No longer a Vegan after 11 years

So glad your health has improved. Most of the vegans I have known look far from healthy so I think you have made a wise choice.

similar story to youvumbal but I was vegetarian for 12 years ,when what I thought was persistent IBS turned out to be ulcerative colitis my GP thought I needed to expand my diet to include less veg .I still only eat tiny amounts of meat but I eat eggs and fish and my gut is just fine .It doesn't suit everyone .Glad you feel better .

For me as a vegetarian, it was depression. No longer vegetarian, although meat isn't an everyday thing.

I'm an unapologetic omnivore - but was surprised to read many years' ago that the Dalai Lama was not only not a vegan but not even a vegetarian!

I know only two practising vegans and they are both of Indian heritage.

I have total respect for those who choose to be vegans but I do wonder at the number of supplements those in my family consume. I did ask once but it was taken as a criticism so I remain ignorant.

Lack of B12 is a massive problem for vegans. It chiefly comes from animals, is essential for many bodily processes and some people have trouble absorbing it from food. It's harder to be a vegan than is sometimes suggested.

It would help those who support veganism if we treated animals properly and raised them in as natural a way and with as few drugs and growth promoters as possible.

Food produced in the US, with which we will shortly be inundated falls down on all these fronts.

A vegetarian friend of mine lives almost entirely on veg, cheese and pasta.....she has become very unhealthy and her GP has recommended steaks, liver and eggs.This was just recently so will wait and see if she improves.
We are meant to be omnivores really as it gives us all the health we need if following a balanced diet.

This was posted on a friends Facebook page today

Adam Day
If you wish to go through January without meat or dairy in your diet then that is up to you. However the reality is that your actions, won't save the planet, won't even have the slightest effect on the planet, and won't make you any healthier (quorn is nothing but ultra- processed, fermented mycoprotein - read up on it, you will be shocked!).

All you are doing is putting profit into the hands of greedy food manufacturers and retailers who desperately want to ride on the irrational wave of vegan moralism. Frankly it is bollocks........

So while you are "doing your bit", please remember that the dairy cows producing milk that you are going to turn your back on for a month, can't take a holiday. They still need milked two or three times and day whether you want to consume their produce or not.

Also the prime beef cattle, the lambs and pigs that produce great meat that you would normally enjoy and take for granted for 11 months of the year, still have to be sent to the butcher when they are in prime condition. Supermarkets will penalise the farmer for animals that are too heavy or too fat. This is the difference between a small profit or a substantial loss. So they have to go whether there is demand for them or not.

I guess it boils down to how important your local farmer and locally sourced food is to you. If you want to fill your trolley with dubious fake meat products of unknown origin, then it is your choice. But please be aware that your actions will have an effect on your local farmer.

Perhaps the better cause is moderation. Eat less meat if it suits you, but eat some and if possible eat locally- produced. This is far better for the planet. Our sustainable grass- based systems are often far healthier than the ingredients being shovelled in to non- meat products.

Fresh milk from the dairy is so much more sustainable and healthy than imported fake milk products made by almonds or soya. Come on, your getting wise to this now. You understand how these products are produced cheaply and imported thousands of miles across the world.

Looking after your local farmer will be a far better return in the long- run.

Still thinking vegan? if you really want to "do your bit", please think again.

Maybe watch the film Cow. Might help you change your mind.

I agree with Adam Day.
You may need a tin hat though JaneA ?

we eat local sourced meat but its a luxury. It's £20 for a 'large' chicken but it has been free range, corn fed. It is not as large as a supermarket chicken but the meat tastes so different and the texture is different too. Pork is cheaper if local, we have found. Beef you get what you pay for

Our farm shop butchery isn't cheap but eggs are a by product of their chickens and are extremely cheap for a massive tray, so we have just tried to change how we eat within our budget. It isn't a luxury open to everyone though

I went to a wedding a couple of years ago. Around a hundred guests to be catered for. Mostly carnivores but a reasonable percentage of veggies too. Just one vegan, my brother’s partner. She had to be catered for specially.

