A tricky topic – also, a topic that, in my experience, is taken very personally by most of its practitioners and fans.
And not without reason. The current food habits and lifestyle of the humankind impact terribly our Earth’s home and hurt our animal friends, while most times humans remain very selfish and insensitive to the pain of our planet and other species.
As a nutritionist, I’m aiming to stay informative in terms of health, while avoiding to offend anyone. The info below is meant to be objective and non-judgmental - and also disregards my own, personal choices: no one is a model for anyone when it comes to fuel, as each of us is different: we know already, when it comes to nutrition, that nothing is true for everyone at the same time.
We are such different creatures, with different systems, different genetics, medical backgrounds, genders and triggers, and respecting all that is very challenging.
This is a rather long article, maybe don’t aim at reading it fast.
Save it and ...take your time.
If you are interested to be vegan, you need to be well informed, so that you can do things right for yourself. And if you know anyone who is or wants to become vegan, do share this with them, it may be of good help.
So, to answer this first: can vegan be a sustainable, healthy diet?
My short answer is: yes, it can - if, if and if :) (read further to learn more!).
Now, is it easy? NO. It is really difficult to find the needed balance to stay healthy, and if you want to be vegan, you need to remain aware of lots of aspects, to stay careful and mindful of what you put on your plate, every day.
It is not impossible, but it is a very challenging life approach, demanding you to be responsible every day, to stay aware (and honest) about the changes in your body, about your dietary choices AND, very importantly, about your stress levels, which we well know that in perimenopause tend to be rather high. Especially if you're a very active woman, with a challenging job, travels, family and work responsibilities... is really hard.
Now, this shouldn’t discourage you... but it should make you more aware of the fact that the valuable path you aim to chose isn’t all flowers and butterflies.
(And yes, in postmenopause, if your life becomes a bit more settled and the stress levels decrease, the chances to be a healthy vegan increase.)
I’ll split this article in 3 parts:
1. General considerations related to the diet itself and genetics
2. The influence of stress on the functioning of vegan life style
3. A few powerful vegan examples
Part 1. General considerations
Here are a few crucial aspects to stay aware of, if you flirt with the idea of becoming vegan, or if you’ve already made this life choice:
a. Genetics:
We know it for decades now: our food habits influence (read change) our genetic material. What we don’t know, is how long it takes, for each person, for the change to take place (because it varies from one subject to another).
In some cases, history proves that it can take 4-5 generations before we see a confirmed genetic change. But there are recent studies confirming that certain food habits can have way faster impacts and effects.
Epigenetics is the effect of our lifestyle, environment and nutrition on our current genetic material - it decides if certain genes will be activated or not.
Processed and inflammatory foods can trigger certain genes to react in a wrong way - and the same thing happens if certain micro-nutriments lack or are not in balance in your diet.
It shouldn’t actually scare you, as this can play in both directions - it can help through a desired transition, or the other way around.
In short: it is valuable to consider what’s your own medical history and current state of health, also how’s your family history: what diets were practiced by the last few generations in your family (and if they were vegan, how was their shape), what recurrent medical conditions are in your family (if the case) etc.
These factors will – or will not – support you when it comes to a change of diet, and becoming a vegan isn’t a “light” change (even more if decide to start it in perimenopause).
b. Cholesterol
It is a fat-like substance present in all of your body’s cells, which is needed in order to make hormones, vitamin D, and bile acids, which aid in the digestion of dietary fats and oils.
The human body is capable of making enough cholesterol if the humans feed themselves balanced (and don’t forget: balance is different from a human to another, differing with gender, age, medical background, genetics etc.).
Now, the only bio-available sources of cholesterol are animal-based foods.
And without cholesterol, the capacity of the body to produce hormones is jeopardized.
Let’s take testosterone as example: it is what makes men, men – while for women, not producing enough testosterone will bring them infertility, not to mention, testosterone is what gives combativity and a plus of self-confidence to both sexes.
In very short: without enough cholesterol, our species would be (...and would look!) very different – and the capacity of humans to reproduce would decrease drastically.
For ladies in their reproductive years, not producing enough hormones in the right moments of the cycle can also cause seeing the period going missing.
Now, careful: the excess of animal products can lead to excess of low-density, "bad" cholesterol, weight gain and health problems, and so does the excess of hydrogenated and trans fats (which is generously found in many vegan, processed foods).
Avoiding these last ones is as important for a vegan as for all the rest of the diets, as in long run they damage health.
On a different note, also regarding fats: having an excess of dietary omega 6 and omega 9 sources, with a low of omega 3 intake is another trap many vegans fall into.
As a rule of the thumb, all vegans need supplementation of omega 3 in long run (and they must remain cautious: many available supplements of omega 3 are made with non-vegan sources… not all, but be careful, it’s a tricky aspect: you don’t want refrain from eating fish just to take supplements made of fish oil, no?! :) ).
