Vegan and vegetarian diets

If you choose to go completely vegan or vegetarian for any reason, you can still get enough protein and other nutrients in your diet with a little bit of planning. However, there are a few nutrients that you should keep an eye on, as we get them predominantly from meat or other animal sources:

Vitamin B12 – important for your brain and nerve function as well as healthy heart. There are no real plant sources of B12, so get plenty from either fortified foods (such as cereals), nutritional yeast or a supplement.

Calcium – important for your bones, teeth and heart and muscle function. If you avoid dairy, make sure to eat and drink plenty of calcium fortified foods (fortified dairy alternatives, fortified cereals).

Iodine – important for our thyroid gland (metabolism) and brain function, most iodine in our diet comes from fish and dairy. Not a lot of plant milks are fortified with iodine (although some will be, so keep an eye out).

Iron – important for our red blood cells and to avoid anaemia. There are plant sources of iron (beans, pulses) but the body can’t absorb them that well from plant sources (called low bioavailability) – you can boost the bioavailability by adding vitamin C to the iron containing meals (squeeze some lemon over your dish, have a glass of orange juice or a bell pepper) and avoiding tea and coffee at least an hour before and an hour after having a plant-iron-rich meal.

Omega 3 fatty acids – we get these from oily fish. You can get a different form of those from some seeds and nuts such as linseed (make sure you get it milled), chia seeds or walnuts, so make sure to eat plenty of those. You can also get a supplement.

Vitamin D – everyone in the UK is recommended to supplement vitamin D (in the dose of about 10µg/day), especially in winter months. If you’re getting a supplement, make sure it’s vitamin D3, as that is best form of this vitamin. If you are vegan, make sure to read the label as most vitamin D3 isn’t vegan (as it comes from sheep’s wool).