So, you’ve decided to take the plunge and go vegan.
Great! Welcome to a way of eating that’s better for the environment, saves the animals, and improves your health. But with such a quick lifestyle change, you might have a few questions.
- Am I missing important nutrients?
- How will my sensitive stomach handle it?
- What about my beloved pre-workout shake?
Fortunately, I’ve put together a list of the best vegan supplements in 2019 to help you out.
Going vegan is a big adjustment and topping up your diet during the transition, and beyond, enhances your health.
(And no, you don’t have to be a vegan to reap the benefits of these supplements. But for those of you still on the fence, check out my article on “Why you should go vegan in 2019′)
What to look for in a vegan supplement
When you stop consuming animal products, you need to take extra care to avoid missing critical nutrients.
Certain vitamins and minerals, like B vitamins, iodine, and omega-3 fats, are difficult to derive from plants.
Moreover, vegans have to pay attention to the protein profiles of their foods, in order to get all of the essential amino acids.
Therefore, a first step should be identifying which products contain the nutrients you need.
But as with all supplements, it’s important for vegans to ensure the efficacy, safety, and purity of what they put in their body.
Don’t waste your money or risk your health on something that doesn’t work, or even worse, can harm you.
So, what vegan supplements on the market meet this criteria? Performance Lab’s line of vegan supplements takes the (no egg, no dairy) cake. Let me explain why.
Introducing Performance Lab
Look, lots of brands are out here meeting vegan needs with a rice protein or algae oil.
And that’s great – the more we can get people to go vegan, the better. But almost all of the supplements from this brand are not only vegan, but caffeine-free, non-GMO, gluten-free, allergen-friendly, synthetic additive free, and so much more.
If that’s not enough, Performance Lab grows bio-identical ingredients in their labs.
Using their trademarked BioGenesis method, they can recreate the same nutrients that DO exist in animal, plant, and all food products without any negative effect on the environment or organisms.
Performance lab uses single-celled organisms to grow these micronutrients and extract them for your consumption.
Don’t worry though – they practice rigorous, third-party testing before anything hits the market.
Nothing except the pure, targeted bioavailable nutrients exists in their products.
The Best Vegan Supplements in 2019
Remember when we mentioned vegans should take care to add in important nutrients? Yeah, well below are some of the best supplements for vegans that’ll actually work.
1: Whole Food Multi
With the cross-breeding, genetic modification, and processing of foods these days, everyone can use a multi-vitamin. Vegans included.
Even though a plant-based diet is great for fruits and veggies, multivitamins are an easy way to ensure you get the daily recommended value of vital nutrients.
For example, here’s a brief list of some commonly missing vitamins and minerals in plant-based diets.
- Vitamin B12 – a product of bacterial fermentation, therefore commonly found in animal products. Responsible for nourishing your cells and nerves, and making DNA
- Vitamin D – Mostly found in fortified foods, typically animal products. Vitamin D2 is animal-free. Important for bone health and your immune system.
- Zinc – harder to absorb from plant sources, but plays a role in wound healing and tissue regeneration.
- Calcium – important for bone health, but difficult to absorb in general alongside other compounds.
- Iodine – adequate iodine intake helps limit the negative effects on thyroid function often caused by high soy intake. For some vegans, this could be imperative.
*Source – Precision Nutrition
Not to mention amino acids. According to the International Society of Sports Nutrition, most single plants aren’t complete protein sources, containing all of the essential amino acids.
While a sage vegan will combine real foods to make a complete meal, it’s always wise to have a back-up for safety.
2: BCAAs
Performance Lab BCAAs contain three essential amino acids – leucine, isoleucine, and valine – to raise your general intake.
These three BCAA’s make up 40% of your amino acid needs to promote muscle protein synthesis and general health.
Performance Lab’s version includes twice the amount of leucine to stimulate the effects of IGF-1, a hormone that facilitates lean body mass.
It also activates mTOR, a signaling pathway that kick starts protein synthesis.
Proteins not only build muscles, but they create enzymes, repair other tissue, contribute to hair and bone health, and transport and store nutrients throughout the body.
For health-conscious vegans who frequent the gym, BCAAs can aid recovery from workouts.
Research has shown that BCAA supplementation leads to faster recovery times in elite athletes and the average gym-goer.
So if you want to feel less sore and hit the gym consistently, consider topping up on your BCAAS.
3: Sleep
Ah, sleep, nature’s natural nootropic.
