In your first few weeks, you may feel very tired.
Without meat, vegans often have a hard time getting enough vitamin B12 and iron which help to make red blood cells and transport oxygen throughout the body.
You might also find that foods don’t taste the way they used to.
This is because your zinc levels have taken a dip affecting your overall sense of taste and smell.
However, weight loss can be felt right away after switching to a vegan diet.
Vegans also tend to have a lower BMI index and be thinner overall.
Vegan diets seem a good way of helping to naturally reduce the amount of calories you eat, resulting in weight loss.
You may experience a healthy decrease in cholesterol, blood pressure, and heart disease risk.
You are less likely to have blocked arteries from saturated fat and cholesterol.
A negative effect of the vegan diet can be that your bones don’t get their daily calcium from dairy products.
You can combat this by boosting your intake of kale broccoli and other leafy greens.
Additionally, cutting out dairy might make you more regular.
60% of humans lack enzymes to properly digest lactose in dairy.
If the vegan diet is not planned poorly, it may lead to deficiencies of several key nutrients.
Since the diet excludes all animal products it can:
A plant-based diet is full of vitamins and minerals that can help lower cholesterol and blood pressure, aiding in the prevention of heart disease.
Additionally, vegetarian food is fiber-rich which helps regulate bowel movements, removes constipation, and reduces the risk of colon cancer.
The aim of a vegan diet is to avoid eating any animal foods, as well as any foods containing ingredients derived from animals.
These include:
Sources
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – vitamin and mineral status in a vegan diet
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – intake and adequacy of the vegan diet
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – health effects of vegan diets
verywellfit.com – pros and cons of being a vegetarian