Vegan lifestyles are becoming ever so popular over the past decade. People from all walks of life are deciding not to eat animal or animal products.

BUT WHY?

Some of the reasons people say they are ‘going vegan’ include health, environmental, ethical and even related to intolerances, Infact, veganism is becoming linked to personal health more and more. This becomes super confusing for those in recovery for eating disorders. Studies suggest there are links between vegan diets and eating disorders but they are not conclusive.

Often during eating disorder treatment, clients are asked to challenge their relationship with eating patterns that eliminate groups of food. This sometimes includes being curious about a recovering person’s choices in becoming vegan. Many times the decision to choose a certain way of eating in the midst of an eating disorder can include blurred lines. For years treatment centers were against vegan diets as a part of recovery. Today we are seeing many recovery centers and practitioners giving individuals options for how to live in recovery while following a vegan diet. We also see our clients choose to not follow vegan diets as a part of their recovery.

Do we owe it to ourselves to re-evaluate health links linked to veganism?

Published in the American Journal of LIfestyle Medicine, a study looked at the relationships between a vegan diet and health in seniors. Researchers considered how many medications the person was taking and then studied the link between diet and polypharmacy (when a person takes five or more prescribed medications). They found that a vegan diet reduced the number of pills a person was prescribed by 58% when compared to a non- vegetarian diet. That’s a big difference! Although significant it is important that these questionnaires could not control for the choices these people made day to day or genetics.

We can see why people are drawn to vegan diets. At the same time, we need to understand that getting sufficient nutrients on a vegan diet is extremely challenging for the average person let alone those in recovery for an eating disorder. Why is this? Those following vegan diets have to eat a lot more protein than those who eat animal foods. This is because animal-based proteins contain heme iron and plant based proteins do not so they are less bioavailable in the body. In addition, vegan diets tend to be low in: iron, vitamin B12, iodine, calcium, vitamin D3, creatine, carnitine, taurine and DHA. When you add these potential deficiencies to those who are already underfed, restricting, over exercising, dieting, purging, binge eating or in general have unbalanced nutrition the potential for vegan diets to be problematic increases.

We encourage each individual to find eating that supports long term recovery. Our practice recognizes that recovery looks different for each person in our care. We have honest heart-filled conversations with our clients about the realities of nutritional recovery when choosing one

eating style over another. We make room for exploring a range of eating styles while staying true to the journey of personal recovery.

Sources:

The Polypharma Study: Association Between Diet and Amount of Prescription Drugs Among Seniors - Hildemar Dos Santos, Josileide Gaio, Aleksandra Durisic, W. Lawrence Beeson, Alaa Alabadi, 2021 (sagepub.com)

https://greatist.com/eat/vegan-deficiencies#possible-deficiencies