Some FAQs or frequently asked questions

by Annette White with some interruptions by j

These questions and answers are based on the questions which people have asked us
at our stall, or when we meet people socially!

1. What is a vegan?
A vegan is someone who tries to avoid all animal products, whether in food and drink,
clothing, furniture, toiletries, domestic products, or any other item, such as photographic film, art materials, biros, etc. Ideally, our fruit and vegetables would be produced by vegan-organic agriculture, which uses no animal products or by-products, like fish meal or manure, and also does not act against wildlife, by using pesticides, for example, but works within the local ecology and supports wildlife.

2. Why are you vegan?
All different kinds of people are vegan, and we can be vegan for different reasons. The most significant is to be ethical or compassionate, and to participate as little as possible in the enormous suffering of millions of animals in the food industry. The massive environmental damage caused by livestock is another important reason for abandoning an animal diet for a plant-based diet. Adopting a vegan diet in Western Europe helps the hungry in the Third World. Some people become vegan for health reasons.

3. What is vegan and what isn't?
Meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, honey, gelatin, whey and milk substances, leather, silk and wool are all animal products or by-products, and are not vegan.

4. What do you eat?!
Vegans eat a lot! We have a great variety of foods - fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, etc - and vegan food is beautiful food. It can be whatever kind of food that you like, whether it’s simple and quick, modern, rustic or fancy, family cooking, English traditional, Mexican, Italian, Indian, or a bit of everything! We can also buy all sorts of vegan products, from luxury chocolates, wine, ice cream, to frozen burgers, organic tofu, and tinned pulses.
Many vegan meat and dairy substitutes and alternatives are now available, such as soya cream, soya cheese, vegan roasts and vegan rashers, even meatless mince, although many vegans choose not to use even substitutes for animal products.
There are vegetarian restaurants which provide vegan options, and even some vegan restaurants! You can also stay in vegetarian or vegan B&Bs and guest houses.

5. You look very healthy! Does vegan food provide all your nutrients?
Easily! - from plants. The only substance that cannot be obtained from plants is B12, which is easily available to vegans in fermented foods such as yeast extract, miso and beer or fortified foods such as flavourings, some margarines, some cereals, some soya products and some soya milks. Iodine is another important substance, and, if you don’t like sea vegetables (nori, wakame, arame, etc), you can take iodine in the form of kelp tablets. Mushrooms contain important minerals and vitamins. Nutritional supplements are also available.
See http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nutrition for detailed information on vegan nutrition and the Vegan Society booklet ‘Plant-based nutrition’.

6. What about protein?
Tofu is high in protein, as are peanuts, brazil nuts and almonds, but protein is present in many foods. Studies show that vegan diets provide the ideal amounts of protein recommended by the World Health Organisation and by the UK's Department of Health.

7. What about B12?
B12 is easily available to vegans in fermented foods such as yeast extract, miso and beer or fortified foods such as flavourings, some margarines, some cereals, some soya products and some soya milks.

8. What about omega 3 and 6?
Omega 3 and 6 are found naturally in some seeds, and can be added as a supplement to margarine, for example; you can now buy packets of seeds which are called Omega mixes, ie containing sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds and linseeds.

9. What about calcium?
In North-East Essex we have hard water which contains quite a bit of calcium; however, the most reliable source is soya milk which has been ‘calcium enriched’, eg Plamil, to bring it up to the levels in cows’ milk. Calcium is also present in other vegan foods.

10. Are vegans healthy?
There is a myth that vegans are underweight and unhealthy (and also that we live in trees or underground or are from another planet!); however, there are plenty of unhealthy, overweight meat-eaters around! There are many vegan athletes and sportspeople and lots of vegan celebrities. Energy comes from carbohydrates and there are plenty in a good vegan diet. Most athletes are recommended to eat a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, which is exactly what a good vegan diet is. It easily fits into the World Food Organisation’s recommendations for a healthy diet. There are a few vegans who don’t eat properly, but there are many meat-eaters who don’t, either - unfortunately it’s the vegans who get the publicity! However, I find that vegans tend to know more about nutrition, probably because they are always having to justify their diet to people and have had to do some research.

