Greggs vegan sausage rolls

[Chippy_Tea]

I have read conflicting views on whether a vegan diet is healthy and without supplements its not.

This is very cut down description see the article link -

Vitamin B12​

We need B12 to maintain healthy nerve cells, produce DNA – the body’s genetic material – and it works closely with folic acid to make red blood cells. It also helps iron to work better in the body and is essential for a healthy immune system as well as helping to regulate mood. It really is an important vitamin!

Vitamin D​

We need vitamin D for healthy bones, teeth, muscles and other essential functions. Known as the sunshine vitamin, it’s made through the action of sunlight on skin. UK levels of vitamin D deficiency are high, particularly among people with darker skin and for everyone during the winter months. In spring and summer, most people in the UK can make enough through daily exposure to sunlight for five to 25 minutes – this short timespan minimises the risks of sunburn and skin cancer. The lighter your skin, the less exposure you require and ‘little and often’ is the best approach for most people.

Calcium​

A healthy vegan diet, rich in wholegrain foods, pulses, nuts and seeds, will cover your needs for this mineral. The best sources include tofu (made with calcium sulphate), fortified vegan breakfast cereal, plant-based milks fortified with calcium, dried figs, kale, sesame seeds and tahini, tempeh, wholemeal bread, baked beans, butternut squash, nuts (particularly almonds and Brazil nuts), spring greens and watercress. While spinach, chard and beet greens do contain calcium, they also contain a substance called oxalate, which blocks calcium absorption. Calcium is more available from low-oxalate green vegetables such as kale, broccoli and bok choy. The calcium they contain is absorbed about twice as well as the calcium in cow’s milk, plus they contain fibre, folate, iron and antioxidants, which you won’t find in a pint of milk!

Iodine​

We need iodine for healthy thyroid function and to help regulate how energy is produced and used in our bodies. The dairy industry likes to warn how vegans miss out on iodine by shunning cow’s milk. The truth is that iodine is not naturally found in dairy milk but comes from supplements fed to cattle and iodine-containing disinfectants that are used to clean teats and udders.

Omega-3s​

Our bodies can’t produce essential omega-3 fats so we need some in our diet. They are a part of our cell membranes and affect cell functions throughout the entire body. They help us produce hormones and control inflammation and may lower the risk of heart disease. One or two teaspoons of flaxseed oil daily, or a handful of walnuts and a tablespoon of ground flaxseeds, can provide all you need but if you want to take a vegan supplement, look for EPA/DHA on the label and choose one produced from algae – the same place that fish get their omega-3s from.

https://viva.org.uk/health/health-articles/do-vegans-need-supplements/

 

[fury_tea]

What other people feed their kids is up to them though

No it’s not they have to ensure their children are healthy .

That's my sentiment entirely. A vegan diet can be healthy, a diet containing meat diet can be unhealthy.

 

[RichardM]

As someone who is a meat eater, we have 2/3 veg mains per week and 2/3 seafood meals per week and if someone does not eat cheese I feel sorry for them. However being a Vegan is a choice for adults not children so they shouldn’t impose a diet like that on kids.

Post deleted - Admin.

Please don't bring religion into this food thread if you want to discuss your views on religion please open a thread here -

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/forums/political-controversial-discussions.95/

 

[fury_tea]

I have read conflicting views on whether a vegan diet is healthy and without supplements its not.

This is very cut down description see the article link -

Vitamin B12​

We need B12 to maintain healthy nerve cells, produce DNA – the body’s genetic material – and it works closely with folic acid to make red blood cells. It also helps iron to work better in the body and is essential for a healthy immune system as well as helping to regulate mood. It really is an important vitamin!

Vitamin D​

We need vitamin D for healthy bones, teeth, muscles and other essential functions. Known as the sunshine vitamin, it’s made through the action of sunlight on skin. UK levels of vitamin D deficiency are high, particularly among people with darker skin and for everyone during the winter months. In spring and summer, most people in the UK can make enough through daily exposure to sunlight for five to 25 minutes – this short timespan minimises the risks of sunburn and skin cancer. The lighter your skin, the less exposure you require and ‘little and often’ is the best approach for most people.

Calcium​

A healthy vegan diet, rich in wholegrain foods, pulses, nuts and seeds, will cover your needs for this mineral. The best sources include tofu (made with calcium sulphate), fortified vegan breakfast cereal, plant-based milks fortified with calcium, dried figs, kale, sesame seeds and tahini, tempeh, wholemeal bread, baked beans, butternut squash, nuts (particularly almonds and Brazil nuts), spring greens and watercress. While spinach, chard and beet greens do contain calcium, they also contain a substance called oxalate, which blocks calcium absorption. Calcium is more available from low-oxalate green vegetables such as kale, broccoli and bok choy. The calcium they contain is absorbed about twice as well as the calcium in cow’s milk, plus they contain fibre, folate, iron and antioxidants, which you won’t find in a pint of milk!

