Healthy Shopping Strategies for Vegans
About 3.7 million Americans follow a vegan diet, which is stricter than a vegetarian diet in that it eliminates all animal products—not just meat, poultry, and fish but also dairy, eggs, and even honey. A third of the U.S. population says they are trying to eat less meat.
Vegan dining is not de facto healthier for you, though: Refined grains and grain products, candy, donuts, and potato chips can all be vegan, and a diet that centers on such foods can cause weight gain and increase your risk of heart disease and other health problems.
Try these strategies:
Stock up on whole plant foods. If you’re seeking the health benefits associated with a vegan diet, you should plan menus mostly consisting of beans, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts. “They’re rich sources of vitamins, minerals, fiber, phytochemicals, and other substances that play a role in reducing the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure, some cancers, and type 2 diabetes,” says Reed Mangels, Ph.D., R.D., nutrition lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. (Read about the benefits of a plant-based diet.)
Look for vegan claims on the package. The “Certified Vegan” logo from the Vegan Awareness Foundation can be useful in quickly sussing out a food—although the absence of one doesn’t indicate that a food isn’t vegan. Some foods you think of as vegan may not be because they contain animal-derived ingredients. For example, fruit smoothies might contain whey powder (from dairy) and vegetable soups might have chicken broth as a base. Even sugar isn’t always vegan because bone char sourced from cattle might be used to turn the sugar white. (Organic sugar is not produced with bone char.)
Editor's Note: This article also appeared in the July 2017 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
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