Hi from Germany

[PhilRisk]

Hello everyone on this forum,

I found this forum through UnnaturalVegan and the impetus to register was the "debate" with AskYourself as this forum seems to be a nice place to discuss.

I went vegetarian 8 years ago. The biggest impact made reading Mark Rowland "The Philosopher and the Wolf" and starting to go into the philosophical discussion on animal ethics. what touched me in the book was the questioning of a clear animal-human border.
Since then I had seen veganism as a better option than vegetarianism, but for reasons of convenience was not strict about applying it.
Going vegan had been a process since then. Since about three years I only eat animal product if theres no other option and I am hungry, for example when visiting the grandma of my partner.

The main obstacle to go vegan completely is in my view social life, because one is not always able to decide where to eat and then the options can be limited. Fortunately, the availability of vegans options had become better in recent years especially in Cafeterias.
Another obstacle had been health issues due to a lack of interest in health in the beginning of meat abstinence which led to a B12 deficiency and low Vitamin D status.

I hope for some friendly but intense discussion in this forum.

[brimstoneSalad]

Welcome to the forum PhilRisk, great intro.

B-12 and D can be major stumbling blocks. I'm glad to hear you got past those; what are you supplementing now?

I hope you like it here!

[PhilRisk]

I am supplementing with a vegan multivitamin which includes B12 and Vitamin D. In the winter month I take an additional Vitamin D supplement.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I take a DHA-EPA from algae supplement for safety.

[Jebus]

Welcome Phil. Most of the bigger German cities has lots of great vegan restaurants. Hopefully the smaller towns will catch on too.

I forgot to mention that I take a DHA-EPA from algae supplement for safety.

Probably not necessary unless you are a man older than 45.

[brimstoneSalad]

I forgot to mention that I take a DHA-EPA from algae supplement for safety.

Probably not necessary unless you are a man older than 45.

Or if you have trouble getting enough Omega 3 to Omega 6.
It makes a good safety net to help people worry less about fatty acid ratios if it's affordable.

Although there may also be other reasons to make sure to eat a balanced ratio of Omega 3 and 6 (at least nothing too crazy like 1:50 3:6). I'm not sure if supplemental DHA/EPA will 100% cover it.

[Jebus]

Or if you have trouble getting enough Omega 3 to Omega 6.
It makes a good safety net to help people worry less about fatty acid ratios if it's affordable.

I don't see how algae oil supplements would make much of a difference in the total Omega count. One capsule rarely contains more than 500 mg of Omega 3. Most people consume more than 100 times that in Omega 6.

[brimstoneSalad]

Or if you have trouble getting enough Omega 3 to Omega 6.
It makes a good safety net to help people worry less about fatty acid ratios if it's affordable.

I don't see how algae oil supplements would make much of a difference in the total Omega count. One capsule rarely contains more than 500 mg of Omega 3. Most people consume more than 100 times that in Omega 6.

One of the reasons the ratio is important is because your body needs to convert ALA into DHA and EPA. When there's too much Omega 6, that conversion is more difficult.
If you take DHA/EPA directly (or just DHA, because your body can convert that into EPA too) the main reason to get a good ratio goes away because you already have the end product you need which high Omega 6 would have sabotaged.

[Jebus]

One of the reasons the ratio is important is because your body needs to convert ALA into DHA and EPA. When there's too much Omega 6, that conversion is more difficult.
If you take DHA/EPA directly (or just DHA, because your body can convert that into EPA too) the main reason to get a good ratio goes away because you already have the end product you need which high Omega 6 would have sabotaged.

Interesting, but if this is true wouldn't, for example, pescetarians have a recommended Omega ratio different from that of vegans?

[brimstoneSalad]

One of the reasons the ratio is important is because your body needs to convert ALA into DHA and EPA. When there's too much Omega 6, that conversion is more difficult.
If you take DHA/EPA directly (or just DHA, because your body can convert that into EPA too) the main reason to get a good ratio goes away because you already have the end product you need which high Omega 6 would have sabotaged.

Interesting, but if this is true wouldn't, for example, pescetarians have a recommended Omega ratio different from that of vegans?

They probably would, but we don't know that much about ideal ratios. We know that it's more important for vegans than for people eating fish since vegans don't have another source of DHA without supplementation.