage of a well-planned vegetarian diet is that it protects a child from being exposed to the various hormones that are present in animal products and are associated with developmental issues and certain kinds of cancer.

Some common nutrients that are often lacking in vegetarian diets are as follows:

Proteins – To ensure that there is no protein deficiency you need to be careful to include wheat, soybeans, isolated soy protein, and nuts into the daily vegetarian diet plan.

Calcium - This chemical is essential for bone development and strength. Make sure either your child is getting enough calcium by including calcium-fortified foods or other vegan sources like leafy green vegetables.

Iron - Iron is essential for the body’s function in many different ways. To keep minimum safe levels of iron consumption make sure to include soybeans, pinto beans, tofu, and cereals.

Zinc - This essential nutrition element can be very harmful when deficient. Vegan foods rich in zinc are almonds, peanuts, butter, and mushrooms.

As stated earlier, while a vegetarian can lack certain nutrients, you simply need to pay a little more attention to your diet preparation and most of those deficiencies can be overcome through better use of vegan choices.

Iron in the blood is needed badly because it helps in the transportation of oxygen through the bloodstream. Anemia is basically iron deficiency in the blood that causes the patient to feel tired and weak due to a lack of proper oxygen circulation throughout the way. It is very slow asphyxiation. The average adult needs 10mg of iron each day.

Women of child bearing age need as much as 15mg. Consumable iron is of two types: heme (from meat) and non-heme (from plants). Heme iron is more easily absorbed by the human body but it should be noted that iron deficiency anemia affects vegans and non-vegans equally.

A good vegan source of iron are dried beans and dark green leafy vegetables. In order to increase iron absorption, plants rich in iron should be consumed with foods rich in vitamin C. Foods like broccoli and bok choy contain a healthy combination of iron and vitamin C.

Calcium is another element that can lack in a vegan diet. Adults normally need 1000mg per day. Calcium is responsible for strong bones and teeth. Vegans can find a rich source of calcium in dark green vegetables, tofu processed with calcium sulfate. You can also take calcium fortified soymilk and rice milk.

Some other sources are blackstrap molasses, orange juice, and almonds. Some vegetables like spinach, rhubarb, beet greens etc. have oxalic acid that can prevent proper absorption of calcium. Avoid combining these with other calcium rich vegetables.

It should also be noted that the requirement for protein is not as high as most people tend to believe. The average diet today contains way more protein than the body needs to stay in good health.

Too much protein can, in some cases, lead to kidney damage and cause osteoporosis. The normal daily requirement of protein is 4/5ths of a gram for every kilogram of body weight. Soy, rice and beans, nuts etc. all provide the necessary proteins for vegans.

Proteins are basically made out of amino acids. The human body needs 9 different amino acids. Since these acids cannot be made inside the body but have to consumed they are known as essential amino acids. Non-vegans can get all the nine essential amino acids from eggs and diary products.

The best source of such a complete protein for vegans is the soy protein which contains all nine amino acids. Other sources are grain quinoa and spinach. Legumes, grains, nuts and seeds can also be taken daily to ensure adequate protein intake.

It is to be noted that none of the participants were overweight at the beginning or close of the experiment. Of course, exercise played a big part in the overall results as it directly impacts all weight changes.

The above is actually just a part of a much bigger study that involved almost 500,000 individuals in ten countries. The main purpose of this study was to determine the connection between diet and cancer.

What the study found was that vegetables generally resulted in better overall health. Furthermore, it is best to consume vegetables in their raw state rather than cooking them as this maximizes their potential benefits.

People can have several different reasons for choosing a vegetarian lifestyle and these reasons do not necessarily have to be directly related to personal health. For example, people can refuse to eat animal products due to spiritual beliefs or moral concerns like the killing of innocent animals just to eat them when there are plenty of alternatives.

However, it is to be noted that the study found that most of these vegetarians were deficient in many essential nutrients because of their eating choices but more so because of badly planned diets through insufficient knowledge about nutrition.

It was found that while adopting a heavily vegetarian lifestyle was a good choice, the absolute cutting out of meat and other sources of animal proteins turned out to be detrimental to general health. Every body has its unique metabolism type and each type needs a different kind of diet, regardless of spiritual reason, moral, or ethical preferences.

Nearly 65% of people need regular helpings of animal-based proteins in order to maintain optimum health. Then there is the 33% whose health would suffer tremendously should they consume animal proteins.

This 33% are people who can be vegetarians and still remain healthy. In addition, these are the very people who can go on national television and vouch for the benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle. It should not lead you to assume that what works for their body type will work for you too. Different people need different diets and lifestyles.

Another problem with vegetarians is the assumption that meat is somehow evil. Based on this belief they conclude that since it is evil it is obviously unhealthy and hence best avoided. Please keep in mind that food is food and that its nutritional values have nothing to do with good and evil.

One thing the study found out repeatedly is that regular exercise is the only thing that really matters when it comes down to weight control. It doesn’t matter what you eat, if you have a weight problem then what matters is how much of what you eat are you working out of your system.

Even with normal weight, nutrition and exercise are close bedfellows. Any kind of proper diet, vegan or non-vegan, combined with a good exercise can help achieve and maintain good health.