Vegans (or plant based), are you all healthy and slim

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I see various posts on FB about veganism or plant based lifestyle and literally everyone looks slim, healthy and has amazing glowing skin. I know plant based/vegan does not necessarily mean healthy, as people choose this life style for different reasons, what is your experience with plant based/vegan life style?

How do you cook air fryer tofu?
Love my air fryer. Love tofu!!

Oh I don’t drink alcohol either.

@knitknack can you recommend any online recipes for your instapot Thai broths, thank you. I love Thai food and don’t use my instapot enough.

I am an almost vegan (eat eggs from my own hens) 47 and very slim. I do exercise everyday though so that helps keep the weight down. The only fake meat products I eat are cauldron sausages.

Three of my adult daughters are vegan "for the animals". They all eat a wide range of foods including processed foods and meat substitutes. Two of them are slim and the other is well upholstered. This was also the case before they stopped eating animal products (separately - 15 years ago for the oldest, 9 years ago for the second and 2 years ago for the third). None of them is a hyper-bouncy glowing-with-health influencer type. They all do some sort of exercise, they all drink alcohol, and the youngest two smoke. Two are otherwise environmentally conscious, the other likes fast fashion. Two of their male partners are vegan. One has to manage his weight, the other is slim.

Nothing to see apart from the fact that they don't eat animal products. You wouldn't know they were vegan unless you looked in their fridges.

I hate all this fake meat! It's everywhere and I actually love the taste of meat so I eat it all up. I try not to, but I did spend a good 20 years eating really, really healthily aside from dairy, and six eating healthily without much processed at all and no dairy.

But yes I am slim but I've got that body type naturally. I can put weight on and I lost three stone ditching dairy and am healthier.

Me and my husband are vegan and my daughter has never had meat and only had dairy as a baby via formula for a short time.

Yes, we are all very healthy. None of us are overweight now.

I don't think it's about being vegan. You certainly don't need meat or lactation as an adult, but it's more about cutting out processed foods (of which dairy is a big one to be fair) and eating plant-based as opposed to vegan.

We eat for health basically.

Vegan and I have the same fat/thin fluctuations that I used to as an omnivore 😂oh well! I do go to the gym more so any increased strength comes from that probably, not the veganism.

DD is vegetarian, but eats a mostly vegan diet. Her diet is very carb heavy so she isn't as slim as when she was an omnivore.

I'm not sure I would count as healthy as I have MS but actually I no longer have any symptoms and its been ages since i even noticed it. Not sure being vegan plays a part in that but I'm in no rush to change and find out (also usually size 6 but now a size 8 post baby)

Been vegan for years and years and years. When I was the "lots of alcohol and chips and toast" sort of vegan I was indeed fat. So just being vegan is not a magic wand.

Dh is vegan and I'm veggie. We've probably put on weight as we do have quite a lot of fake meat, vegan pizza etc. No different to before we cut out animal products really. And we do like alchol and trying different vegan chocolate and crisps (all for research purposes obviously!). If we actually made the effort to up our veggies/lentils/ditch bread we would probably look a lot healthier!

Veganism is for the animals and it's a whole philosophy of its own where health doesn't really come into it as it's for ethical reasons, so there are healthy vegans and unhealthy vegans just like with any other diet or lifestyle. A vegan or plant-based diet can be healthier if you stick to more of a whole foods plant based (WFPB) diet whereby you avoid processed foods and fake meats as much as possible and eat foods as close to their natural form as possible. But these days there are a lot of vegan junk foods which can still be very highly processed with excessive salt, sugar and bad vegetable fats. I am vegetarian for too many reasons to list here and I do consume fake meats such as Quorn and other substitutes but try to keep it to a minimum and mostly stick to more natural protein sources such as beans, lentils, tofu etc. I take vegan omega 3 supplements in place of fish but I get my B12 from eggs and dairy :)

I meant to add to my previous post that I try to eat mainly organic and wholefoods vegetarian. I don't exercise as much as I should but I am slim build with a healthy BMI

10 years vegan, age 60 and look 40. Slim, active, barely a wrinkle, bags of energy and I lift heavy weights. Mixture of whole foods with a bit of junk thrown in occasionally.
Vegan for the animals ✊ Anything else is a bonus

2/3 of my kids are also vegan from conception and like yours (touch wood) hardly ever ill. Friends used to joke about their weekly trip to the doctors with their babies but I feel very fortunate that so far that hasn't been the case at all.

Could be fluke, but nice to hear you've found the same.

@spinachmonster Do you have any good resources on raising vegan children?

Veggie, aged 50, underweight.

Forgot to add I'm not healthy but that has nothing to do with being veggie.

I am vegan and slim, but can't really say in fairness that it's because of being vegan - I was very thin as a vegetarian too because I had anorexia!

My partner is also vegan and she's even slimmer than I am; her build is more petite. I do lose weight very easily because of medical problems, though.

My mum (in her 60s) eats an almost completely plant based diet and she is very slim too, though she is not 100% vegan.

Also I am incredibly unhealthy, but it's my genetics / bad luck, not my diet. Partner is healthy.

I eat a varied vegan diet but it's not all that healthy (I include ice cream, processed products like Quorn etc, plenty of carbs and treats). I had a normal diet, put on a healthy amount of weight during my pregnancy and returned to my pre pregnancy weight at 8 weeks post partum. A fairly arbitrary marker but might give you a helpful reference point!

I went vegan over ten years ago, I lost nearly eight stone of which I have kept six of that off. I tend to fluctuate by about a stone between winter and summer. So I know that loads of alcohol, ice cream, chocolate and Pringles will put weight on me. I remain at quite a healthy weight.

Christ, you've just described my food consumption for the day! Well, not quite, but I do eat more than my fair share of crisps, chips, Oreos, vegan Maryland cookies etc.

I don't eat much fake meat as I find the texture can be strange, but I do like vegan sausages. I mostly cook from scratch - The Green Roasting Tin book is fantastic for me, I make loads of meals from there.

Having the M&S posh dogs tonight with "buttery" mash and peas though.

I was veggie for over 30 years, went vegan just over a year ago because I was struggling to keep my weight under control. I've lost over a stone in weight, and definitely have more energy.

@spinachmonster Great to hear that. Like a pp do you have any resources on raising vegan children? I used to be vegetarian for about 5 years but I now have a 4.5 yo picky eater who is not very fond of veggies. She does love fish, of any kind, so we all eat fish several times a week. I'm hoping to go back to vegetarian/plant based one day.

I agree that from a health point of view, ditching the ultra processed foods and alcohol is more important that a vegan diet.

Sometimes I just munch on a bowl of it that I keep in the fridge! I just make it up as I go along really - I drain it for a bit under a plate, then shove it in a bowl with soy sauce, maple syrup, that chilli sauce stuff.. what’s it called? Sambul? I ignore use by dates and it seems to last forever, some grated garlic etc and then throw it in the fryer for about 12-14 mins? I try to keep a tub of roast veg (no oil) in the fridge too and if I’m REALLY tired then some quinoa or rice and I’ve got a meal (lazy vegans hehe). I love tofu and stick it in everything 😊