Beautiful article, Dr. Rebecca. As a child I was very sensitive to animal rights. But unlike you, society brainwashed me into not caring for them. Then when I became a buddhist it came right back, stronger than ever.
I've recently gone vegan (on Jan 1st), but still can't get my head around why almost every professional resource I read (Inc the Vegan Society, Vegan Runners) says we must use supplements or take foods that are fortified in our diet. If humans are meant to be vegan then why can't we reliably get B12, Iodine, etc from plants? I can't find any resource that says we can reliably get those vitamins and minerals from plants.
Thanks for your comment. Humans aren't 'meant to be' vegan, but are naturally omnivorous. This means that we can safely be vegan, but, unfortunately, have developed a diet which relies far too heavily on animal products. The reason why we can't get B12 from our diet is because farming practices have depleted the soil of B12, and even farmed animals are supplemented with it, meaning that meat-eaters are only getting it via supplementation, too. Iodine is a bit tricky, as we certainly can achieve a good iodine intake with a vegan diet, but we can't reliably measure how much we are consuming because plant-based sources have very varied iodine contents. So it's much safer to supplement and to know that you are receiving an adequate dose. Most other micronutrients are not an issue with a vegan diet, but because of modern eating habits, we just might need to take a little care to make sure we have enough. I hope this helps. I'm soon to release my first book which covers this in more detail.
It's so confusing, especially on the Iodine one. I can try to get as much as possible from a planned diet but I still have to supplement a lot according to what I read so without knowing how much Iodine I'm actually taking in how do I not run the rist of taking too much (which I know is bad for you). I try to get as much B12 from my diet including fortified foods/plant milks and I take the supplements that are 1000 times more than the RDA. I'm a runner and ultra runner and I really need to keep on top of all those things - especially at my age.
I take a daily supplement just to ensure I'm getting my requirements. I don't think the iodine content of fortified foods should push you above the top end of what's safe
Beautiful article, Dr. Rebecca. As a child I was very sensitive to animal rights. But unlike you, society brainwashed me into not caring for them. Then when I became a buddhist it came right back, stronger than ever.
Thank you for sharing. I wish we could all keep our hearts open to our non human friends 💚
I've recently gone vegan (on Jan 1st), but still can't get my head around why almost every professional resource I read (Inc the Vegan Society, Vegan Runners) says we must use supplements or take foods that are fortified in our diet. If humans are meant to be vegan then why can't we reliably get B12, Iodine, etc from plants? I can't find any resource that says we can reliably get those vitamins and minerals from plants.
Thanks for your comment. Humans aren't 'meant to be' vegan, but are naturally omnivorous. This means that we can safely be vegan, but, unfortunately, have developed a diet which relies far too heavily on animal products. The reason why we can't get B12 from our diet is because farming practices have depleted the soil of B12, and even farmed animals are supplemented with it, meaning that meat-eaters are only getting it via supplementation, too. Iodine is a bit tricky, as we certainly can achieve a good iodine intake with a vegan diet, but we can't reliably measure how much we are consuming because plant-based sources have very varied iodine contents. So it's much safer to supplement and to know that you are receiving an adequate dose. Most other micronutrients are not an issue with a vegan diet, but because of modern eating habits, we just might need to take a little care to make sure we have enough. I hope this helps. I'm soon to release my first book which covers this in more detail.
It's so confusing, especially on the Iodine one. I can try to get as much as possible from a planned diet but I still have to supplement a lot according to what I read so without knowing how much Iodine I'm actually taking in how do I not run the rist of taking too much (which I know is bad for you). I try to get as much B12 from my diet including fortified foods/plant milks and I take the supplements that are 1000 times more than the RDA. I'm a runner and ultra runner and I really need to keep on top of all those things - especially at my age.
I take a daily supplement just to ensure I'm getting my requirements. I don't think the iodine content of fortified foods should push you above the top end of what's safe