No longer a Vegan after 11 years

Georgesgran

Pedant warning!
It’s bugged me for ages when people say they’re vegan when what they are doing is following a vegan diet. As I understand it - a true vegan doesn’t use, wear, or consume anything from fish/animal/bird sources?

yes I understand this too....no honey, no products where bees are used for controlled pollination....there are other issues too. Some vegan products, notable avocado are notoriously bad for the planet.
I am another person who cannot be vegan or even veggie due to digestive issues. I have tried but cannot do it.

Linda MCartney was vegetarian - it didn’t prevent her dying from cancer, the guy who started the jogging for health empire died young. If you read with an open mind, you will see that a number of the afflictions associated with ’bad diet’ eg. dairy, red meat, cheese, pastry etc. etc are based on research of reasearches on dodgy scientific premises. Clinical trials are of limited value because we cannot know if diet, as opposed to genetic predisposition, is the cause of an individual’s death. The probable answer is in variety and moderation.

My niece recently announced that she is a non-binaryvore. This evidently allows her group to claim they are vegan or carnivore depending on the day and the company they are in.
I pointed out that that made her omnivore, but she said no, because on vegan days they don’t eat or wear animal products.
She’s promised to let me know which she is when they visit next month (Covid permitting). Such fun!

Georgesgran

Pedant warning!
It’s bugged me for ages when people say they’re vegan when what they are doing is following a vegan diet. As I understand it - a true vegan doesn’t use, wear, or consume anything from fish/animal/bird sources?

Yes, that is no wool, leather, skin, fur, honey et . It is difficult as cars tend to have leather seats. No quite sure what vegans did for clothes before the invention of nylon etc. Will have to ask my daughter. She has been vegetarian then vegan most of her life and has been a successful athlete and now runs marathons, she is careful what she eats.

It is a way of life not a diet.

Being vegan was a choice I made and like some it didn't work out for me. I respect that everyone will be taking a different approach to their life and health. To be truthful I'm envious of those who are able to eat whatever and whenever they like with no consequence. But the path I'm now on seems to be working.

PS We all need a lil' helper - mine is chocolate - love the stuff. Probably not a good health choice

Fkexitarian seems to be a healthy option for many.

Every body's body has their own general and specific food requirements. "One man's food is another's poison"

How are vegans to blame for imported tomatoes? 60% of food is imported including meat and fish from the other side of the world.

I agree with a lot in this post jainansworth as in most things in life the answer lies in the middle ground and moderation

Really it is all about BALANCE.

We need a variety of foods to sustain our health so going down one exclusive route is very questionable.

I am not very good at labels as they tend to restrict growth but surely it is common sense to eat meat protein, veg protein, carbohydrates in a variety of forms and leaving out anything that is Processed and not in big quantities?

And please do not get me started on the damage this Vegan fad will impose on the efficacy of the soil in which we grow crops. And no matter how hard we try we cannot grow hot country fruit and veg.

Have any of you seen the enormous swathes of plastic that cover Iberian grown crops - lettuce, tomatoes etc? Not just a few hundred hectares either. Ghastly and so unhealthy.

NO BALANCE

And my last visit to the doctors a few weeks ago, I was advised to eat plenty of meat and fish.

Throughout my long life I have had a varied healthy diet without additives. Was advised to eat red meat because of anaemia and oily fish to relieve osteoporosis. Don’t eat sweets apart from dark chocolate. I still cook my own meals and bread even though it is an effort but it does give me something to do. Am shocked at the lists of chemicals listed on the packets of supermarket foods.
Both my niece and granddaughter were vegetarians until they had children and are now just on varied diets.o

I have been vegetarian for about years. I don’t smoke or drink. My doctor is very pleased with my life style and says if everyone adopted this lifestyle he would be out of a job. By the by, vegetarian women don’t experience the ill effects of menopause. In cultures where the diet is mainly plant based, the ‘change of life’ isn’t an issue for women.

Following my cancer "journey", I took the advice of my clinical dietician.
No meat, no dairy.
This means I eat eggs and a small amount of fish, as well as all things vegan.
I feel very well.
Adam Day's article assumes that animals would still be bred for meat, if the majority of the population turned vegan. Idiot.

So you dislike vegans because you think they think they are better than you? Strange.
All those arguments about neanderthals and teeth are ridiculous. Ever looked at gorilla’s teeth? Wonder how many using that argument really follow a neanderthal diet ? Killing their own prey and eating basic fruit etc.
People who really believe cows and pigs lead happy lives should watch Cowspiracy and Forks over Knives on Netflix.

I am pleased for your improved health Vumbal. I genuinely wonder what was missing from your vegan diet that had an effect after so long? Have you found out?

I was vegetarian for 33 years before going vegan 4 years ago. I'm 62, take a daily multi vit - on no other medication - and healthy. I get my B12 directly from my diet and not via an animal who produces it from theirs.

