Status Updates From Vegan Savvy: The expert's g...

Her food nutrition bridge chart for common deficiences like iron, choline, selenium, etc would be helpful for someone going vegan. She is more comprehensive about deficiencies that often occur in vegan diets. I can't count the amount of times I've read vegan authors say "all you need is a b vitamin supplement" when making the switch

Her section on obtaining calcium from a vegan diet reaffirmed my decision to not go vegan, honestly.

the absorption of calcium in
high-oxalate vegetables such as spinach
and Swiss chard can be as low as 5%.

I get annoyed by people who say "just eat more spinach" when talking about iron & calcium.

*replaced butter for coconut milk

Her section on calcium in plants & plant-based substitutes is good. I have no interest; I like milk & cheese.

I checked, a serving of butter has less saturated fat than coconut milk. So many recipes replaced coconut milk for butter - but unless I want the coconut flavor I'm sticking to butter & oil.

Organic dairy milk has been shown to regular (non-organic) milk, and it may also
have slightly more iron and vitamin E. It's 50% higher in omega-3 fatty acids.

since I'm not vegan this is good to know

I like her section on iron. This is why I quit being a vegetarian. My iron levels plummeted and I can't stomach iron supplements. I'm shocked by the lack of awareness and warning about monitoring iron levels - I've rarely come across a vegan book that mentions it. None of my friends at the time who were pushing veganism/vegetarianism mentioned it.

I didn't realize pumpkin seeds have iron. Tahini has iron too.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/stayin...

She doesn't like canned coconut milk either! That's used in so many recipes.

okay I just checked the nutrition content of my canned coconut milk 1 container (12.2 fl oz) has 24 grams of saturated fat. I don't use this a lot so I don't really care.

Research published in the British Jour-
nal of Nutrition⁴⁶ in 2012 explored how
adding fat to carrots affected the
bioavailability of beta-carotene (i.e. the
body’s ability to absorb and make use
of it as vitamin A). They estimated this
at 11% for raw carrots compared to 75%
for stir-fried carrots.

Sources of beta-carotene include dark-green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach, as well as bright orange vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash and orange and yellow peppers. The process of cooking or adding fats to these veggies improves the absorption of beta-carotene, so carrots and peppers stir fried in oil provide more vitamin A than they would in
their raw state.

She doesn't like coconut oil because of its saturated fat content, which is higher than lard & butter. She doesn't think it should be considered a health food.

I keep coconut oil to give to my dog occasionally. I don't use it in meals anyway.

She's hardcore advocating rapeseed oil. This is controversial and I haven't done research. I use olive & avocado oil. She likes rapeseed oil more than olive oil (?)

She fails to mention the increased arsenic levels in brown rice.

She suggests using almonds in pesto vs pine nuts for increased protein

Because most plant foods will give you
some methionine, it’s the lysine that’s a
particularly important amino acid for veg-
ans. So, make sure you eat foods that sup-
ply this Nutrient Bridge.

The vvpc plate section & protein section is helpful.

Also little tips like putting lemon juice on hummus to help absorb iron from chickpeas; I hadn't thought of that.

lol now she's talking about visualization

Harnessing the power of your mind can lead to sustainable changes, so take a
few short minutes now to really internalise the value that this lifestyle change will bring.

🙄 This is what the top critical review means by wellness talk. I like Abbey because she never uses this kind of lingo. Hopefully it's not too bad throughout

This is what I was wanting from Abbey Sharp's book. This author is a registered dietician (she actually isn't vegan herself) and this has evidence-based nutrition info.