Meeting Your Nutritional Needs As A Vegan

Meeting your nutritional needs as a vegan requires some planning and attention to detail. While a vegan diet can be beneficial for your health, with plant-based foods that provide essential vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, you need to work a little harder to ensure you’re meeting the proper nutrients for overall health.

The typical nutrients of concerns of a vegan diet include protein, vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron, Omega-3 fatty acids and calcium, so let us tell you how to get them without straying from your plant-based diet!

Protein is often a concern for vegans, but it’s entirely possible to get an adequate intake from plant-based sources! 

Some great vegan sources of protein include:

• Beans & lentils

• Tofu

• Tempeh 

• Edamame 

• Nuts & seeds

• Brown Rice 

• Quinoa 

Including a variety of these foods into your diet ensures you’re getting all the essential amino acids your body needs to function properly.

Vitamin B12 is primarily found in animal products, so you’ll need to rely on fortified foods. 

Aim to include the following foods into your diet:

• Fortified cereals

• Fortified plant-based milks

• Mushrooms

• Tofu 

• Nutritional yeast

Vitamin D is essential for bone health and overall immune function. While sunlight is the primary source, it can be challenging to get enough sun! It’s also not healthy to expose yourself to the sun for too long, so your best bet to get your daily dose is through fortified foods. 

Aim to include the following into your diet:

• Fortified cereals

• Fortified plant-based milks

• Fortified juices

• Mushrooms

Iron deficiencies are common among women, even those who eat meat! Iron is especially important for women, so it’s vital you get your dose. While iron found in plant foods is not as easily absorbed as iron found in animal products. You can enhance iron absorption by consuming more vitamin C-rich foods alongside iron-rich foods. 

Good plant-based sources of iron:

• Spinach

• Lentils

• Fortified cereals

• Tofu

• Pumpkin seeds

Good plant-based sources of vitamin C:

• Kale

• Broccoli

• Papaya

• Strawberries

• Oranges

Omega-3 fatty acids are crucial for heart and brain health. Fatty fish is one of the most common sources, but there are plenty of plant-based options!

Incorporate some of these into your diet:

• Flaxseeds

• Chia seeds

• Walnuts

• Hemp seeds

• Seaweed 

Calcium is essential for maintaining strong bones and teeth, and while dairy products are a common and rich source, you can find plenty of calcium-rich plant-based sources.

Try to incorporate some of these foods into your diet:

• Fortified plant milks

• Calcium-set tofu

• Kale

• Bok Choy  

• Sweet Potatoes

• Chia Seeds

• Almonds

As you can see, a lot of these foods overlap! So, it’s not all that difficult to reach your nutritional needs on a plant-based diet. If you don’t include enough of these nutrient-dense foods into your diet, be sure to take a supplement. 

Have a look at our blog on warning signs you’re lacking in nutrients for a better understanding of what to look out for.