Vegans who are not eating a highly varied diet should also take calcium, zinc, and iron. There's no risk to taking too much zinc so you might as well take it anyway. Iron supplements I'd say are mandatory for women of reproductive age, as they lose a significant amount of blood every month, and calcium supplements might be beneficial for women of menopausal age: vegan or not.
From what I've read, you don't want too much zinc. You can over-do it and cause other issues like copper insufficiency. My friend's son has little ability to taste or smell anything anymore because of zinc. He was taking them in college. He's very frustrated that he can't enjoy food as much anymore. I tried zinc lozenges for colds but I started to get a persistent metallic taste and quit using them.
7 Signs and Symptoms of Zinc Overdose
Zinc is absolutely essential for good health, but consuming too much can have several side effects. Here are 7 signs and symptoms of zinc overdose.
www.healthline.com
9 Signs and Symptoms of Copper Deficiency
Not getting enough of the essential mineral copper may eventually lead to deficiency, which can be dangerous. This article reviews 9 signs and symptoms of copper deficiency.
www.healthline.com
I supplement with B12, D3, and some sort of iodized salt. It can also be from nori, sea weed. I don't use much salt in food. Without B12, you can get severe memory and neurological issues. It is not worth taking the risk of not supplementing.
Generally when someone tells me they want to lose weight and are interested in vegan foods, I send them this link. The video is all about calorie density and if you understand it, you can figure out how to lose weight with a vegan diet and how to have the feeling of being full.
When I went whole food plant based, I lost 2.5 lbs per week for a 1.5-2 months before I added in any exercise. I ate a lot of homemade oil free hummus and I dipped carrots or peppers into it. I also ate other things. I lost a lot of belly fat and gained a lot of endurance. For the first time in years, I was able to start taking flights of stairs and start running.
Some things I learned from the whole food plant based journey:
If you lose weight and don't want to lose weight, it's because you aren't eating enough calories.
If you don't feel full, then you likely aren't stretching your stomach. Just eat more food. People tend to hold back on vegetables for some reason. Eat something bulky with water weight like potatoes.
It's not the potato or corn carb source that's the problem, it's all the crap we have on them. Eat them natural and you will lose weight.
If you get tired or run out of energy on a whole food plant based, you aren't eating enough or it's too sugary and not starchy.
I keep a chart of Dr. Greger's daily dozen checklist on the fridge. It shows how many servings of each kind of food to get a good mix of things to get a wide variety of nutrients. Here's a good intro:
Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen Checklist | NutritionFacts.org
In my book How Not to Die, I center my recommendations around a Daily Dozen checklist of all the things I try to fit into my daily routine.
nutritionfacts.org
I never juice. That to me is the wrong approach. That's just a big sugar rush. Then the pulp gets thrown out. Useless. It's the exact opposite of whole food plant based eating. Way too many calories and no bulk.
The Physicians Committee has a lot of good videos. This one is good. People have this obsession with this idea that vegans don't get enough protein or that you need supplements for protein. Every time someone finds out that I don't eat meat, I invariably get the question, where do you get your protein. There is no lack of protein in vegetables, eg. broccoli is full of it, beans, corn. This video addresses that and supplementation in general.
My doctor cautioned me that a lot of people adopt a vegan lifestyle to lose weight but end up gaining weight instead. The thing is that they often just eat a lot of fat, tons of avocadoes, nut butters, fried potatoes, etc and drive their caloric intake up.
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