Hi,
I post about nutrition to help you follow a vegan diet that can - hopefully - contribute to the prevention of disease and to living an energy-filled, active, and pleasurable life.
If you are vegan but don't care about nutrition, consider taking a B12 supplement at least. If you have vegan children you really need to know more than that (see my recommendations which are not very complicated to follow at all).
There is a lot we know about nutrition (for example about nutrient deficiencies). And there is a lot we do not know.
It's easy to overestimate your own understanding. This line by Alexander Pope (from 1711, I think) sums it up quite well:
(In German, there is a similar expression: "dangerous half-knowledge".)
I don't offer nutritional counselling. I offer nutritional information (simple recommendations) that should make nutritional counselling unnecessary for the average vegan. A vegan dietary pattern centred around fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds is likely going to have *AMAZING* effects on your health - but keep in mind that these foods don't necessarily supply ALL essential nutrients in ideal amounts, so please do check my recommendations, at least the first point, i.e., the one about vitamin B12.
Also keep in mind that next to nutrition other aspects are important for your health, notably physical activity/exercise, relaxation/stress management, getting sufficient good-quality sleep, and likely also having a sense of community. Yes, not smoking (and avoiding passive smoking and any sort of massive air pollution, including wood dust, metal dust, etc.) and avoiding alcohol excess are very important, too. Smoking is probably the worst of all, generally speaking.
If you want to contact me for whatever reason, don't be shy.
I sort of speak English, German, and Spanish.
christiankoeder [AT] gmail [DOT] com
Because of veganism the idea of animal rights is directly connected to nutritional science. But nutrition is connected to social justice issues in many more ways.
The vegan/animal rights movement - just like the rest of society - has so far largely failed at conveying practical, do-able nutrition info to the general (vegan) population.
In one area of nutritional sciences - let's call this area nutritional epidemiology - certain methods are used to test which nutritional factors influence health and disease. This systematic way of testing is very different from anecdotal observations that one person can make in their own life/lifetime. These systematic tests generate scientific evidence. At the same time, a science-based approach understands that evidence is not everything - because many (or most) things have never been tested in this way.
These systematic tests (conducting scientific studies and scientific analyses of these studies) are very important so we can understand which nutritional factors can help us prevent or even cure many illnesses. And this is important if we want to make our lives more pleasurable and less painful.
However, you as a vegan have some knowledge that most nutritional scientists do not have. You have the experience of living your life as a vegan, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That is worth something (a lot). But it does not make scientific research, which can create scientific evidence, superfluous. It's not scientific evidence vs. experience. Both are necessary.
Sometimes I also post about other topics that interest me. I've been vegan since 1997. And I've been a skateboarder since around 1989. And without skateboarding I probably wouldn't have found veganism.
Skateboarding is not a relevant issue to most people's lives (neither is veganism unfortunately). But maybe you can see parallels to something in your own life. May you find something that gives your life as much meaning and pleasure (and frustration?) as skateboarding does in my case.
May your life be happy and free.
In terms of university degrees, I have a Bachelor of Science as well as a Master of Science degree in nutritional sciences (both from Justus Liebig University [JLU], in Giessen, Germany). And I also have a PhD (doctoral degree, technically it's a doctorate of natural sciences [Dr. rer. nat.], so literally more like an ScD) also in the area of nutritional sciences, with a focus on plant-based diets, healthy lifestyle changes, and cardiovascular disease prevention. The PhD I obtained from Leibniz University Hanover (LUH), Germany (anti-confusion info: in German the city of Hannover is spelled with two "n" but in English it only has one "n").
I am not a member of any organization whatsoever (I think).
I *festively* declare that I have no conflicts of interest - with this I mean that vegan nutrition information needs to be neutral and objective. Wrong information - even if it's meant to make veganism look great - can harm vegans.
And if you don't mind me saying, science and veganism are not ends in themselves that need (or want) to be worshipped. They are tools to make our (animal) lives better and to create a world with a little (or a lot) more justice.
If you want to contact me for whatever reason, don't be shy.
I sort of speak English, German, and Spanish.
christiankoeder [AT] gmail [DOT] com
Because of veganism the idea of animal rights is directly connected to nutritional science. But nutrition is connected to social justice issues in many more ways.
The vegan/animal rights movement - just like the rest of society - has so far largely failed at conveying practical, do-able nutrition info to the general (vegan) population.
In one area of nutritional sciences - let's call this area nutritional epidemiology - certain methods are used to test which nutritional factors influence health and disease. This systematic way of testing is very different from anecdotal observations that one person can make in their own life/lifetime. These systematic tests generate scientific evidence. At the same time, a science-based approach understands that evidence is not everything - because many (or most) things have never been tested in this way.
These systematic tests (conducting scientific studies and scientific analyses of these studies) are very important so we can understand which nutritional factors can help us prevent or even cure many illnesses. And this is important if we want to make our lives more pleasurable and less painful.
However, you as a vegan have some knowledge that most nutritional scientists do not have. You have the experience of living your life as a vegan, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That is worth something (a lot). But it does not make scientific research, which can create scientific evidence, superfluous. It's not scientific evidence vs. experience. Both are necessary.
Sometimes I also post about other topics that interest me. I've been vegan since 1997. And I've been a skateboarder since around 1989. And without skateboarding I probably wouldn't have found veganism.
Skateboarding is not a relevant issue to most people's lives (neither is veganism unfortunately). But maybe you can see parallels to something in your own life. May you find something that gives your life as much meaning and pleasure (and frustration?) as skateboarding does in my case.
May your life be happy and free.
In terms of university degrees, I have a Bachelor of Science as well as a Master of Science degree in nutritional sciences (both from Justus Liebig University [JLU], in Giessen, Germany). And I also have a PhD (doctoral degree, technically it's a doctorate of natural sciences [Dr. rer. nat.], so literally more like an ScD) also in the area of nutritional sciences, with a focus on plant-based diets, healthy lifestyle changes, and cardiovascular disease prevention. The PhD I obtained from Leibniz University Hanover (LUH), Germany (anti-confusion info: in German the city of Hannover is spelled with two "n" but in English it only has one "n").
I am not a member of any organization whatsoever (I think).
I *festively* declare that I have no conflicts of interest - with this I mean that vegan nutrition information needs to be neutral and objective. Wrong information - even if it's meant to make veganism look great - can harm vegans.
And if you don't mind me saying, science and veganism are not ends in themselves that need (or want) to be worshipped. They are tools to make our (animal) lives better and to create a world with a little (or a lot) more justice.
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You can see a list of my scientific publications on my ORCID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3761-4220---
