vegan cheese: does anyone else agree that **some** people go "vegan" to be trendy and have the label attached? also, its supposed to be super healthy but i noticed my "vegan" cousins eat vegan cheese, which is basically saturated fat... and obv thats not healthy and arent there essential nutrients and such that you must get from animal products and dairy and shiz? just wondering|||I definitely think there are some young people (mostly teenagers) who attempt to go vegan because they think its the cool thing to do now. That's why they don't last. Yes, many vegans eat processed foods on a regular basis, and many eat junk all the time and are not all that healthy. However, the majority tends to eat fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and other healthy foods, with the occasional processed food (if they ever eat it, I know I don't).|||Oh dear we have pescatarian, flexitarian, vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, marcrobiotic, and so forth. Yes I have seen some people who claim to be vegan but nearly cheat every day. I think it's the fact of "being different" or "standing out" that makes them do such a thing. It personally annoys me that they'd do such a thing. Then they think they have the right to walk around and say "I'm a vegan", nope I don't think so. Personally I do like vegetarians, flexitarian, pescatarian, vegan, and so on. it's the fact that there are posers out there. Vegan cheese is getting to be popular around the stores. Tell your cousins to try teese, daiya, vegan gourmet, etc. Yes they're are essential nutrients that you get from animal products. Eggs, beef, poultry, etc. all have protein. Milk, cheese, yogurt, and what not all have calcium. I hope this helped some|||Yes, I think being vegan is quite trendy these days. It seems like every day someone will come to this board and annouce "I'm vegan. What can I eat." Most of them, of course, won't stay vegan. And, yes, there is something you need to be healthy and can't get from a plant based diet: vitamin B12. It's found naturally only in meat, eggs, and dairy products. To get B12 in the vegan diet (if one doesn't cheat), you'll need to get shots, take pills or eat manufactured B12 that's been added to highly processed foods. VEGAN registered dietitician Jack Norris says this: "B12 is generally found in all animal foods (except honey). Contrary to rumors, there are no reliable, unfortified plant sources of vitamin B12, including tempeh, seaweeds, and organic produce. The overwhelming consensus in the mainstream nutrition community, as well as among vegan health professionals, is that plant foods do not provide vitamin B12, and fortified foods or supplements are necessary for the optimal health of vegans, and even vegetarians in many cases..." He also recommends vegan consider supplementing their diet with iodine (especially if they're eating soy products), vitamin D, calcium, zinc, b2, b6, and take a DHA supplement. http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/vita鈥?/a> Soy can harm your thyroid, especially if you're iodine defecient and many people are. The vitamin D(2) that is vegan is not absorbed or used as well by your body as the D(3) that we make naturally and is also available in supplements, but not vegan. The iron in veggies is non heme iron, not nearly as well used by your body as the heme iron in meat, eggs, dairy products. Protein is made up of amino acids. Meat, eggs, dairy products contain all the amino acids for complete protein, where most veggies only contain some of them. Vegans need to eat a wide variety of veggies every day (not necessarily every meal) so their bodies can combine those amino acids into the complete protein they need. We've evolved as omnivores and our bodys just use some nutrients better from meat, eggs, dairy products. Maybe some people can be healthy as vegans, but it won't be easy.|||It's a status label for some I'm sure a lot of people want to supposed they're better than others by saying they are vegan. It doesn't sound very good to say "I'm a meat eater". People will do anything to make themselves look good. The cheese might be fat, but it's plant fat- and no plant food has cholesterol No item exists in a dead cow's flesh that is unique. THat is not true at all. In fact , plants have more nutrition and more sources of the same nutrients- whereas meat just has one source-meat. And there's no need to put " " around the word vegan if they are actually vegan. They're just normal people. And if you call normal people normal when they're vegan to look cool, it's a good way to avoid pandering to their loftiness. I'd be horrified if anyone called me vegan.|||Yes unfortunately some just do it to be trendy. However, a vegan diet generally has far less fat than a meat-eating diet, even with the saturated fat. But basically no, there aren't any essential nutrients found in meat and dairy that can't be substituted with vegetable-based foods, such as lentils, spinach (for iron), beans and nuts (protein), plus of course tofu. So as long as people subsitute these foods for meat and don't just try to live on salads, they're not doing their health any harm.|||My friends do that because im a vegan. but ive tried to eat animal products before but i find it disgusting so i wind up puking. i dont do it for a trend i do it cause i hate to throw-up|||if they do it because they think eating animals is wrong and judge people who eat animals, then i think they are crazy judgmental people. if they do it for the health benefits, then i admire them|||http://www.meatvideo.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMm鈥?/a> these videos will show and explain why some people are vegan. heads up the youtube one is an hour long give or take a bit but its worth watching.