I didn't have the restrictions you do, but I've been vegan for 32 years. And have raised three vegan children, two of whom are healthy adults. Just make sure you know what you're doing as far as nutritional needs and sources.

Your body doesn't really discern between sources of nutrients. It only cares that it does get said nutrients. It may be inconvenient to figure out a meal plan for these things, but it is, to be frank, a lot less inconvenient than being a farmed cow or pig. I'd lean into tofu protein-wise to start and build from there. Just make sure to supplement b12 either from vitamins or nutritional yeast or other fortified foods. Supplementing Vitamin D would be good as well, since most people, vegan or no, are deficient in that too.

Source: been vegan 2.5 years, no health issues

I mean, surely you've met a large number of meat eaters with health problems.

My husband and I have been vegan almost 9 years and are pretty much the healthiest people we know. 0 daily medications. And my husband just got his blood work done and his doctor said he wishes he had my husband's blood. I know that's not at 10+ years, but pretty close and he was a vegetarian for 3 years before going vegan

No one can ever be truly assured of long term health in any scenario

I've been vegan nearly 20 years, vegetarian over 20 years prior to that. Read and follow the mainstream advice from and for vegans. That means find an adequate source of B12, get enough calories, eat a variety of foods, eat legumes everyday...

No one can "assure long term health." That's not a thing. Life happens.

But the most common mistakes from people who "fail" at going vegan is that they take bad advice. They don't eat enough calories, they think they don't need B12, or they eat the same thing over and over. Here is a good place to start: https://www.theveganrd.com/vegan-nutrition-101/

I'll have 10 years up in a few weeks. I don't have your allergies and I can't guarantee your health but, for me it works brilliantly.

My Dad was vegan from 1975 until his death in 2019. Very healthy man. I've been vegan for over 15 years, and the only way I'd be more healthy is if I'd exercise more. My heart is good, my blood work is fantastic, I look younger than my years, per other people (I think they are just being kind) people will say rude shit about vegans just because they can.

No one can guarantee anything, and vegans can still have health issues especially if it's genetic. I've been vegan almost 20 years and still ended up with hypertension, which runs in my family, and I control it with meds.

That said, in general the research shows that a balanced vegan diet is healthier than a standard Western diet. Being gluten free will make things a bit trickier but there are many gluten free vegans who do just fine. Avoiding nuts shouldn't be a problem if you're able to eat legumes and tofu for protein. If you have other concerns, a registered dietician could be helpful.

17 years vegan. I’m good. I exercise regularly with running, lifting and karate. Just eat a well balanced diet and you can get everything you need. B12 is the only supplement I take (it comes from bacteria). No reason to get sick from being vegan. Anyone that did, didn’t do it right.

39 year old female here- husband and I been vegan for 13 years and I went through three vegan pregnancies and raised all our four kids vegan from 1.5 years for our oldest and from birth with the rest. We have never had any health issues, needed any supplementation and are all incredibly healthy and happy with our lifestyle!

About 20 years. And veg prior to that. I'm currently in great health. Workout 3 days per week. Haven't seen a doctor in over a year. They keep telling me I need to schedule a yearly checkup, & it just feels pointless as my health is great.

I believe the worst things contributing to poor bealth nowadays are which foods you eat (processed junk & sugars vs homemade nutritional meals), how much & how often you eat, when you eat (regular schedule), how much you move your body, regular sleep schedule, daily sunlight, stress levels, etc.

Eat a balanced, whole plant foods based diet with variety and you'll be fine. Of course eat some [vegan] junk occasionally for mental health. Use an app like Cronometer to track your nutrient and macro intake. Blood test 1-2x a year. 🤙

Been vegan for 8 years now. Feel great!! Don't have any allergies but I tend to stay away from nuts anyway because they are high in fat/calories. Get regular blood tests, mention that you're vegan and they'll specifically check for certain things. Good luck!

Edited: you're

/u/LeenBee wrote

Can you assure me of long-term health?

No honest person can assure you of long-term health, no matter what you eat or do,

I've known various (omnivorous) people who were cruising along fine and then unexpectedly developed some serious health problem (in several cases, cancer), and got sick and died. Life is like that.

I've also known a young guy and an older guy who just more or less dropped dead unexpectedly.

.

A reasonable 100% plant-based diet is considered to be a healthy diet.

(You can't just try to live on just corn chips or just brown rice or something.)

.

