"Vegan, oh, a friend of mine has been there, she had to stop for health reasons."

Do you know it as well? This urban legend about the "friend" who has gotten sick because of veganism is haunting me. I'm willing to admit that there may be cases when living vegan could turn into a problem (for examples when there are food allergies in the picture), but mostly I'm tempted to say, "You were doing it wrong."

Ladies and gentleman, EATING VEGAN IS NOT HEALTHY BY NATURE.

#1 You cannot simply forego animal products without changing your diet. Take care to get enough calcium, zinc, and cobalamin. You find them in broccoli, soy beans, nuts, spinach, sauerkraut... If you're worried about not getting enough cobalamin, just take a supplement, there are plenty of them perfect for vegans.

#2 You could live vegan on fries, pasta, white bread and chips... doesn't mean that you should. An unbalanced diet will make you sick - no matter if it is vegan or not. Eat fruits, vegetables, grains, beans. Choose colors. Try something new.

#3 Enjoy the sun! That's right, the big dazzling ball up there is perfect to build vitamin D - just don't get a sunburn ;-) Spinach would be another good source for vitamin D.

There are good books on the topic (for example Vegan Nutrition by Gill Langley), and while going vegan shouldn't turn into a science, you should know what you do. Also, knowledge is a weapon when it comes to urban myths and stupidity.