This document discusses the health benefits of a vegan diet and provides substitutes for non-vegan foods and recipes. It states that cutting out meat and dairy can lead to a healthier lifestyle and lower risk of diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes. While some vegan foods can be unhealthy, recipes can be adapted to make traditionally non-vegan foods vegan, such as a chocolate cake. It also emphasizes that vegans have a lower risk of diabetes, cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and BMI compared to other diets. Protein can be obtained through plant-based foods like beans, lentils, tofu and nuts.

1. Fact file
There are many different vegan substitutes to the every day foods such as meat
and dairy. Meat and dairy can increase the risk of many major future health
problems. These health problems could be heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and
much more. So cutting it out can lead to a healthier lifestyle and a lower BMI. Not
all vegan foods are healthy, a wide range of vegan food can be considered as ‘fast
food’. Foods such as Ice cream, cake, chocolate and many more unhealthy foods
can still be available to you even as a vegan. All it takes is for a few recipe
changes. For example a chocolate cake would still be available as long as the
necessary recipes changes are made;
• 300 g soya spread (baking & spreading) (room temperature)
• 300 g fine raw cane sugar
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 300 g spelt flour
• 200 g Provamel plant-based alternative to yogurt sweetened with agave
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 75 g cacao powder
• 75 ml Rice-Coconut-Chocolate drink or Rice-Coconut drink
• 1 pinch of salt
Changing ingredients like flour and cocoa powder to alternative organic
ingredients such as spelt flour and cacao powder can have many benefits upon
yourself and the environment.
Getting enough protein in your diet is essential. Simply be aware of what plant-
based foods are protein-rich, and try to include some in all your meals. Here are
a few meal ideas that would give you one serving of legumes, for example:
Peanut Butter Sandwich
Tofu
Veggie Burger
Tempeh sandwich
Hummus Wrap
Lentil Soup/Bolognaise/Shepherds Pie
Bean Burrito
Quinoa Salad/Burger/Pilaf
Diabetes:
Results show that vegans have a 60% lower chance of developing diabetes than
non-vegans.

2. Cholesterol:
Out of the four groups (Meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans. A study
showed that cholesterol levels in vegans were the lowest of the four groups. This
will lead to a significant reduction in the risk of heart disease for people who are
vegan.
Weight:
(Vegans have the lowest BMI)
High blood pressure:
Results have shown that vegans had the lowest risk for high blood pressure. It
also showed that for each step in diet change, reducing animal products
eventually to zero (vegan), resulted in a lower risk for high blood pressure.