Answering the bell - do vegans get the right nutrients?

I was sitting at the bar at Graze a couple weeks back, likely eating one of their fine dinners and sipping on a Kombucha. I'm there fairly regularly, being as it is a few blocks from my house, and there are days when I need to eat dinner after an evening yoga class and/or am too lazy to prep my own dinner. Besides, the food is good and the service is always friendly and welcoming.

Anyway, I was there one evening and a little conversation broke out, as it does, with Michael, the owner, and the wait staff. Michael apparently has a place on Saltspring. It must be a fair place, because during the year he often invites a number of families up there. It is a 100% vegan house. No animal products. He was telling of how many times people sneak food in, ham n cheese sandwiches and the like, because they are concerned they or their children won't get enough to eat.

This is actually a good thing, as then there is the opportunity to discuss what vegans eat and how they get the nutrient balance they need to maintain a healthy life. In a previous blog I posted a cartoon of a cheetah asking a gorilla where he gets his protein from. There are some fundamental misconceptions about protein and what foods contain it.

Fact: plants have lots of amino acid content. I used this guide as a reference in the beginning to ascertain nutrient values of foods.

We are bombarded with studies about foods and how this particular nutrient is important for this that or the other in order for us to be healthy. Often these studies are bought and paid for by organizations representing companies who sell their products - dairy, meat, wheat marketing boards and councils etc. I think it is good to have a healthy skepticism regarding self-promoting studies. One should always check who funded the study before taking it as anything near gospel.

Brendan Brazier, in his book Thrive Guide maintains that water soluble nutrients as found in plant based sources are more easily absorbed into the body than oil-based animal nutrients. This is because the body needs to convert the oil-based into water soluble. It is a process that takes time and energy (know that post-dinner sluggish feeling) and it not 100% efficient. According to Brazier, eating plant-based foods provides all the proteins which are absorbed faster with more complete absorption.

Vegan strongman Patrik Baboumian breaks a world record by carrying 555 kilos 10 metres on the West Jet stage at the Harbourfront Centre September 8, 2013 .Torstar News Service

This past September a new world record for weightlifting was set in Toronto. 550kgs! 1216 pounds! Monster! He has some simple advice, starting at 1:20 of this interview after his lift. "Do your research." Certainly not going to ask him if he gets enough nutrients!