11. Is a vegan diet healthier than a meat-based diet, then?
It depends on what you mean by a vegan diet! Theoretically you could be a vegan and live on crisps and chocolate (or a non-vegan, come to that), which obviously wouldn’t be at all healthy. Research (such as the Oxford Study, a long-term study into health), has shown that vegetarians suffer less from many diseases such as heart disease, cancer (all types), diseases of the liver and colon, food poisoning and many other degenerative diseases. Vegetarians spend less time on average in hospital than meat-eaters. For vegans, the difference was found to be even greater – the possible reasons for this are:
* vegans and vegetarians tend to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables than the average, and these contain chemicals which attack cancer cells
* under certain conditions, meat produces chemicals which can undergo changes in the body which lead to the production of carcinogens (cancer-producing agents)
* vegans and vegetarians are people who take more exercise and care more about their health generally
* the high-risk foods for food poisoning tend to be animal products
* animal products contain a high percentage of saturated fats, which are responsible for cumulative health problems, including obesity
* it has also been found that vegetarians and vegans are less likely to be smokers, but, interestingly, the health difference is still as great even when this effect is removed from the statistics.

12. Is it difficult to be a vegan?
It is not at all difficult to be vegan. Here are some first steps:
a. Get some easy vegan cookery books.
b. Find some substitute ingredients that you can use in your favourite meals, eg soya cheese.
c. Stock up with some vegan convenience foods for when you can’t face cooking anything!
d. Increase your intake of carbohydrates to make up for the reduction in fat (unless you want to lose weight!).
e. Read the labels on packaging to check the ingredients; also many foods are now labelled ‘suitable for vegans’ and/or display the Vegan Society logo, or state that they contain eggs or milk.
f. Get a copy of ‘The vegan shopper’, a handbook which is available from the Vegan Society. Join a local group! - and even better, join the Vegan Society, as well!

13. Is it expensive to be vegan?
It depends on how you go about it. Basic ingredients that you cook for yourself are really cheap, for example, tinned red kidney beans which are great for adding to dishes instead of meat. If you just eat convenience foods, then any type of diet is going to be expensive. Yes, foods like soya milk are more expensive than dairy milk, but then you aren’t buying meat or fish, which are very expensive unless you buy the worst possible quality. Meat and animal products are heavily subsidised in this country (out of our taxes) and are mass-produced using cruel, unhealthy factory-farming methods – hence they appear to be cheap when the real price is paid in animal welfare and suffering, poor human health and environmental damage.

14. Are there any risks in adopting a vegan diet?
Not if you do it properly. You do need to check that you are including everything you need in your diet, especially B12. B12 deficiency can lead to a disease called pernicious anaemia, which is very serious. However, it is very rare in vegans; it is usually found, not in vegans, but in people who, for some medical reason - often to do with ageing - are unable to absorb B12 in the normal way. It is not necessary to eat B12 every day as the body stores it for a long time, perhaps years. There is also some evidence that, in some people, their bodies have developed the knack of ‘harvesting’ B12 from bacteria in the gut. There are some vegans who claim not to have eaten B12 for years and remain perfectly healthy – but this is not recommended! Provided that a balanced diet is maintained, a vegan diet is suitable for all ages and all stages of life, unless there is some medical reason not.
 Some natural health practitioners recommend a diet called ‘the healing diet’, which they claim has a beneficial effect on cancer patients and has been advocated by the Bristol Cancer Centre where patients with apparently life-threatening illness have either recovered or outlived their expected time. It is a vegan diet, except that it usually includes honey.

15. Isn’t it necessary for growing children to have dairy products?
No - in fact, much evidence exists to show that cows’ milk is very unsuitable for children. The molecules in cows’ milk are much larger than those in human milk and very difficult to digest. Many children are actively allergic to dairy products and cannot tolerate them. Cows’ milk is a food designed for baby cows, and is high in fat and ideal for a fast-growing animal, not at all ideal for humans. Vegan babies should be breastfed for as long as possible and can then be weaned on to a normal vegan diet which includes as wide as possible a range from all the main food groups.
There is a Vegan Families Group and the Vegan Society also has a list of local vegan family contacts; details of both on the Vegan Society web-site.

