Vegan for Life - Jack Norris [26]
Each of the following provides around one-quarter of the daily ALA requirement for an adult male or one-third the requirement for an adult female. To meet the ALA needs of an adult woman, choose three servings from these foods, and for an adult man, choose four.
1 teaspoon canola oil
¼ teaspoon flaxseed oil (just a few drops)
⅔ teaspoon hempseed oil
1 teaspoon walnut oil
2 teaspoons ground English walnuts or 1 walnut half
1 teaspoon ground flaxseedsa
½ cup cooked soybeans
1 cup firm tofu
1 cup tempeh
2 tablespoons soynuts
HOW MUCH FAT SHOULD VEGANS CONSUME?
Despite the popularity of vegan diets that eliminate all high-fat foods, there hasn’t been much research comparing very low-fat vegan diets to those that include some higher-fat plant foods. And there is reason to think that very low-fat vegan diets are not ideal. Eating diets that are too low in fat could be the reason that some people abandon vegan diets and return to eating meat. Many think of meat as “protein,” forgetting that these foods are also typically high in fat. People who don’t feel well on vegan diets sometimes add meat back to their diet because they’re convinced that they aren’t getting adequate protein—when, in fact, they might have felt better by simply adding more fat to their menu.
Contrary to popular opinion, diets that include fat from plant foods are not linked to heart disease. (We’ll talk more about this in Chapter 13.) And the idea that high-fat diets are linked to cancer risk is weak. Most importantly, plant foods that are naturally high in fat are beneficial to health. There is a large body of research showing that nuts protect against heart disease. They are also rich in vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. You’ll see in Chapter 7 that we recommend that all vegans include a serving or two of nuts in their meals every day.
Higher fat foods can also make it easier for vegan children to meet calorie needs. And while it’s somewhat of a paradox, we’ll see in Chapter 13 that including some of these foods in weight-reduction diets can improve success.
These foods make vegan diets more interesting and easier to plan, which means that they make it more realistic for people to transition to a vegan diet and stick with it for the long-term. From both a practical and a health point of view, it doesn’t make sense to ban high-fat foods from vegan diets. And as we’ll see below, even oils can play a role in healthy vegan diets.
Fat in Vegan Diets: Practical Guidelines
• Keep total fat intake in the moderate range. There is no consensus of opinion among experts on the ideal level of fat in the diet. Excessive fat intake is not healthy, but that doesn’t mean that all fat is bad. The World Health Organization cautions against consuming a diet that is less than 15 percent fat for adults or less than 20 percent for premenopausal women.13 We recommend that vegans strive for a fat intake somewhere between 20 and 30 percent of calories. That means between 22 and 33 grams of fat for every 1,000 calories you consume. Here is a quick guide to approximate amounts of fat in plant foods:
Food Average Amount of Fat (in grams)
Avocado, ¼ cup cubes 5.5
Leafy green vegetables, ½ cup cooked 0.2–0.35
Nuts, ¼ cup 17–20
Seeds, 2 tablespoons 8
Soybeans, ½ cup cooked 7
Tempeh, ½ cup 9
Tofu, firm, ½ cup 11
Tofu, soft, ½ cup 4.5
Vegetable oils, 1 teaspoon 5
• Avoid fats that are associated with chronic disease risk. We’ll talk more about these in Chapter 13, but both saturated fat and trans fats may raise the risk for heart disease and diabetes and could be associated with cancer risk as well. Generally speaking, vegans don’t need to worry since both tend to be low in plant-based diets. Watch for labels that include “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil,” a type of fat that