Iodine​

We need iodine for healthy thyroid function and to help regulate how energy is produced and used in our bodies. The dairy industry likes to warn how vegans miss out on iodine by shunning cow’s milk. The truth is that iodine is not naturally found in dairy milk but comes from supplements fed to cattle and iodine-containing disinfectants that are used to clean teats and udders.

Omega-3s​

Our bodies can’t produce essential omega-3 fats so we need some in our diet. They are a part of our cell membranes and affect cell functions throughout the entire body. They help us produce hormones and control inflammation and may lower the risk of heart disease. One or two teaspoons of flaxseed oil daily, or a handful of walnuts and a tablespoon of ground flaxseeds, can provide all you need but if you want to take a vegan supplement, look for EPA/DHA on the label and choose one produced from algae – the same place that fish get their omega-3s from.

https://viva.org.uk/health/health-articles/do-vegans-need-supplements/

From the article you linked: "All major health bodies agree; a well-panned (sic) vegan diet can provide all you need while lowering the risk of all the big killers – obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. However, we do need to pay attention to a few key nutrients to ensure we are getting the best out of our diet."

Most breakfast cereals are fortified with B12 and iron etc, as are loads of vegan foods. Most vegans take supplements anyway, and there's nothing wrong with that. I take Vitamin D every day after a recent blood test showed me as slightly deficient (working from home and British sun). Again, I'm not vegan myself and don't plan on turning any time soon but you can't deny the fact that it can be a healthy lifestyle (as much as any diet can be healthy/unhealthy). Anecdotally, every vegetarian/vegan I know, knows more about nutrition and balanced diets and healthy living than the average person.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Most breakfast cereals are fortified with B12 and iron etc, as are loads of vegan foods. Most vegans take supplements anyway, and there's nothing wrong with that.

You are entitled to you views on this and obviously know more about it than me but I don't think its the place of parents to decide what their kids eat before they are old enough to make that choice for themselves, having to give them pills to put back the stuff they are missing from their diet because of your life choice doesn't seem right to me.

 

[fury_tea]

You are entitled to you views on this and obviously know more about it than me but I don't think its the place of parents to decide what their kids eat before they are old enough to make that choice for themselves, having to give them pills to put back the stuff they are missing from their diet because of your life choice doesn't seem right to me.

This is the reason why we decided not to make that choice for our child. I know I am playing devil's advocate because it's not my view exactly, but i do feel it is absolutely the place of adults to make those kinds of choices for their kids, so long as they're not harmful. Here's a thought experiment to try and explain what I mean: some vegan people see animals as having feelings, souls, a will to live etc, and killing animals to eat them brings up similar feelings as something like cannibalism does for us (meat is murder etc). If you woke up one day and found that the world had turned cannibal, but you yourself weren't, would you feed the soilent green to you children, just because everyone else was doing it? It's an extreme example I know, and not a nice image, but this is definitely how some vegans think.

As long as the kids are healthy, I don't see what the problem with them taking supplements is. As I say, most of our kids (and us) are taking supplements every day in the form of breakfast cereals and other things like enriched flour, orange juice with added vitamins etc etc.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I agree with what you say but, take cows if you don't milk them i believe they die ( i could be wrong ) which is cruel so do you milk them and chuck the milk away which seems daft to me, i have a nephew the same age as my eldest boy 35, he does not speak to his mother he disowned her when he was 18 after deciding all his childhood ailments were down to her and her vegan views which she forced on him as a kid, when we had family get togethers she would not come to our house because my wife and i would not kowtow to her our policy of meat is on the menu but you don't have to eat it if you want vegan bring your own and cook it by all means which we thought was fair

 

[fury_tea]

take cows if you don't milk them i believe they die ( i could be wrong ) which is cruel so do you milk them and chuck the milk away which seems daft to me,

Not all cows, though. Dairy cows are the result of selective breeding, they produce 8x the amount of milk as "natural" cows. As far as I know they also need to be impregnated to start producing milk, and then the calves are taken from them and either culled if they are male, or if they're females sold on or raised to be the next generation. If the whole world went vegan overnight (or everyone suddenly became massively lactose intolerant), I guess, yes, we would have to throw the milk down the drain, but there would be no need for dairy cows any more, so they would no longer be bred in the massive numbers that they are now, eventually dying off and I suppose we would be left with the heritage/natural cows who just produce the right amount of milk for their calves.

if you want vegan bring your own and cook it by all means which we thought was fair

I think that's fair. My family found it hard at first when my wife went vegan. My mum was like the nan from The Royal Family "can she have wafer thin ham?", and we'd just bring something with us to avoid them having to specially buy something. These days they always have a few bits in the freezer like some vegan sausages or something. My mum gets excited to tell us that she's found a vegan chick'n pie in Tesco, but still sometimes gets it wrong and buys a cheese bake or something with egg in thinking it's vegan.