A well-planned vegan diet is suitable to meet all recommendations for nutrients in every stage of human life.[1]

Cite is "Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Vegetarian Diets" (PDF). Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 115 (5): 1970–1980.

link - https://vegstudies.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/inst_ethik_wiss_dialog/JAND_2015.05_Position_of_the_academy_of_nutrition_and_dietetics_vegetarian_diets..pdf

The American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and Dietitians of Canada state that properly planned vegan diets are appropriate for all life stages, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence.[5][6] The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council similarly recognizes a well-planned vegan diet as viable for any age,[7][8] as does the Victoria Department of Health,[9] British Dietetic Association,[10] British National Health Service,[11] British Nutrition Foundation,[12] Mayo Clinic,[13] Finnish Food Safety Authority,[14] Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada,[15] Italian Society of Human Nutrition,[16] Norwegian Directorate for Health,[17] and the Portuguese Directorate-General of Health.[18]

The British National Health Service's Eatwell Plate allows for an entirely plant-based diet,[19] as does the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) MyPlate.[20][21] The USDA allows tofu to replace meat in the National School Lunch Program.[22] The American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics adds that well-planned vegan diets are also appropriate for older adults and athletes.[1]

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan_nutrition

Cites to good sources in the article.

The article also has a lot of detailed information.

Vegan since 1979. M, 5-9, 170#. No metabolic health issues, just structural (discs). But EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT so YMMV. It’s not for everyone.

Haven't eaten meat in over 10 years just had labs done a couple weeks ago. Was told people would love to have my blood. Everyone's different and any diet can be bad if poorly planned but working for me.

My daughter has multiple life threatening allergies. She's vegan and healthy.

I’ve been vegetarian 43yrs and vegan for 7 years and I know more omnivores than vegans with health problems. Just eat your legumes, wholegrains, fruit & veg and seeds you are not allergic to and take your vitamin B12 supplement. You will be better off than most

I’m at 20+ years vegan with 20+ of mostly vegetarian before that. My wife is at 36 years in.

No mysterious illnesses (if you don’t count covid) showing up and not a thought of ever eating animals again ever.

the longest-lived people in the world (okinawans) are 99% plant-based, and get about 1% of their calories from meat. like just statistially, okinawa for most of the 20th century had more people who reached age 100 per capita than anywhere else. and their diet was 70% sweet potatoes, with a lot of miso, bitter melon, and (very occasionally) a tiny bit of pork that they would use for flavor rather than as a primary part of a meal.

in the US, the seventh-day adventists eat a vegan diet for religious reasons, and have been studied for most of the 20th century as well, and live longer than most americans, about 10 years longer than the average american on average.

so it's pretty safe to say that there are thousands of examples of lifetime vegans and "near-vegans" (people who ate 99% plants, 1% meat occasionally) who lived to be 100.

that's not to say there aren't also people who become vegan and experience a decline in their health, those cases happen too, for a variety of reasons (typically they are the ones not supplementing with b12 though). b12 should be taken by everyone though, vegan or not, because modern agriculture makes getting b12 a lot harder than it was in the past. there are always going to be examples of people who became vegan and then experienced worse health, but they are vastly outnumbered by the people who became vegan and then experienced enhanced health.

I have been vegetarian since birth and vegan for a decade and a half. No biological complications. I have a clean bill of health. There are other sources of nutrients than nuts and gluten. I take supplements of B12 as a general precaution but who knows if it actually does anything for me. You're good

A little over 20 years, and my doctor tells me I'm so healthy, I'm his most boring patient.

I’ve been vegan for over 10 years and I’m still alive and great. Blood tests are still excellent. Still doing ballet and figure skating. Still aging slower than everyone else.

The studies on the Adventists in Loma Linda and the blue zones around the world prove plant-based vegan diets are the best for health and longevity. The only people having “issues” are trying to live only on salads or are just flat-out lying internet influencers who got bored of being vegan and wanted to go back to eating animals and needed an “excuse” so people would defend their choice. 

I rarely eat nuts because I don’t care about them. I do eat bread sometimes because I like it, but I’m usually eating potatoes, rice, beans, etc. You don’t have to eat nuts or gluten to be vegan.

Nobody is immortal. We all age. Vegans just age much more slowly than non-vegans and don’t pickup nasty chronic diseases like everyone else as we age.

And depending what your current health issues are, there’s a very good chance they’ll disappear or vastly improve after you’ve been vegan for awhile.

