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Can a Vegan Diet Be Unhealthy? A Field Guide to the Vegan Junk Food Apocalypse

  • Writer: Emanuele Bortolotto
    Emanuele Bortolotto
  • Jul 23
  • 7 min read

Updated: Sep 8




I was in Kamppi; Helsinki, the other day. Wandering through the snack aisle of the K Supermarket, when I witnessed a perfect, miniature drama. This young man picked up a bag of cheese-dusted tortilla chips, looked at it and sighed. Then, their eyes lit up. They saw a different bag of nearly identical tortilla chips, but this one had a glorious, green leaf on the front with the magic word: VEGAN. "No niin!" he said to their friend, "Otetaan ne terveelliset." (translation: All right, let's get the healthier ones)


I had to almost restrain myself from launching into a spontaneous, unsolicited lecture right there in the aisle. 😅 This moment perfectly captures one of the biggest and most dangerous misconceptions of our time: the "health halo." It’s the widespread, almost subconscious belief that if a product is labeled "vegan," it must also be "healthy."

As a curious investigator of these topics, this phenomenon fascinates me. We know that a diet rich in plants is good for us, but has the food industry cleverly co-opted the language of a moral and health movement to sell us the same old junk food, just without the whey powder? It led me to ask a fundamental, almost heretical question for a site like this: can veganism be unhealthy? The answer, I discovered, is a resounding and unequivocal yes.


The Vegan Halo Effect: Deconstructing a Modern Myth


The first step in this investigation is to make a crucial distinction, one that lies at the heart of this entire discussion. We have to separate the idea of a whole-food, plant-based diet from that of a processed, junk-food vegan diet. They are not the same thing. They are not even in the same sport.


  • A whole-food, plant-based diet is what most people picture when they think of "healthy veganism." It’s a diet centered on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. It’s a diet of actual plants.

  • A processed, junk-food vegan diet is a diet built on the ever-expanding universe of vegan convenience foods. It’s a world of vegan pizzas with oily cheese substitutes, ultra-processed fake meat burgers, sugary dairy-free ice creams, refined white pasta, and a universe of vegan crisps, cookies, and sweets.


Confusing these two is like confusing the Dragonborn with a town guard in the world of Skyrim. One is a master of their craft, equipped with powerful, nourishing gear. The other might look the part from a distance, but they’re ultimately just powered by sweet rolls and wishful thinking. 🥐 In the game of your health, you know the difference between a homemade potion brewed from mountain flowers and a sugary snack. The same exact logic applies to a vegan diet. The word "vegan" on the package is not a magic enchantment that automatically confers health benefits.


Anatomy of an Unhealthy Vegan Diet


So, what does an unhealthy vegan diet actually look like in practice? In my investigation, I found it’s typically characterized by a few key features.


The Beige Buffet: A World of Refined Carbohydrates


This is often the default for a lazy or new vegan. You cut out the meat, dairy, and eggs, but you replace them with… nothing. You just eat more of what’s left. This often leads to a diet heavy in refined carbohydrates: bowls of plain white pasta, sandwiches on fluffy white bread, sugary breakfast cereals, and white rice. While these foods provide energy, they have been stripped of most of their fiber, vitamins, and minerals. A diet built on them can lead to blood sugar spikes, energy crashes, and a general feeling of being under-fueled and vaguely unwell.


The Processed Paradise: The Rise of Vegan Junk Food


I have to admit, the innovation in the vegan food space is breathtaking. You can now find a plant-based version of almost anything, from pepperoni to parmesan. This is fantastic for helping people transition and for the occasional convenient treat. But a diet that relies on these products can be a nutritional disaster.

Many of these ultra-processed vegan foods, while free of animal products, are loaded with sodium, unhealthy saturated fats (often from coconut or palm oil), and a long list of unpronounceable ingredients. They are often designed in a lab to be hyper-palatable, just like their non-vegan counterparts. They can be a fun novelty, but they are not health foods. Building a diet around them is like trying to build a house out of cardboard. It might look like a house, but it has no structural integrity.


The Oil Slick: A Deluge of Empty Calories


Fat is an essential nutrient, but the source and quantity matter. A healthy vegan diet gets its fats from whole foods like avocados, nuts, and seeds, which come packaged with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. An unhealthy vegan diet is often drenched in refined oils. Fried foods, foods swimming in cheap vegetable oil, and dressings loaded with oil can send your calorie intake through the roof without providing much in the way of actual nutrition. This can easily lead to weight gain and inflammation.


