milovany Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 I emailed a recipe for vegan chocolate cake to a friend today, one that has vegetable oil in it. She posted back thanking me and said that she'll make it with applesauce instead of oil to make it truly vegan. Oils aren't allowed in a vegan diet? What's your understanding/thought? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeekingSimplicity Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Well I would think that coconut and olive oil would be just fine. But maybe she needs less fat, and subbed applesauce for that reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 Well I would think that coconut and olive oil would be just fine. But maybe she needs less fat, and subbed applesauce for that reason. But why not vegetable oil? It's not animal-based. I guess that's what I'm wondering. (And she specifically said that the vegan recipe sites she's familiar with don't use oil.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeekingSimplicity Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 I have no clue. Sorry. Maybe it's just that it's processed? I've never heard of vegans not using oil. Even the raw vegans I'm familiar with will use some extra virgin raw coconut oil on occasion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara R Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 How bizarre. I've heard of people objecting to vegetable oil based on how it is processed, or due to the fat content, but as a vegan issue? Weird. I wonder if this person thinks olive or coconut oil is okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 I wonder if this person thinks olive or coconut oil is okay. She posts here, so maybe she can let us know! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Is it for a religious fast? I thought Orthodox Nativity Fast and Lenten Fast include avoiding oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 (And she specifically said that the vegan recipe sites she's familiar with don't use oil.) I have never, ever seen that. In fact, I usually have to cut down on the oil suggested in vegan recipes. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted November 26, 2009 Author Share Posted November 26, 2009 (edited) Is it for a religious fast? I thought Orthodox Nativity Fast and Lenten Fast include avoiding oil. I'm an Orthodox catechumen but she's not, so that wouldn't be it. BTW (side note here) our priest said that in our diocese "no oil" mean no olive oil; so on these fasting days we avoid olive oil but not oil altogether. Thanks everyone! I just wanted to make sure I didn't misunderstand the term vegan. Edited November 26, 2009 by milovaný Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Vegan means no animal products--no meat of any kind, no dairy, no eggs. There is some debate as to whether honey should be excluded from a vegan diet. I don't know of a consensus position on that. Vegans tend to eat a lot of tofu for their protein. It's sometimes difficult to get enough calcium and B12 on a vegan diet, and those are serious nutrients to lose sufficiency in over time, so they have to be watched. There is quite a bit of calcium in certain braising greens (not so much in salad greens) and I believe that there is calcium in some nuts although I'm not sure. B12 only comes from animal products, though, so even the most hardcore vegan cookbooks tend to recommend taking a B12 supplement. I used to wonder how in the world all those very serious vegans in India managed to avoid having B12 deficiencies. Then I read in "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" that without anyone realizing it, there are very small insects in the storage of most grains there; and although these are not detectable by normal means, they provide the secret protein and presumably B12 source that everyone needs to live. IIRC, the book says that this was found out when vegan people moved to England where the storage conditions were different enough that they started to have deficiencies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 But why not vegetable oil? It's not animal-based. I guess that's what I'm wondering. (And she specifically said that the vegan recipe sites she's familiar with don't use oil.) She might be following the McDougall Plan, which is a low fat plant based diet. http://www.drmcdougall.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammie Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 I used to wonder how in the world all those very serious vegans in India managed to avoid having B12 deficiencies. Then I read in "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" that without anyone realizing it, there are very small insects in the storage of most grains there; and although these are not detectable by normal means, they provide the secret protein and presumably B12 source that everyone needs to live. IIRC, the book says that this was found out when vegan people moved to England where the storage conditions were different enough that they started to have deficiencies. Ok first, EEEWW! Second, I don't think that there are a lot of "very serious vegans" in India. I haven't come across one. Yes there are vegetarians but they still include milk and lots of milk products in their diets. Perhaps in some of the religious communities there may be some who adopt a very strict diet but they certainly are not the mainstream here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Ok first, EEEWW! Second, I don't think that there are a lot of "very serious vegans" in India. I haven't come across one. Yes there are vegetarians but they still include milk and lots of milk products in their diets. Perhaps in some of the religious communities there may be some who adopt a very strict diet but they certainly are not the mainstream here. ...is some US authors who have written about learning from an Indian spiritual teacher, not from people from India themselves. So I could very well be reflecting on what amounts to a very small subculture. The quote from the Kingsolver book, though, is correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 I used to wonder how in the world all those very serious vegans in India managed to avoid having B12 deficiencies. Most veggies in India eat dairy. And there is B12 deficiency. I have found that the Indian docs I work with check levels on patients more often that Western docs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 The serious vegans would probably be the Jains, I would think. Rosie- only a "mostly" vegan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cammie Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 The serious vegans would probably be the Jains, I would think. Rosie- only a "mostly" vegan. Right, and they must know about all those bugs in the grains...again EEWW and I am really going to have to stop thinking about it if I am ever going to eat anything over here again!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatCyndiGirl Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Have you asked her yet about the 'no oil' comment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Well, I just quickly googled it, and I found site after site advising vegans to substitute veg. oil instead of animal oils, so I doubt that there is actually a problem with vegetable oil. She may be new to this, and she was told "no oils," and she didn't ask enough questions. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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