Veganism is a personal choice. I never understand why vegans come in for such criticism because we choose not to take part in the cruel meat and dairy industries. Believe me, I've heard all the arguments. I also wonder if 'animal lovers' who are carnivores truly know what happens in the process of getting their food to their tables - and I don't just mean the end process.

We do other things to reduce our carbon footprint too - drive electric (which is also heavily criticised), recycle etc. Every little helps.

Each to their own and as I said originally - glad you feel better Vumbal.

I firmly believe that an omnivorous diet is best for most of us unless we have problems with particular foods such as wheat, dairy or shelfish. Humans have evolved as omnivores, so our digestive systems can provide the best nutrition for us if we ingest a wide and varied diet.
Following a more restricted diet involves a lot more effort to get all the nutrients we need and many people just don't have the knowledge to achieve that, particularly for children.
I do appreciate that some people can achieve this though.

As a vegetarian for the last 40 years, I think we all make our own choices as to where our boundaries lie. I would find veganism very difficult and restricting. I don’t think I would have enough confidence in my nutritional knowledge to bring up a child on either a vegetarian or vegan diet.
My lovely GD is vegetarian until it comes to KFC or McDonalds!

When I went back to Uni one of the units, I took was environmental politics. It had a massive impact on me and changed the way I lived, forever.
In the first months I didn’t eat for weeks,I didn’t buy any clothes, makeup, cleaning products, and so on. It made me so depressed. From there I moved to being a veggie. I too have digestive problems I progressed into a vegan diet. I became so ill, I had terrible joint pain, tiredness, dizziness, low mood, headaches and so on. I actually collapsed, my doctor said I wasn’t absorbing vitamins and I was very vitamin and mineral deficient. I was told at the hospital a vegan diet wasn’t always a healthy one. I went back to adding milk, cheese and eggs to my diet. I went back to good health in about 9 months.
I know someone who switched to a vegan diet after having a stoke and reports to never being so well. Lots of people in my dance class follow it and seems fine but I just think it doesn’t suit everyone. If you have digestive problems you may have to take medication that makes it difficult to absorb different vitamins and veganism can exasperate that.

The idea that vegans become so as the result of an ‘ethical’ choice, thus implying that non vegans are morally suspect and ethically inferior is a large part of the reason why I dislike veganism.

Another thing ? The BIGGEST problem with the "western " diet is so called refined or as I call them, pretend foods! White plastic bread plastic meats/cheeses. Msg /over salting. Antioxidants emulsifiers PALM OIL!!!!! Over reliance on what mum called"fancy" fad food. Oh but it's too common to have good nutritious fish and chips occasionally, or make a bog standard shepherds pie/spag bol/ sausage and mash! All the la-de-dah gunner grahams have got the west in a stranglehold of crap they convinced them in 50s
(post war after eating frugally only what was available and never been so fit and healthy) was the new "modern" way to eat!non of that good old fashioned plain food for them! Time we all got over our stupid selves and got back to basics.and stopped ranting about killing the planet, stop buying the crap and it will be better all round!

I haven't eaten meat for going on 30 years. During that time I ate fish, eggs and dairy but over the past three or four years I've found it distasteful to consume those things too, so I'm moving closer to vegan - except for cheese! I do find it hard to give up cheese. I do have ethical concerns about eating meat, though largely I must say I would simply find it horrible to put lumps of animal corpses in my mouth and eat things that have been bloody. I'm 65 and pretty healthy. I have a good, varied diet and never been deficient in anything.

Vegans can be perfectly healthy! One of my daughters, my niece and her partner all vegan and the niece has just given birth to her first child, a bouncing 9 lb boy at 41!

I have been a vegetarian for over fifty years and nothing would make me put bits of a dead animal in my mouth again.

A vegan diet is no less healthy than an onmi diet. It’s ridiculous to say otherwise. It may not be for everyone but it is better for the planet. Also, it’s really cruel to consume meat and dairy. The animals , organic/local/whatever suffer so much. Long gone are the days of smaller local farms and local slaughter. For the vast majority of these poor creatures it’s unimaginable cruelty and suffering. If people want to carry on consuming them in that knowledge and don’t care about sustainability then that’s up to them! But the negativity around veganism is a joke. I can only think people do it to try to justify their personal choices. Why else would you criticise those that chose compassion and kindness over the misery and suffering of sentient creatures.

Fernhillnana

The level of misinformation and ignorance here is astounding. Check out the carbon footprint of your beef and compare it to say tofu before you judge. That B12 “missing” from vegan diets…you know that farmed animals are supplemented with it right? Farmed animals are stuffed with antibiotics, hormones, endless growth enhancers. That’s one of the reasons the western diet is making people obese. I’m sorry to say but your allegiance to meat, dairy and fish consumption is killing the planet. And it’s killing you.

Why! Tofu you say? DH hospitalised with sever stomach probs after eating bloody tofu!!! Some are ragingly allergic to the stuff no non runner there........