Well, depending on what stage of veganism I was in, I was more or less vegan for the past 15 years. And I can tell you I am healthier than almost all of my peers. You can be healthy on a vegan diet and you can be unhealthy. Just like how you can be healthy on an omnivore diet and you can be unhealthy. It's really about your choices. A healthy vegan diet will slightly outperform a healthy omnivorous diet. But again, it really depends on your choice.

Your restrictions are quite problematic, because you're going to miss out on really important sources of nutrition. That being said, they are not detrimental. You can find alternates for all of these. Rice and oatmeal are great sources of carbs to substitute for gluten-based foods; soy and legumes also contain significant amounts of protein to substitute for gluten protein in addition to carbs as well. On the other hand avocado, olive oil, Tahini and cold pressed canola are a good substitutes for nuts.

You can be healthy. If you want any further tips and information, I can help you also.

Yes, plant based diets have proven to be healthy and adequate for humans of all stages of life. There is longterm research on it, 10+ years and many people, me including who follow it that long.

You can look up Harvard Health articles on their website with the references to those studies.

BUT it needs to be appropriately planned and you need to take a B12 supplement or fortified foods.

I recommend consulting with a licensed dietician and/or use tools like cronometer.com to ensure you get all nutrients and enough calories.

Don‘t need to go vegan over night. Ease in to it. Go 80%, if that feels good, go 90, then 100.

I felt better than before even and it‘s still working great for me.

Good luck!

Yes. Listen to people like John McDougall, Nathan Pritikin, Alan Goldhamer, Ron Weiss, Neil Barnard, Caldwell Esselstyn, Milton Mills, Colin t. Campbell. They all know what they're talking about and most raised vegan children too.

A "whole foods plant based" diet is one of, if not the, most healthy diets for humans. This gives you one of the best shots at a long and healthy life from a diet perspective. It is also vegan. Note that this includes a B12 supplement.

Check out challenge22.com if you want free support for your first 22 days.

Vegan just over ten years. I have a learning disability that makes organisation and self care very difficult, so I've never been very good at taking regular supplements. I regularly go months without taking anything interspersed with maybe a week here and there of taking some. I also don't have a very healthy diet. Probably 75% junk food. I had my bloods done recently to specifically look for deficiencies associated with veganism, and my results came back good across the board, with only my cholesterol being a little elevated.

Edit to add. I'm not advocating for a junk food vegan diet. But if you can do better than 75% junk food and take your supplements regularly, I'm sure you'll be just fine.

About 24 years vegan. I found out at about 20 years that I'm soy intolerant, so that changed what I could eat and made eating out much more challenging. But I eat a whole lot of bean foods (and nuts, but I see that's not an option)

I've been vegan for almost twenty years. I feel great, have great physicals/blood tests, and am very active. 

Nobody can guarantee you long-term health. I could drop dead tomorrow. But I personally don't see any evidence that if I did, it would be related to me not consuming animal products. 

I'm closing in on 12 years. No issues so far.
Btw. back then I watched Forks over Knifes. It has some people in it that have been doing it for 50+ years.
Edit: Before becoming vegan I was vegetarian for 13 years. So almost 25 years without meat by now.

I have chronic health issues (genetic causes) and I have been vegan for almost ten years. If you are concerned you can potentially see a dietician to help you out especially due to the allergy restrictions

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Bruh. Yeah. It's easy, my blood work is always better than anyone my age. I just met up with a close friend yesterday and they said: I'm on cholesterol meds now have you been prescribed them yet? No. And I probably never will be.

I'm not deficient in anything and I never have been. I actually had somewhat high iron for a while and had to eat a bit less leafy greens and tofu.

Everyone always assumes I'm 5-10 years younger than I am and tbh that will continue happening. I've seen some 75 year old long term vegans that look like they're in their mature 40s. They ask me how I look so young. How I look younger than my brother who is younger than me. I tell them they won't like the answer and they never do. I just say I have been vegan for 15 years. That's pretty much the only difference in our lifestyle. He works out more than I do I guess.

I’ve been vegan for close to 20 years. I’m 38, an endurance athlete, and I’m in perfect health. I feel great, have energy to work ten hours on my feet manual labor, then run 5-10 miles after work. The only thing I actively try to do is get enough calories, get enough sleep, and drink enough water. Bloodwork always comes back perfect with the exception of low d or b12 if I’ve been missing my supplements

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I went vegan 38 years ago and am the healthiest person I know. Thirty-six years ago I had clinical B12 deficiency which I addressed with supplementation. I have grandchildren and they and our two children are all healthy.