And for ladies in perimenopause and menopause, the LDL cholesterol tends to go higher in this period of our lives, so attention to getting the above right is needed.
c. Vitamin B12
In its active form it is found only in animal products. Yes, one can find it in vegan sources too, as spiruline. However, please note that it is in an inactive form, that blocks receptors and assimilation in long run. Vitamin B12 is compulsory for the effective functioning of the body and if it’s too low in the body it will lead to a form of anemia (anemia perniciosa or Biermer’s disease), which is very dangerous - it triggers autoimmune responses and it gives extreme fatigue and other no fun symptoms, to say it in a kind way.
Besides, once you are too low in this vitamin, you will need to survey it regularly, for the rest of your life (as the assimilation process is affected and the body corrects that very difficultly once it happened).
Long story short: if you want to be vegan, you MUST carefully supplement with B12, in a wise, controlled, appropriate way (= you must take regular blood tests).
d. Protein
…Is more scarce in the vegetal world, and protein is almost always associated with fiber. So most vegans, especially if they have high stress, high activity levels or they are sporty, will need to pay an extra attention to get enough protein in their diet, in order to have a good recovery and insure healthy body and brain functions.
(Protein acts as a blood sugar stabilizer, too, helping in fighting stress - and we'll talk about stress more in Part 2.)
Very unfair aspect: the high content of fiber usually present in a vegan diet will partially block the assimilation of the (scarce sometimes) protein intake.
Moreover, have in mind that many vegan dishes which are sources of protein come along with lots of fats: you will need to learn how to balance that well, too (so that you avoid overeating and gain unwanted weight).
Hitting your daily protein goals using protein of good quality in your diet (varying in function of your activity levels, too) is crucial for the body to keep the hormonal system in good balance, to enhance recovery and general health.
As a nutritionist, I did not yet see a vegan lady that managed to do that every day - and there are always health consequences. I sincerely hope that you are open to protein powders, shakes and bars, as they will save your days many times.
e. Iron
Most of the bio-available sources of iron are animal sources.
Vegan sources are available too, but exactly as with the protein, many times their absorption is more difficult. As a vegan, remaining perceptive to your level fatigue (which is a symptom, not a coincidence, and can come from any of the above discussed factors) is crucial.
Detecting a low of iron (=anemia) in due time is of a great importance for your body and mind: anemia comes hand in hand not only with fatigue, but also with mind fog and emotional destabilization: irritability, anxiety, apprehension - and if left untreated for too long, depression (even more in the case of a person affected by multiple micronutrients deficiencies).
And sadly, the depression is in many cases treated by the doctors with anti-depressive medication and psychological interventions - while the anemia, the actual root cause, remains many times undetected and untreated. In long run: the person becomes dependent of anti-depressives, is fatigued and unfocused, and also, sadly, predisposed to multiple health conditions.
I’ll finish this section by arguing that to stay healthy, you may need to go “in” and “out” vegan a few times, and persist with patience, kindness, care and balance, before you can remain vegan.
Or you may need to alternate periods of being completely vegan with periods when you help your body with the foods it was used to, just to support your energy and health.
Make sure that you go for sustainable, organic choices and that you don’t feel guilty about it if you need to do it.
Unless your roots are in certain countries or traditions (with India, China and Greece being the places with most vegan population), remember that your parents, grandparents and grand-grandparents lived and ate for generations in a different way, and that aspect is written in your genes - changing that part may take more than 6 months, or even 6 years!
Also... please remember that, unfortunately, if your health and strength are low
you won’t be able to help the world as much as you wish,
nor be of help to the ones close to you (kids, family, friends, colleagues, etc.),
nor having it easy to get pregnant, if you wish to conceive, etc.
You will help the world better if you stay healthy and moderate in your approaches.
If your care for animals is what stops you from eating animal products, remember that the lower demand from your side and careful choices are also most precious and valuable, and that making small efforts is better that no efforts at all.
…It is not “all or nothing”!
Part 2. Managing stress & the vegan life style
I will try to keep this one short: stress puts the human body in “fight or flight” mode, bringing cortisol (the stress hormone) high. The consequence is a release of sugar in the blood, sugar that is meant for physical action (“fight” or “flight”). When that doesn’t happen, the body releases insulin, meant to remove the unnecessary sugar from the blood - with the immediate perceived consequence of fatigue.
If the stress becomes chronic (meaning lasting more than 30min at a time (which is the normal stress response lap, very useful and healthy, meant to protect our lives), or if it happens too often, repeatedly, several times a day, the body restarts the process above too often, needing to produce too often cortisol.
On top of the connection between stress and anxiety (already hard enough to manage), producing cortisol is… expensive. The micronutrients the body uses, repeatedly, for producing cortisol are the same micronutrients needed as “row material” to produce so many other hormones: progesterone, aldosterone, testosterone etc. And as in perimenopause our hormonal production is already challenged, this process comes as an extra hit.
Producing cortisol always has priority in front of other hormones, as the stress response is meant to save our lives.
But if our bodies need to produce cortisol too often, a hormonal misbalance will show rather quickly. That means serious, and sometimes lifelong-lasting health conditions: thyroid issues, progesterone lows (resulting in PMS, PCOS, endometriosis), diabetes, etc.
Let's not forget it: any ongoing medical condition, or undiscovered condition are forms of stress for the body.
