Everything You Need To Know About

Veganism, A Vegan Diet & How it Relates to Your Health

1. Documentaries & Documentary Short Films

Fortunately, there are quite a few documentaries that discuss the food industry in the United States. Topics of discourse usually range from the morally repugnant side of the factory farming industry and the relatively weak legal infrastructure surrounding dietary standards, to more personal stories that chronicle the lives of people transitioning into a new lifestyle — whether it be vegetarianism or veganism. “Food, Inc.”, as you can probably guess from the title, exposes the profit-maximizing incentives in the food industry. “Forks Over Knives” takes a focused and critical look at the American diet, assessing the various food groups from which we derive our daily nutrients. But the documentary that is perhaps most apt for this guide is “Vegucated”. This documentary follows three people, along a six week journey, that love meat, but try to change to live a more healthy, plant-based lifestyle. It’s raw. It’s funny. It’s though-provoking. It kind of has the feel of “Supersize Me”, but for vegans.

2. Books

It was rather difficult to find worthwhile books about the relationship between a vegan diet and one’s health and wellness. As a small side-note, I thought this was pretty surprising. Most of the books I came across in my search where vegan cookbooks. The authors perhaps hinted at the health-side of veganism, but didn’t explore it in depth. They were, in fact, cookbooks — and simply provided new and fun vegan recipes, but didn’t explain why those choose certain foods over other options. Nonetheless, I was able to find a handful of books that balanced the health and nutrition side of veganism with the more ‘foodie’ side. Full disclosure, I haven’t read any of these books in full, but read reviews, introductions, and skimmed through what was available via the free preview. Funny enough, the most highly-regarded one seems to be, “Forks Over Knives – The Cookbook: Over 300 Recipes for Plant-Based Eating All Through the Year” by Del Sroufe. So, after you watch “Forks Over Knives” (the documentary), feel free to read the book!

3. Talks & Interviews with Industry Leaders, Reporters, Researches & Nutritionists

I was able to find a hearty selection of talks, lectures and interviews that thoroughly covered the relationship between a vegan diet and health. Four of the below selections are TEDx Talks, either given by licensed dietitians or individuals who have a personal story to tell about how and why they transitioned away from a meat-eating diet and over to a vegetarian or vegan diet. I found “Vegans On Top” to be especially interesting, as Shavit’s take covered the historical and ideological notions behind veganism. If you prefer a more scientific discussion, I recommend the lecture by Dr. Alan Goldhamer. His material is diverse, empirically supported with peer-reviewed studies, and includes a few jokes to lighten the intellectual load. I certainly learned a few factoids that I’ll be taking with me in my daily life.

4. Peer-Reviewed Articles & Research Reports

For those craving the hard science, here you go. The material below will perhaps best answer any of the pressing questions you have about veganism and its relation to health. I made an earnest effort to select an array of peer-reviewed studies that cover everything from how heart disease and various forms of cancer may relate to a meat-eating, vegetarian or vegan diet, to studies that outline how your vitamin levels may change with respect to the diet that you’re on. Overall, I must say, there’s a lot of good news for vegetarians and vegans. Perhaps of all the studies, this one was most impressive to me: Vegetarian, Vegan Diets and Multiple Health Outcomes: a Systematic Review with Meta-analysis of Observational Studies. The article is detailed, comprehensive and answers many of the questions I had when I started this guide.

5. Blog Articles & News Reports

These news and blog articles dovetail nicely with the above research articles. I tended to avoid including articles that were ‘recipe’ heavy (and there’s a lot of them!), in favor of selecting articles that I felt spoke learnedly and in detail about what vegetarians and vegans should look out for when on a more plant-based diet. In other words, I included articles that discussed both the benefits of plant-based diets, but also the potential weaknesses. Additionally, as you can probably tell from the titles, I wanted to include articles that provide a nice rundown of veganism, in general. The article by Ryan Andrews, All About Plant-Based Diets | A Q&A, is especially useful and interesting. Moreover, Vegan Nutrition Information Basics 101, by Mark Rifkin, is equally helpful and insightful.

Hey people! My name is Jake. I’m the Co-Founder of Agreeable & Co. I’m an Environmentalist, Social Entrepreneur, Writer and Developer. Besides making people- and planet-friendly products more accessible through Agreeable & Co., I run an online research guide for sustainable, ethical, and healthy products, called Greener Square (which is slowly transitioning to Agreeable & Co.); and helped to start an award-winning trade and barter app, called TradeMade, that measures and tracks one’s carbon footprint. I also recently graduated from New York University, where I studied corporate sustainability, environmental ethics, and ecological science. In a word, conscious consumption and overall healthy, low-impact living is my jam. I also like jam.

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