Kay Hansen is the nutritionist and director of the Live-for-Wellness program at the Emerald Valley Wellness Center in Creswell, OR. Hansen and her husband, Richard A. Hansen, M.D., operate the non-traditional treatment center together. They treat patients who suffer from a range of diseases and illnesses, including cancer and diabetes.
A vegan diet is no longer a trend. It’s increasingly acknowledged and proven as a healthy model to follow for enhanced health and well being.
Here, Kay takes on some of the myths of a vegan diet, and takes them down:
1) Myth: “I will never get enough protein from a vegan diet.”
*Truth: A simple plant-based menu that includes fruit, vegetables, some beans, soy milk and peanut butter on whole wheat bread can provide 48 grams of protein. This would easily satisfy the recommended daily intake of protein for an average adult. The amounts of protein provided by meat and dairy products, particularly with a high protein, low-carb diet, can produce a negative calcium balance in the body and increase the risk for osteoporosis. Studies have shown that reducing the meat, dairy and cholesterol intake can prevent many diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and many cancers.
2) Myth: “A vegan diet lacks variety and is boring.”
*Truth: Many of the people that come to the Emerald Valley Wellness Center for our Live for Health wellness program are surprised, pleasantly, at the enormous variety of meals that can be produced with a plant based diet. We do serve lots of fruits and veggies. But we also serve dishes like Whole Grain Veggie Pizza, Pasta E Fagioli, Hearty Lentil Stew and Mexican Fajitas with spelt tortillas. It is actually a culinary treat to produce a creamy, cheesy sauce from nuts and grains and know that it is wholesome and tasty. Vegan cooks and palates never get bored.
3) Myth: “A vegan diet is just for hippies.”
*Truth: A vegan diet is good for everyone. If we believe the Biblical record, a plant-based diet was man’s original diet. It included fruit, grains, nuts, seeds and eventually vegetables. It was carefully designed to meet the needs of man with adequate nutrition, plenty of fiber, but fairly low in fat. According to history the generations of that era lived for hundreds of years. Current nutritional research shows that a plant based diet can help us live longer, too.
4) Myth: “A vegan diet is too high in ‘carbs.’ I’ll get fat.”
*Truth: On average, most vegans are leaner than omnivores (meat eaters) or even lacto-ovo vegetarians who include milk, eggs and cheese in their diet. The food guide pyramid produced by the USDA is based on a diet of grains, which should ideally be whole grains. These whole grains provide not only the starch we need for energy, but B vitamins that are necessary for a healthy nervous system and fiber that give us a healthy digestive tract and keeps us from overeating. So really, we should not eliminate or worry about ‘carbs,’ if they are the right kind, from whole foods, not refined processed flour.
5) Myth: “A vegan diet is too hard; I’ll never find the time to prepare vegan meals.”
*Truth: A vegan diet can be as simple or as complex as you have time for. You can work full-time and still manage to eat a healthy diet. A can of black beans, tomatoes, olives, whole wheat tortillas, salad and salsa: that’s a ten minute meal. On the weekends, experiment cooking more complex and even gourmet foods like Veggie Stroganoff or Minestrone Soup and Rosemary Garlic Bread. Make extras and you can eat the rest of the week with little effort!
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