Hey everyone, welcome back to Freshman Healthy YouTube. Today we're just going to be talking about the vegan and vegetarian diets and what nutrition cautions you should be taking if you're choosing to follow them. So first off, I just want to say I don't follow the vegan and vegetarian diet, but I know that there's many out there that's swear by it that either do it because of how things digest in their body or because of inhumane practices of the chicken farms and everything like that. And I completely understand that if you are choosing to do that, it's nothing against you, but I do want to caution you guys about what things you should be looking for and including in your diet if you're choosing to do the vegan and vegetarian diet in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. So there are nine nutrients that I want you guys to be cautious of if you're following a vegetarian or vegan diet and I'm going to kind of talk about those, talk about what role they play in the body and then what you can be doing to make sure you're still getting enough in if you're following these kind of diets. So protein is number one and that is a big one of course because it's the most obvious one and protein just plays a role in maintaining healthy bone and muscle functioning and a lot of your organs. So it's key to be getting enough of that in. Now of course it comes in the form of meat, chicken, seafood, dairy, eggs for a lot of it. So if you're vegan vegetarian to hang in what you're limiting from your diet, there's a way around it. You can eat tempeh, meat tofu, which are meat substitutes. You can just be eating some legumes and lentils and whole grains at every meal. There's ways to get in enough protein but just making sure you are is key with following a vegan or vegetarian diet. Number two is probably the other biggest one the people know about and that is B12. So B12 is only found naturally in animal products. So especially if you're vegan, it can be hard to get this in. B12 plays a huge role in red blood cell functioning and just like the creation of them and also in nervous system functioning. So it's very, very vital to be having enough B12 in your diet and they did a study once and 92% of vegans in the study were B12 deficient. So as a vegetarian you can still be getting it in in other animal products like egg yolks but as a vegan you should definitely be taking a B12 supplement and even as a vegetarian you probably should be as well. There's a little bit found in spirulina and other kind of seaweed like that but I definitely recommend taking a supplement for this one. Number three and four are calcium and vitamin D. A lot of people think that they're one and the same, they're a little bit different but they both play a role in healthy bone formation and just the main ends of strong healthy bone. So especially if you're living an active life it's key to be getting in enough vitamin D and calcium. So calcium comes in the form of dairy for the most part and of course if you're vegan you're avoiding dairy products. So what you can be doing is eating a lot of dark leafy greens, whole grains, calcium and rich cereals are out there a lot nowadays and also a lot of the almond milks and soy milks are fortified with vitamin D and calcium. So be watching out for that and getting enough in and along with calcium vitamin D is kind of meat, dairy and eggs. So if you're avoiding those you need to be getting in enough vitamin D through legumes and lentils and whole grains and cereal and rich with vitamin D. If you're avoiding dairy sometimes you should be taking a calcium or vitamin D supplement but of course always watch for toxicity levels because some of those synthetic forms are way over the dos you actually need in your diet. Number five another well-known one is iron. Of course that plays a role in red blood cell functioning. It's very bad if you become low or deficient in iron because you can become anemic and a lot of huge issues can start happening in your body. So if you're avoiding meat you can be getting iron in supplement form but again be careful with toxicity levels because you can get too much iron and that can also create problems in your body but also iron can come in the form of whole grains of some vegetables of lentils of beans and enriched cereals as well. Also a little tidbit about this one is you can absorb more of the plant-based iron form when you have vitamin C with it. So if you're eating like dark leafy greens with strawberries or oranges on top of the salad that will help the absorption of iron but plant-based iron is not as easily absorbed as animal form of iron so supplement is definitely recommended with this one as well. Number six is zinc and that is a huge component of many enzymes in your body. Place a role in your metabolism and also place a role in the formation of proteins. So zinc is another one of those animal protein ones that the animal protein version is a lot more easily absorbed by the body and used than the plant-based form. So even though you can find zinc in other forms than seafood and meat it's hard to sometimes get in an upzinc. If you do eat dairy cheese is a good form of zinc and if you don't eat dairy things like legumes, whole grains and soy products are a good way to get in this sink. Number seven is vitamin A. This is another one where there's plant-based forms and animal product forms but the animal one is more easily absorbed and the plant-based ones you can think of as beta-carotene so any of those bright orange vegetables or dark leafy greens contain vitamin A but you almost need like six times the amount of this type of vitamin A versus the animal product side of things. So if you're avoiding all animal products then getting in vitamin A through eating a ton of bright orange vegetables and green vegetables is key but also consider a supplementation just once again be careful with toxicity because there's so many things on the market these days that are way over the dose you need. Number eight is iodine and that's why you guys may not have heard of yet before but that was a key role in your thyroid hormones which regulates your metabolism and if you have a deficiency in iodine it can lead to goiter which is not a fun thing to experience and other issues so you need to be getting in an iodine. One of the easiest ways to get in an iodine is just making sure you have a fourth of teaspoon of iodized salt per day and I know a lot people say salt is bad whatever but a fourth of teaspoon is not bad and it'll make sure that you're getting iodine you need. And the last one is omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in a lot of seafood and fatty fish like salmon and then also eggs so if you're avoiding those two things and you can be getting omega-3s in through a supplement form. Some plant-based foods that are high in omega-3s are soybean oil, canola oil and walnuts but I definitely consider taking a fish oil pill or omega-3 fatty acid pill of some sort to supplement your diet if you're choosing a vegan or vegetarian diet. So all in all what you can take away from this is I'm not vegan or vegetarian I'm not against vegan and vegetarian diets and even though I don't follow the vegan or vegetarian diet I'm not anti-them as well. Everyone chooses their own depending on their own values their own opinion of things what works best for them and their digestive system so I'm not against them but just be careful of these nine nutrients I've talked about in this video and make sure you're getting enough into your daily diet. Of course always remember foods first and then supplements second. If you can get enough in with foods whole foods is the best way to go but if you can't supplements are called supplements for a reason and they supplement an already healthy diet. Head over to freshmanhealthy.com for a great template to pin on all this and also just something that you can print out so that you can remember what nutrients you need to be focusing on. So until next time hope you guys enjoyed this video click the thumbs up subscribe if you aren't already by clicking the subscribe button below and have a great day guys see you later