The Missing Kingdom: A Diet Ironically Low in Plants


This is the greatest irony I discovered. It is entirely possible to be a vegan who barely eats any actual vegetables. If your diet consists of a vegan sausage sandwich for breakfast, a processed fake chicken wrap for lunch, and a vegan pizza for dinner, you may have gone the entire day without consuming a single, identifiable, whole plant. You are missing out on the very things that give a plant-based diet its incredible health benefits: the fiber, the antioxidants, the phytonutrients, and the vast array of vitamins and minerals.


The Nutritional Ghost Town: When Deficiencies Haunt You


This brings us to the most direct and dangerous way veganism can be unhealthy: nutrient deficiencies. A diet of vegan junk food is a nutritional ghost town, full of empty calories but devoid of the essential nutrients your body needs to thrive. The risks are the same as those in any poorly planned diet, but they are worth repeating here.


  • The B12 Black Hole: This is the big one. If you are eating a vegan diet and not supplementing with Vitamin B12, you are on a direct path to a serious, potentially irreversible neurological deficiency. Processed vegan foods are sometimes fortified, but relying on them is a risky, inconsistent strategy. A supplement is the only guarantee.


  • The Anemic Irony: It’s ironic that a person can eat a high-calorie vegan diet and still be anemic, but it’s entirely possible. If you’re not eating iron-rich foods like lentils, beans, and spinach, you can easily become deficient, leading to chronic fatigue and weakness. Especially if you don't supplement-


  • The Brittle Bone Brigade: Calcium and Vitamin D are essential for bone health. If you’re swapping dairy milk for an unfortified, sugary plant milk and not ensuring other sources of calcium (like fortified tofu or leafy greens), you could be putting your long-term bone density at risk.


  • The Omega-3 Void: Your brain needs DHA for optimal function. This is not found in vegan junk food. A lack of this crucial fat, found in algae, can contribute to brain fog, mood issues, and inflammation.

An unhealthy vegan diet isn't just unhealthy because of what it includes (salt, sugar, bad fats); it's unhealthy because of what it lacks.



Questions from the Internet: "So what actually happens to your body when you go on an unhealthy vegan diet?"


Based on my research into both nutrition science and anecdotal reports, a person switching to a poorly planned, junk-food-heavy vegan diet can expect a few unpleasant outcomes. Initially, they might feel okay, but over time, they’ll likely experience chronic fatigue and low energy due to a lack of iron and B12. They could experience weight gain, just as anyone would on a diet high in processed foods and refined oils. They might also suffer from digestive issues, not from too much fiber, but from a diet of processed junk that can harm the gut microbiome. Over the long term, they open themselves up to all the health risks associated with a poor diet: heart disease, poor bone health, and neurological issues. 😥


Questions from the Internet: "Are vegan meat substitutes bad for you?"


"Bad" is a strong word. I think a better word is "suboptimal." Let's be clear: from a cardiovascular perspective, a well-made veggie burger is almost certainly a better choice than a fatty beef burger. It has zero cholesterol and often less saturated fat. However, it is still a highly processed food product, often very high in sodium.

My conclusion is that these products are fantastic transitional tools and perfectly fine as an occasional treat. They are the bridge that can help people move away from eating animals. But should they form the foundation of a healthy vegan diet? Absolutely not. The foundation should always be whole plant foods.


One of the first signs that an unplanned vegan diet is going wrong can be a change in the health of your hair, skin, and nails. If you're worried about this, I've investigated the specific nutrient links in another deep dive: [Can Veganism cause hair loss?] 🧑‍🦲


The Conclusion: The Label Is Not a Magic Wand


So, after this investigation, what’s the final verdict? Can veganism be unhealthy? The answer is a clear and resounding YES.

A diet of processed, high-sodium, high-sugar, low-nutrient food is unhealthy, full stop. The fact that it has a "vegan" label on it is completely irrelevant to your biology. The word "vegan" is not a magic wand that transforms a cookie into a health food. ✨

This is not an indictment of veganism. It is an indictment of our modern food environment and a call to be smarter consumers. It's a reminder that the incredible, scientifically-proven health benefits of a plant-based diet are found in, well, plants. They are found in the lentils, the sweet potatoes, the kale, the berries, and the beans.

The power to have a truly healthy or a truly unhealthy diet is entirely in your hands. The path to health is not about what you exclude, but about what you include. A healthy vegan diet is one that is joyfully and abundantly full of whole plant foods.



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