Bottom line - 2 things:
1. If you want to be vegan, would be very helpful if you would be in a good state of health when you start the process, or at least be well informed about your health, so that you know better what sustainable choices are there for you (= take complete blood checks before you start).
Just an example: let’s assume that a lady has a family history of PCOS, and she suffers already of painful periods, PMS and estrogen dominance. She doesn’t take check-ups - it happens very often, as women are often just dismissing the above symptoms as “normal” - and she decides to become vegan. And as soy is a popular option for vegans, she starts including lots of soy in her diet. Terrible choice, that will make her sicker (boost estrogen in her body even more) make her prone or trigger PCOS (or worse).
If she’s also living a stressful life, that’s a match made in hell. But if she’s aware of her health predispositions/ condition in advance, she would build her vegan story in a more balanced and careful way, she would pay attention to micronutrients deficiencies etc..
2. Managing our stress levels is a daily, hourly responsibility.
To ourselves and to others!
It should be like that for everyone, and as a vegan you should be aware of the fact that you'll tend to be more prone to stress.
Along eating balanced, here are some ideas:
Learn meditation.
Stay away from alcohol.
Move enough and adjust your physical training well
Have in mind that the days when your physical effort is rather low, vegan life will be easier to balance - less stress on the body, less calories to balance, less need for muscles recovery etc.; yet, not exercising in your menopause journey is a really bad idea (you'll lose muscle mass and harm your metabolism. However, starting your vegan journey in a calm and not very sporty period will facilitate your adaptation.
Part 3. Powerful vegan examples
I think that most people who flirt with becoming vegan may have read some powerful books or stories about vegan life style: how healing capacities are enhanced, how vegan athletes get to greater performances etc.
Some are true, powerful stories.
But they are also rather rare, and you would rather fall on the success stories, than on the thousands of cases of anemia, autoimmune diseases and hormonal issues...
Don’t forget that the athletes are generally closely monitored medically, they usually work with a nutritionist, and usually they started their journeys early in life – and thus they get to a greater knowledge and understanding of their bodies over the many years of practice.
Vegan professional athletes often have someone preparing their food and supplements, a massage therapist at their disposal to help them relax, and all they need to do during theirs days is to train, eat, relax, sleep… and repeat.
I don't know many ladies that have these conditions at home, especially in perimenopause and their first postmenopausal years... :)
Also, there are a lot of cases of disease healed by a vegan diet, because of the extraordinary anti-inflammation power that a vegan diet has.
But that doesn’t mean that the long term health of those people is guaranteed. They too, will need to continue their journey and find their own long-term balance - and sometimes, too much of a good thing can also become a disruptor.
Moreover: I hope you enjoy spending time in the kitchen, and that you like cooking :)
The more you learn about cooking balanced and diverse, from the micro and macro-nutritional point of you, the better your chances to stay energetic and strong in long run.
Being vegan and ordering food, traveling a lot and eating too often in restaurants will not insure, in most cases, the best ingredients, nor the best, balanced and nourishing food for you.
It will be generally tasty, but it will bring either too many fats or too many carbs (or both) on your plate – and often way too many calories, which, especially in mid-life results into weight gain rather quickly.
As a vegan, your own cooking will always be best, so learn it and enjoy it!
Scott Jurek: he became a greatly successful ultra-marathon vegan runner.
But it was not because he did that transition over the night :) He's an amazing success story, but his success came after many years of trial and error, moreover he lived
most of his life in natural environments - and also, he started his vegan journey when he was very young. Not to mention that he is an inspirational vegan cook!
His book "Eat & Run" is a delight, also brings tasty and original recipes (yet don't forget it: he's a professional athlete).
Regular people, living in cities and polluted environments and having stressful lives rarely have the same life-style possibilities and circumstances. And they generally don’t start walking on a vegan path when they are young either, which makes their challenges and struggle for vegan balance generally more difficult.
One more thing I'd like to mention: and that's the belief, which has an amazing power of transformation, so different from one case to another.
And as said, the mental focus is greatly influenced by our food choices.
If we really put our mind to work on making every bite of food be healing for our body, the effect of the food we eat will be exponentially bigger.
Mindful eating, or eating meditation are most valuable - for everyone, but even more for vegans, so do avoid practices like eating in front of the TV / phone / computer.
Also, mindfulness in general, as a way of life, will be your very best friend.
If you start the journey of a vegan lifestyle “just to try it” and you don’t invest with your mind on this project, your chances to be a successful health story can be drastically diminished.
To conclude…
Everything is tricky, nothing is certain, and no one actually knows how YOU and your body will react.
Be perceptive.
Observe yourself.
Keep your smile.
Stay honest with yourself.
Stop sometimes, only to re-start stronger.
Find your balance – and remember that you must find it again tomorrow!
And congrats for doing it – but don’t let your ego boost, as it would affect your objectivity… and you really need that!
Good luck on your journey!
If you need assistance to plan better for your vegan nutrition, supplements and related routines in perimenopause and postmenopause, don't hesitate to get in touch, I'm here to support you.