4. GET ALL YOUR NUTRIENTS
You should watch out for four in particular:- Protein
- Calcium
- Vitamin B12
- Iron
Protein
Proteins are made up of amino acids. Animal products and soy products have all the required amino acids to make up a complete protein. Other plant foods will often have a number of amino acids, but not all of them. Therefore, you need to eat a variety of foods which contain different amino acids in order to make complete proteins. You want to eat things like grains and beans or pasta and beans, because the combination of the two foods has all the amino acids to make a complete protein. It is not necessary to eat the foods simultaneously in order to get the benefit. (People used to believe that.) If you eat a variety of foods over the course of a day and your body extracts all the amino acids it needs to create complete proteins, it will do so. It is only if your diet completely lacks an essential amino acid or if you don't eat enough foods rich in amino acids in general that you will begin to lack protein. If you eat a variety of foods which you know contain partial proteins, you'll be ok. Here's a list of stuff you should be eating regularly:
- green leafy vegetables
- grains
- beans
- tofu
- nuts
- nutritional yeast
- seeds
- legumes
- organ meats. Just kidding -- no organ meats for you!
The average adult male needs 50 to 60 grams of protein per day, and adult females need 40 to 50 grams of protein per day. It's not tough to get that much out of a varied vegan diet, but if you're concerned you should try using a soy protein powder in juices and soups.
Calcium
Calcium is another concern, particularly for women, and it's worth being careful about this. The average teen needs about 1200 milligrams of calcium per day, and adults need about 800 milligrams per day. We recommend a calcium supplement. You should note that calcium is listed on supplement bottles in two ways, and one way can be rather deceptive. If you see that your supplement contains 650 mg of calcium carbonate, that means that you are getting 650 mg of the source material, namely carbonate, which might contain only 200 mg of pure calcium. If, however, the label says that it contains 500 mg of calcium (carbonate), that means it really does contain 500 mg of calcium, and the source is merely mentioned in brackets. Look for the brackets. Brackets good. We recommend calcium (citrate), as it is easiest to digest and absorb. Tofu is an excellent food source of calcium, and many of the soy/rice/grain milks are fortified with calcium and other vitamins and minerals these days. Look for those kinds and buy them.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is another concern, and this one can be a bit tricky, as there are very few non-animal sources of this essential vitamin. You only need about 3 micrograms per day, so any multivitamin will probably supply you with enough, but there are other options as well.
Vitamin B12 is available in fortified soy milks, nutritional yeasts, and in vitamin supplements. The best kind of supplements are called sub-lingual, so called because they are to be dissolved under the tongue instead of swallowed, so the vitamin goes directly into your bloodstream. Be careful, though, as many supplements come from animal origins, which would kind of defeat the purpose. Read the label and ask your local health food store flake to help you.
Iron
Most vegans do not have a problem with iron, contrary to popular belief. It is true that iron from animal sources is more easily absorbed than that from non-animal sources, but that doesn't mean you're just out of luck if you don't eat meat. Green, leafy vegetables, beans and legumes, and whole grains all contain iron, so if you're eating the stuff we told you to eat to get your protein, you should be doing OK on the iron front.
Pre-menopausal women need 15 milligrams of iron per day, post-menopausal women need 10 milligrams per day, and adult men need about 10 milligrams per day. A tip: vitamin C helps boost iron absorption, so making a stir fry with spinach (for iron) and bell peppers (for vitamin C) would set you up nicely. If you're concerned, take a multivitamin which contains iron, but don't take one which provides more iron than you need, as too much iron is just as bad as too little. If you think you might be anemic or tend toward anemia, talk to your doctor about iron supplementation. Your doctor went to school for years to help you out with these sorts of things. (Warning signs of anemia include persistent colds, pale skin coloring, fatigue, heavy menstrual cycles, and lack of concentration.