16. Is vegan food actually good for your health?
Yes! - and there are claims that it is the healthiest diet of all.
Extract from the Viva! web-site:
‘… So what does the World Health Organisation (WHO) believe we should be eating? Fat should be reduced to 15 per cent of total energy instead of the nearly 40 per cent it is at present – most of it animal fat. There need be no animal fats in the diet at all as they are not essential nutrients. Neither do we need cholesterol.
 The bulk of our diet should be complex carbohydrates, starchy foods – potatoes, bread, pasta, rice, yams etc. They should account for between 55 and 75 per cent of all calories. Sugar contributes no nutrients and can be omitted. Protein should provide between 10-15 per cent but can readily be met by a varied diet based predominantly on cereals (wholemeal bread, wholegrain rice and pasta, etc) and pulses (peas, beans and lentils).
 The key component of a healthy diet is, therefore, starchy carbohydrates – with as wide a range of fresh fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, pulses, seeds and nuts as possible – in other words, a sensible vegan diet. There is a welter of evidence, according to the WHO, that foods rich in starch are really good for health and give protection against several diseases. They improve the chemistry of the gut and are a rich source of many minerals and vitamins, including essential fatty acids, calcium, zinc, iron and water-soluble vitamins – all known to have a clear and positive effect on health …’
www.viva.org.uk/guides/healthiestdietofall.htm

17. Is veganism better for the environment?
From the Vegan Society web-site:
‘… Agriculture in general is one of the most resource-intensive and environmentally damaging aspects of industrialised living. What this means for us as individuals is that if we are trying to reduce our car use, limit the amount of water we waste, become more 'energy-efficient' and generally lessen our environmental impact, then we should also examine our eating habits.
People are increasingly becoming aware of the direct correlation between what they eat every day and the health of the planet. Environmentally conscious consumers are concerned not only with food miles, over-packaging, pesticide use and GM foods, but also question the environmental sustainability of modern animal husbandry...
World meat production has quadrupled in the past 50 years and livestock now outnumber people by more than 3 to 1. In other words, the livestock population is expanding at a faster rate than the human population. This trend contributes to all of the environmental problems already outlined.
A report commissioned by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank concluded that factory farming, "acts directly on land, water, air and biodiversity through the emission of animal waste, use of fossil fuels and substitution of animal genetic resources. In addition, it affects the global land base indirectly through its effect on the arable land needed to satisfy its feed concentrate requirements. Ammonia emissions from manure storage and application lead to localised acid rain and ailing forests…’
www.vegansociety.com/html/environment/

18. What products can I buy? Where can I buy them?
There are many vegan products and food items now available, and products which are suitable for vegans. Quite a few can be found in supermarkets, but you should try independent natural food, wholefood or healthfood shops, or online you can buy from stores such as Veganstore or direct from vegan food manufacturers such as Redwood Foods.

19. Are there many vegans?
There are more of us all the time! - and all over the world. In the UK, there are local vegan groups, vegan charities and companies, and a thriving vegan culture; just take a look at the www. There are also many famous vegans, including Martin Shaw, the actor; Moby; the poet Benjamin Zephaniah; Chris Martin of Coldplay; Thom Yorke of Radiohead; Bryan Adams; Prince; Wendy Turner; and Sinead O’Connor.

20. What about clothes, shoes, accessories, make-up, etc?
All these things are available now in vegan materials.

21. Where can I get more information?
There are many useful web-sites:
www.vegansociety.com
www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nutrition
www.vegsoc.org/info
www.viva.org.uk
www.veganvillage.co.uk
www.supervegans.makessense.co.uk

There are also lots of useful publications:
‘Plant-based nutrition and health’ (paperback) - by Stephen Walsh