Our body’s built-in recovery mode improves memory and learning, increases athletic performance, decreases reaction time, and elevates mood.
To transcend your current lifestyle, sleep is not to be taken for granted – for vegans and non-vegans alike.
Performance Lab Sleep combines tryptophan, Montmorency cherry extract, and magnesium to upgrade sleep (all while being completely vegan).
Let’s go over how each of these elements tops the list of sleep supplements.
4: Tryptophan
Tryptophan is one of the most abundant amino acids within the human body.
After digestion, it’s converted into melatonin, serotonin, and vitamin b6.
These compounds are known for their mood-improving, circadian rhythm-modulating effects.
While also found in many plant proteins, getting extra supplements before bed raises sleep quality.
Up to 1 gram of supplemental tryptophan has been shown to increase subjective pre-bed sleepiness, decrease time to fall asleep, and increase total sleep time.
5: Montmorency cherry
Montmorency cherries contain antioxidants and natural sources of melatonin.
As mentioned above, melatonin is a hormone whose rise and fall controls your circadian rhythm.
When we naturally fall asleep, it’s largely due to an internal rise in melatonin, triggering the transition to rest.
The importance of supplemental melatonin increases daily, as our interaction with sunlight-mimicking blue light only gets worse.
6: Magnesium
Research shows correspondence between improved sleep and magnesium supplementation.
Even more, magnesium acts as a cofactor for the conversion of tryptophan to serotonin discussed above.
By adding magnesium in their vegan sleep supplement, Performance Lab lowers the time to effect.
7: Fat Burner
Vegan’s looking to drop some pounds, listen up.
Performance Lab actually makes a Fat Burner that really works, without adding damaging chemicals or synthetics.
Their fat burner contains beta-hydroxy-methylbutyrate (HMB, for ease), which saves lean muscle while neutralizing the negative effects of fasting.
When we’re trying to lose weight, or even transitioning to a new way of eating, it’s not uncommon to go long periods without eating.
HMB keeps you burning fat instead of digging in to muscle for fuel.
Also featuring cayenne pepper, Performance Lab Fat Burner knows how to induce lipolysis, or the breakdown of fat.
The catecholamine-induced lipolysis stimulated by cayenne pepper specifically reduces visceral (abdominal) fat.
On top of those two, they include forskolin, a natural ingredient from the lovely herb Coleus Forskohlii.
This compound sets off an enzyme known as adenylate cyclase, which increases thermogenesis. It’s the first step in raising calorie burn and breaking down fats.
It’s a rare gem in the supplement world—an all-natural, vegan, caffeine-free fat burner. Grab it while you can, before the rest of the world catches on.
8: Prebiotic
The research grows constantly on the microbiome-gut-brain axis, a relatively new area identified in regulating mood, stress, and cognition.
It’s pretty amazing that what goes on in our GI tract can affect our behavior. Science has shown changes in stress levels, neurochemistry, and anxiety with alterations in gut bacteria.
Prebiotics work on your gut in mysterious ways. Instead of adding outside bacteria, like probiotics, prebiotics improve the health of bacteria already inside your gut.
By introducing fibers, such as inulin and FOS, Performance Lab Prebiotic helps lower the pH inside your gut.
It improves the environment for Bifidobacterium, a species that staves off harmful bacteria by secreting lactic acid.
Not only do prebiotics limit the growth of “bad bacteria”, but they enhance the absorption of minerals.
Scroll all the way back up to that Whole Food Multi supplement, and recall that vegan diets especially need all the calcium and iodine they can get.
Take this Prebiotic as part of a stack with Whole Foods Multi for greatest effect on overall health.
Conclusion
Performance Lab’s products are the perfect answer to a vegan’s supplement needs.
They not only focus on protecting the environment, but our bodies as well – eliminating any additives or impurities.
Even more, I only mentioned a fraction of their products in this article. There are lots more!
Sure, the above are really important for vegan nutrition, but check out Performance Lab’s website for even more vegan supplements.
Maybe you’ll find something that surprises you (post-workout, anyone?).
Each supplement on this list can elevate your vegan lifestyle in its own way. Performance Lab’s line of supplements are the top choice due to their efficacy, purity, and diligence in testing.
Their products are the result of years of research, making sure you get exactly what you need and nothing you don’t.
Of course, no pill is completely magic. These supplements are just enhancements to a well-balanced, healthy lifestyle of meditation and good nutrition.
What are you waiting for? Head on over to their website to top off an elite way of life.