Veganism - Miracle Diet?


 A trigger warning for sensitive topics ahead - eating disorders, restrictive diets and calories/weight loss are discussed. Please do not read ahead if the following article may affect your mental wellbeing.

In 2020 we all want to do our bit for change. The coming years have seen vegetarianism and veganism surge in popularity, with climate change having us feeling helpless and eager to make a difference. When we think of veganism, most of us think of them as people deeply ingrained with compassion for the Earth and her animals. So deeply ingrained, in fact, it seems like the only rational trade-off is this challenging diet. But what about those who do not fall into this category? What about the vegans following this fad for its “health benefits”?

Vegetarianism is a greatly popular diet amongst those with eating disorders - often, in fact, being the first stepping stone to developing one. A study found that vegetarianism in particular was prevalent amongst half of the eating disorder cases that were reported - despite vegetarians only making up 2-3% of the UK population (and vegans just over 1%). This may be because vegetarianism is reported as an easy way to lose weight, or because it’s an easy way to begin restricting their diet without anyone probing too deeply. Furthermore, studies have found that vegetarians tend to be slimmer than meat-eaters, perhaps due to the restrictions of calories. 

What about veganism? Vegans are often praised for their devotion to the cause of unethical consumption, labelled as animal and environmental activists. So challenging is this diet that some even suggest veganism is more of a “lifestyle”! It’s not difficult to see how this extreme diet may appeal to those struggling with eating disorders. The ability to massively alter and restrict your diet, especially in social situations, yet be able to cover it up under the guise of caring for animals can be incredibly harmful. Who’s going to be particularly worried about you when you’re doing your bit for the world?

Well - if the average required calorie intake per day for men is 2500, and women is 2000 and:

  • A beef patty has 336 calories

  • One chicken stock cube has 30 calories

  • A tbsp of butter has 102 calories

  • And 6 McNuggets have 302 calories

that makes meat eating a fairly sustainable diet, not for the environment but for a person to get by their day.

Whereas the vegan options lie at:

  • One quorn patty has 130 calories

  • One veggie stock cube has 8 calories

  • A tbsp of vegan butter has 60 calories

  • And 6 quorn nuggets have 196 calories

As you can see, the vegan diet is greatly restricted by not only what they can eat, but also the calories they can consume for the substitutes. Furthermore, the limited range in what they can eat daily puts them at greast risk for nutrient deficiencies. In particular, a vitamin B-12 deficiency can put one at a very severe risk of permanent health issues - only occurring naturally in eggs, dairy and meat. However, some vegan products are fortified with B-12 such as nutritional yeast, and supplements can be a good (and even life-changing) option for vegans who are cautious about their health. 

Interestingly, the motive behind one converting to veganism is the highest risk factor for an eating disorder. Those with a genuine concern for the environment and a passion for activism are those who didn’t report any coinciding eating disorders - they were able to live the challenging vegan lifestyle without the means of restricting. Those, however, with the underlying motive of controlling/restricting their diet, losing weight or getting healthier had the highest incidence of suffering from anorexia or orthorexia. If you are following this diet I urge you to be honest with yourself and think: why are you doing it?

Some individuals in eating disorder recovery, however, have noted veganism and vegetarianism have given them the stepping stone to recovery that they needed. Although admittedly they were drawn to the idea of a restrictive diet, the compassionate eating they were choosing to engage in gave them a sense of fulfilment and helped ease the previous dread and anxiety associated with eating. 

If someone close to you is contemplating veganism, I urge you to reach out to them and ask - why? What is it about veganism that draws you to it?

Equally, if you are suffering with an eating disorder I urge you to understand that if you decide to cut ties with this extreme diet and opt for recovery instead, you are not a failure - you are strong.

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, you can find support with Beat Eating Disorders:-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Aestheticization Of Mental Illness Online - An Essay

Image
Mental illness is a difficult topic to bring up; speaking on your experiences with mental illness can be shameful, awkward and downright embarrassing. This is why it’s both interesting and alarming to me to see this new-age uprising of mental illness. On the surface, it looks like there is an increased dialogue surrounding mental illness, which is true and a very valuable conversation for us to be having, but when you scratch deeper there’s a lot more harm that’s being done. The revolution of mental health advocacy has a lot of issues within it that seem to be contributing to the stigma of mental disorders more than it is reducing it through using mental disorders as an aesthetic choice which silences those who don’t actually enjoy living with mental illness.
Read more

The Great Meme Recession

Image
 Have you ever seen a meme from 2011 and wondered why they’re so different from the memes we see today? Memes in the past seem to hold more weight to them, more of a period uniqueness to them that lets us fully understand what the most important political, social and leisure content of the time was. I believe memes speak a lot about society – in fact, they are driving forces in our society that depict what topics are of great importance and what is less memorable. However, with the growth of consumerism and what I will later define as ‘skimming culture’, we have entered a pattern where it seems no new memes settle down into the ethernet, and any that do pass just as quickly as they came on. If we define the 2009-2015 Internet meme culture as the Great Meme Renaissance, and 2016-2019 as the Golden Age, where we sit now is the epoch of the Great Meme Recession. In order to understand the Great Meme Recession, let’s take a look at what a meme is and a brief history of the meme. Meme...
Read more

A Vague Timeline Of My Hospitalisation

Image
A major trigger warning for graphic descriptions of self-harm, aggression, drug misuse, paranoid thoughts and general disturbing themes. DAY 1 I didn’t sleep last night. I have to cancel my DBT because I feel like shit and want to rest. I didn’t manage to get any more sleep over the course of the day - I feel miserable. At least, I was feeling miserable until out of absolutely nowhere I suddenly felt fuelled by energy and a brain that wouldn't slow down. I started to hear my thoughts overlapping and felt every one was original - I had so much to talk about! My family noticed I was speaking more rapidly than normal with more to say, and I was in a really good mood. I facetime my boyfriend from 8pm - 12:30am. He hardly gets a word in. I get angry when he falls asleep because I still had more to say. My jaw hurts from speaking but I still feel like I need to keep speaking - some unknown force is pushing me on. I try to sleep that night. I take 9mg of melatonin, 1000mg valerian r...
Read more