See I've posted luxury twice as I feel guilty we can afford to do it when really I am trying to be responsible too

janejudge I think you should substitute the word ‘luxury’ with the word ‘choice’ and then you wouldn’t feel guilty.
People are free to spend money they have earned as they wish.
It’s a travesty that some people in this country don’t have enough money to buy good food, but that doesn’t mean it’s the fault of those who do, or that good, sustainably and ethically produced food should be thought of as a luxury.

The term ‘luxury’ to me implies something that’s so expensive that you wouldn’t normally consider spending money on it. You might though, if you had a generous gift or windfall.
But if it’s a regular choice, then it’s just part of your overall budget and not a luxury.

And if we all become vegans what is going to fertilise all the soil for the veggies? Lots of lovely chemicals.

thanks janesainsworth, you are right

I don't know much about the vegan diet , however I assume if someone is vegan they have to plan their diet with great care in order to ensure appropriate nutrition that sounds like hard work to me. I am a meat eater and love fish. Always buy free range meat / eggs. Of course I respect the views of the those who don't want to consume meat , but it's not for me. I am sure most people have noticed the tv adverts that are pushing the vegan diet ! What are your views about that ?

As I have commented before, many people have allergies to swathes of foods on whixh vegan's rely.

My DDiL has an autoimmune disease and since it was diagnosed has become allergic to soya (seriously enough to carry an epipen, nuts and fresh fruit. With out meat, fish and dairy products, her diet would be both unbalanced and unhealthy.

janejudge every thing in our life that almost everyone takes for granted like electricity, gas and water networks, indoor loos, central heating, washing machines, fridges, decent beds, new clothing, good quality undoctored food started first as something only the well off could afford.

But those who bought all these expensive products, by their purchase made it possible to produce more of them, produce them more cheaply and make the luxury of the well off part of the life of almost every family in the country.

I hope by consistently buying good quality food from local producers, whether meat that has been grazed only on grass, without being fed corn or soya, bread from a local bakery that uses local organic flour, belonging to the Soil Association and supporting charities like Practical Action that develop environmental solutions to the problems affecting farmers in developing countries, i am supporting businesses that are part of our response to climate change and environmental protection when they are small, so that over time as these businesses grow they can produce more and more cheaply so that more and more people can benefit from the sustainablilty of their work.

For many vegans their diet is reliant on UPFs (ultra processed foods), like all those meat and dairy substitutes made from soya. These should only occur in healthy diets in small quantities.

They are also over reliant on imported food stuffs

Plenty of meat eaters don’t eat a healthy diet - obesity, heart disease, diabetes all diet related and common amongst meat eaters, …More knowledge of healthy choices would be better for all.Plenty of people with gut problems, IBS etc who are not vegan btw.

No many meat eaters do not eat a healthy diet, but most of them are people who have given neither time not thought to what they eat or lead their lives.

Vegans, we assume are people who have thought long and deeply about their life style and what they eat. Were you to compare them with a similar group of meat eaters, who have given as much thought and care to what they eat, I suspect you would find very little difference in their health.

Agree, vegans rock. And the diseases you mention are all harder to reverse than the problems people have had with veganism in the posts above. It's just more knowledge of healthy choices and, as everyone seems to accept now, things like low sugar baked beans on wholemeal toast are perfectly acceptable even though processed. It's lovely to cook from fresh everyday and buy farmshop meat but I think a lot of the "meat substitutes" that have proliferated are just trying to meet a market need & why some seem to think they're bad or exploitative is beyond me.

vegansrock the fact that meat eaters fall prey to various diseases doesn’t necessarily make the vegan diet a healthy choice.
Although diet has an influence on health, most conditions are multi-factorial.
There is a wealth of knowledge about healthy food choices. Most authorities agree that an omnivorous diet provides the best nutrition.

I didn’t say all meat eaters are unhealthy, but then neither are all vegans. The only per reviewed research I’ve read about comparing diets showed that vegans less likely to have diabetes, obesity and heart disease.

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?