A vegan diet is great for many things, known to be a healthier alternative to a traditional meat and two veg approach.
This post is going to cover whether a vegan diet is beneficial and sustainable for the long-term. There are many sources out there with differing opinions on this one topic, let’s clear this up now.
Can you survive on a vegan diet?
By all means, you can survive on a plant-based diet. In fact, you can thrive. There are countless real-world examples of healthy vegans, as well as various vegan that reach old ages but don’t look a day over 30.
A well planned vegan diet can provide you with all the essential nutrients you need, that being said, well planned is the key word here.
If you’re not careful, you may fall behind on essential nutrients such as iron, calcium, vitamin D and B12, as well as other nutrients that most vegans find hard to source.
The solution is to know your nutritional sources for what you need, and ensuring you have vegan-friendly supplementation where necessary.
Is being vegan a sustainable lifestyle?
In terms of sustainability, a vegan diet is great for the bank account, your health and the environment, when followed correctly.
That said, just because you’re vegan, doesn’t mean your lifestyle’s sustainable. We cover this in another post, but there are many examples of vegan foods that aren’t that sustainable when consumed regularly, one example being avocados.
Whether a vegan diet is to be considered sustainable or not, all boils down to how food is sourced for your daily diet, and whether the resources required to maintain that is beyond what’s necessary.
In my post on how to be more sustainable as a vegan I have more tips on just that.
Can a vegan diet not be sustainable?
A vegan diet can sometimes not be sustainable for an individual if they don’t plan it well. If you’re a “junk food vegan”, I hate to say it but vegan chick’n goujons and chips won’t give you sustenance in the long-term.
Not only is it not sustainable for your health, but a poorly planned vegan diet overindulging in vegan meat substitutes, leads to more resources being required to maintain that lifestyle. So it’s unsustainable in both senses.
The key is to eat a varied, balanced diet, and supplement nutrients that may fall short. Keep it simple, yet varied, and treat yourself every once in a while, we’re still human.
But be conscious about where you’re sourcing your staples from. Especially if you’re a vegan primarily for the environment.
Is a plant-based diet sustainable?
With the right approach and knowledge, a plant-based diet could prove to be very sustainable.
I hope you enjoyed this post, feel free to share with a friend or loved one if you learned something of value. Thanks for stopping by, be well and stay blessed.
