Vegan Nutrition with Marty Davey

Marty Davey is a Registered Dietitian and has a Masters degree in Food and Nutrition from Marywood University. In her first career incarnation, Marty worked in the entertainment field, mainly in film and television. During her first college career in the 1970's, Marty moved from her blue collar meat and potatoes diet to learning to eat a variety of beautifully meals set in a relaxed dinnertime while studying in France. She became a vegetarian in 1980 when she discovered that the French didn't want our meat products due to factory farming methods. She began studying nutrition while cleansing her diet to a totally plant-based lifestyle. After having her son, she embarked on becoming an RD.

Marty has taught nutrition and cooking classes for many years. She was the Program Coordinator of the SNAP! program at Marywood University. This was a family weight management program that focused on the family dynamic in dealing with weight issues for both parents and children. Currently, Marty is working on a book for elderly vegetarians/vegans discussing daily nutrition needs and including issues with acute and long term facility care when following a plant-based diet. A website is being built for Marty to further educate people about plant-based diets. She also has a private practice specializing in assisting clients transitioning from the conventional Western foods to a plant-based regime.

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Hello, I'm David. I'm 12 years old and going vegan. What dietary supplements do I need?

David, cool for you, Dude. Welcome to the club. Thanks for not asking "Where do I get my protein?"

I'm going to give you some resources for information. More importantly, these are resources for your parents, whom no doubt, will want to make sure you stay healthy.

A great source of information is in the book, Becoming Vegan, by Vesanto Melina, MS,RD and Brenda Davis, RD. It is my bible on helping folks move to a vegan lifestyle. If you want to get information online while hunting down the book or ordering it, try the American Dietetic Association's (ADA) website: http://www.eatright.org. Check out A New Food Guide for North American Vegetarians. This was written by the Vegetarian Practice Group of the ADA. They are a bunch of really smart dietitians who help keep each other informed on what is new on the veg-front.

When speaking of supplements, remember that's what they are—supplemental to you eating a healthy, varied diet of foods. Below I list some supplements you may want to think about and I also have food sources listed. Being 12, you may not have much control over what you eat and you may be really busy and not be able ensure that you cover all of your nutrient bases every day. Therefore, the question of supplements is a good one.

A good multi-vitamin is essential. You want to be covered in a general way.

B12: The only places you can B12 as a vegan is from Red Star Nutritional Yeast specifically processed for vegans and from fortified foods such as soy and rice milks. However, depending on the age of yeast and how the retailer stores it, the potency can be compromised. I recommend you supplement B12.The amount you want to check for is 10mcg if you want to take it on a daily basis or 2,000 mcg if you take it once a week. The health risks from low levels of B12 are so serious that if you do nothing else I have written here, I want to you to take the B12. Jack Norris, RD, has written extensively about B12 problems and vegans. However, if you supplement there should be no problems. Although they may also be fortified with B12, I would not base my diet on mock-meats and veggie convenience foods. The world of legumes and beans is waiting for you to discover all of the ways you can eat them. Also, don't be surprised if the volume, or amount, of food you eat increases. If you are constantly hungry eat a snack with a protein source, such as ants on a log, soy cheese and crackers or dried fruits and nuts.

DHA: This you may not have to supplement if you eat two tablespoons of flax meal a day. You can use flax oil, but it can be expensive. The cheapest thing to do is to buy a coffee grinder ($10), buy flax seeds and grind them yourself into flax meal. Keep the meal in the frig in an air tight container. It is good for about a week. There are even individual packets of flax meal sold that you can tote in your backpack to use at school or on the go.

You can use flax on your cereal, salad, soup or just about anything. I sprinkle it on my sandwiches, smoothies and even hide it in pudding. If you use it throughout the day, the two tablespoons is done by lunch. You can also get what you need from English walnuts, so if that is a better idea, go for it. A

Here's the skinny on DHA: There are two oils that you must eat. Your body cannot synthesize them from anything. The first is the precursor, or maker, of DHA alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the omega-3 (flax, hemp seed, walnuts) we all hear about. You also need to intake linoleic acid (LA). That is the omega-6 family. You find this in sesame seeds, corn oil and nuts. So, you need ALA to make the DHA. Next, what DHA does.

DHA is abundant in human milk, as long as mom's intake is sufficient. It is great at lowering heart disease and also used for the nervous system. According to Stanford University, DHA is the "most abundant fatty acid in nerve cell membranes and is thought to contribute significantly to the fluidity of the cell membrane. DHA is also found in the synapses between nerve cells and is thought to greatly aid the nerve cells in sending signals to each other."

What is important to know is that there is a ratio that needs to be kept between omega-3's and omega-6's. A 1:1 ratio is fabulous. A 4 omega-6 : 1 omega 3 is also fine. Unfortunately, most Americans have a 20 omega-6:1�omega-3. Ouch! The balance is necessary because these two compete for the same conversion enzymes in the human body.

If you think the flax meal is not enough to cover your DHA needs then you can use a supplement of 100-300mg daily.

The foods you should be sure to eat on daily basis are lots of fruits and veggies, especially dark, leafy greens. This will ensure a good dose of calcium and/or iron. Iron is made more available when eaten with high acids. Green leafy veggies have lots of iron and vitamin C (ascorbic acid). (Pretty cool that Mother Nature stuck the two of them together.) Eating miso, natto or tempeh increases the body's availability to absorb iron and not excrete it. Miso soup is a quick, nutritious snack. Throw in veggies, seaweed and ramen noodles and you've got a fantastic, wholesome lunch. Just remember not to boil the miso. Put it in after you turn off the heat and let it melt.

Calcium is easy to get. Not only from the greens listed above, but sesame seeds are incredibly high in calcium. Vegan athletes carry around little bags of seeds to nibble on. Again, you can put them on a whole host of foods. Non-dairy milks are usually fortified with calcium. Tofu is also a good source.

Just in case someone asks you the ever-annoying-question, "Where do you get your protein?" you can say, "From everything I eat. If a food had no protein it couldn't grow." There are these things called enzymes. They are proteins. A cut apple turning brown is an enzymatic reaction. Apples have protein. The question is, do vegan choices have enough to allow you to grow? Well, bunnies, squirrels, elephants, giraffes are all vegans. Looks like they can grow on a vegan diet. So can vegans, Carl Lewis (fastest guy on the planet), and Marina Navratolova (top tennis player). These two are also in the top 10 athletes of the 20th century.

There are a lot of vegan cookbooks out there. My favorites are Vegan Planet, by Robin Robertson and Vegan Vittles by Jo Stepaniak. The last reference I'll mention is for your parents, The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell of Cornell University. This is the most definitive study done on the negative repercussions by human ingestion of animal products.

Veg-out, Dude.

Ask Marty your nutrition question here.

Disclaimer: The advice given here is for eductional purposes only. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.

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