thinkin about a post i saw earlier of someone saying they get really weak when they go vegan... my friend, you are doing everything wrong if that's the case. aside from whatever health issues you may have that prevents you (i've yet to actually hear of any specific health issues that prevent someone from going vegan, maybe being allergic to legumes and soy? or an allergy to nuts etc.? otherwise... i remain kinda skeptical when someone says this, I often feel like ppl say this so they dont have to keep thinking about it), there's lot of things to consider when going vegan and its really important to talk to a nutritionist if you can before you do it.
some things to consider:
you will need to find a source of iron. theres plenty of veggies when eaten in high enough quantities that will provide iron (spinach, an obv choice). it's also wild to assume that you're supposed to get iron from ONE source of food, ideally you eat multiple things throughout the day that have an ok amount of iron that when added up over the day = the daily value you need, you dont need one big block of iron rich food to get all of your iron (and this goes for all food honestly, no reason you need to get all of your nutrients from one food per se. I dont think convenience should ever really be favored over whats ethical)
you'll need a source of omega vitamins. typically this can be found in seaweed, seeds or nuts, but ultimately it might be easier to just buy some supplements (if ur like me and dont like eating nuts a lot :/)
you'll need a way to get vitamin K2, I trust that you're able to do your own research enough to know where to find it, for now I'll tell you it can easily be obtained from saurkraut, natto, kimchi, and dandelions
there are multiple types of protein. this is probably whats tripping you up if you've already covered everything else. these proteins, or more specifically amino acids, are: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. you will need to eat complete proteins that have all of these covered, which is why often people tell you to pair rice with beans since together they are a complete protein. there used to be a website I knew of that listed the different sources of each amino acid, but if you're up to it (im not rn) id suggest looking each amino acid up and finding what food sources have them in it, you'll likely find that multiple amino acids are in one food and that another food has the rest of the amino acids- combined they make a complete protein. oh and also there are some protein powders out there that have all of the amino acids you need, so i'd suggest searching those out (make sure to look at the nutrition info, I used garden of life protein powder) bc you can easily dump that in a smoothie and there ya go.
the problem with going vegan isn't not getting enough nutrients typically, it's that it can be very hard and costly to buy everything you need. it's likely not that you CANT go vegan (unless you have specific allergies or something) just that you were never taught the best way on how to. it all boils down to nutrition, and if you're able to get all these nutrients locked down and be consistent about eating all the nutrients you need, you'll likely not have any issues being vegan, if you do that's something to bring up to a nutritionist, because vegan diets are healthy insofar as you can get all the nutrients you need, and some of us are too poor to consistently be able to buy all these different things. in that case, i'd suggest being a "reducetarian" (thats basically what I am, i'm vegan philosophically and would be more vegan if I had the cash...), rely on vegan alternatives but eat eggs or something here n there if necessary. what I do know is most people dont need to eat meat consistently every day and distrust anyone who tells you otherwise, quite frankly. eating it 2-3 times a week is sufficient from what I've read.