I've seen some nasty stuff online about people losing their health after some time and going back to eating meat.

Odds are pretty good these people are suffering from some sort of eating disorder and they are using veganism is a way to rationalize that. You aren't guaranteed a good diet just because you're vegan, and you aren't guaranteed a poor one either. You need to do the work to find a diet that works for your specific needs. There will be ones out there for you.

but I do have multiple allergies. I cannot eat nuts, peanuts or gluten.

Beans, especially soy, are good sources of protein. You can also look into higher protein grains or pseudograins like quinoa. Also, consider protein isolates or mock meats that don't contain the allergens you're worried about.

Anyway, what I really want to know is: Has anyone been vegan for more than 10 years and is still healthy?

Over 15 years for me and I'm in pretty good health. I could use a little more sleep and less stress in my life, but my diet is serving me well. Note that compared to a lot of other vegans, I tend to eat much more fat in the form of vegetable oils like olive oil. If you are feeling tired or hungry, it is possible this will help you too: increase the fat and protein and cut the carbs.

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I'm been vegan for 13 years and was vegetarian for 10 before that. I'm 41 and a national level powerlifter. I've never been leaner or stronger than I am right now. I get blood tests regularly and they are all in a great position.

Please know you can be very healthy on a vegan diet.

I've been vegan for 10 years, no chronic diseases, but I'm also here to tell you that NO ONE can assure you of long term health for specifically you. Your health is uniquely yours, there are so many environmental and genetic factors at play, and diet is only one part of a healthy life.

Go vegan because it's the right thing to do, not as a magic pill to your ailing problems.

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I’ve been vegan 5 years now and am healthier than I’ve ever been in my life. I also don’t feel bloated and lethargic after meals. I feel like I’m doing my body a favour. I’ve been for full check-ups at my doctors and am in perfect health.

I've been vegan for 7 years. My blood work was really good the last time I had it done.

I find an omnivorous diet has more issues, and the issues it does have aren't so straightforward since the diet is more varied and people just kinda assume because it's the default that it's healthy. I've had a few issues in 4.5 years but they've been mostly easy fixes but I feel I've been generally healthier anyway. Take a B supplement, an iron supplement (but not everyday for both). And just be mindful of candida growth in the gut. Might not apply to everyone but it's something to be aware of if you eat a lot of gluten and sugar (for people generally).

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There's a YouTube channel called "Vegan Linked", where they've interviewed lots of long time vegans, some of them people in their 60s and 70s, many of them doctors or nutritionists. Some of them vegan since birth. 

They're long interviews going into a lot of detail, by real people. I really recommend it. 

I would mistrust very much those social media posts saying they've had horrible side effects after going vegan. We know already there's lots of paid bots discrediting veganism. 

Other than B12, you can easily get exactly the same nutrients on a vegan diet as on any omnivore diet. Being a healthy vegan, then, is entirely up to you. You can eat oreos and potato chips, or you can eat whole foods, or something in between. The majority of Americans eat meat and are unhealthy because of their diet. It's just a social media bias when we hear someone say "I went vegan and got sick" and we remember it. But when someone says "I have heart disease" we don't even consider that it's because of their diet.

All of the major health organizations say something along the lines of "Consuming plant-based diets is safe and effective for all stages of the life cycle, from pregnancy and lactation, to childhood, to old age."

People often say that if you go vegan, you need to learn about nutrition to make sure you're healthy... but we fail to mention that again, omnivores are extremely unhealthy all the time because of a lack of nutritional information OR because they simply don't want to eat healthy.

So, go vegan, and do a bit of learning about nutrition. Take a B12 supplement. There's no reason whatsoever why it should be problematic! Not any more so than any other diet.

I’ve been vegan for 5 years. Before I went vegan I ate like shit, and after becoming vegan I ate like shit for the first 4.5 years. My diet now is high protein, high vegetables and fairly low calorie (sometimes) and I feel healthier than I ever have.

Vegan or not if you eat like shit your health will reflect that and vice versa. I take supplements to make up for anything I miss in my food.

You'll want to discuss this with a board certified dietician, preferably one who specializes in plant-based diets. Especially if you have severe allergies. But the answer is yes, you can be "assured" of long-term health, so long as you are adequately supplementing, getting yearly bloodwork, and eating a varied diet with lots of different types of vegetables. Worst case scenario, veganism doesn't work out for your health and you can revisit your decision at that time!

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