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Feeling very tired...

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greenseater said #1 Feb 25, 2010 at 3:17pm

Been vegan, minus 4 days, since Jan 1st and lately I've been having days when I'm abnormally exhausted. I sleep a full night and when I wake up and all throughout the day it's as if I never slept and I feel so wiped out like I could sleep for days. Last week on one of those tired days I was resting on the couch thinking about what I've been eating and what could the problem be. I've been eating fruits, veggies, a protein of tofu or seitan, lots of quinoa, nuts and taking my B12/multi vitamin sups. Then the idea of steak popped into my head and I couldn't shake it. So I ate a small steak and very soon after I felt normal again and the next day when I woke up I felt like I had a good nights sleep.

So my question is: what am I doing wrong? If being vegan is staying away from meat and all animal products and the meat I ate perked me up and I felt better then what should I eat non-meat that will give me the same effect/energy as eating meat?
Thanks!

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Christy said #2 Mar 2, 2010 at 3:14pm

You must have missed some sort of nutrients in your diet that the steak provided. How is your iron intake? Low iron = low energy (aka anemia). Amino acids are also important as they assist and rebuild the cells in our organs. I sometimes throw on my salad or cooked veggies Braggs liquid aminos.

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Christy said #3 Mar 2, 2010 at 3:15pm

Oh, and the best way to get vitamins in your system is from your diet, not supplements. Our bodies can't always absorb the supplements so it is good to have a nutrient based diet.

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greenseater said #4 Mar 3, 2010 at 2:30pm

Christy,
Thanks for the reply and suggestions. I will try those and eat some of the beets I got recently as I too think it's an iron issue. I have Bragg's aminos(yay!) so I'll try that out.
I find this to be very frustrating as I've hit this wall and can't seem to get around it when it comes to energy and getting the things I need outside of the meat/dairy world. I know I'm supposed to eat a well rounded amount of foods but it's like a guessing game and I feel like I'm playing it partially blind. I just discovered this week for example that eating alot of grains can deplete zinc in the body and cause tiredness etc. . I've never read about this fact in the past year I've been reading up on veganism. All I've been reading is "grains are good for you! Eat alot of them!". This also explains the other part of my tiredness as I've been eating a different kind of grain daily for the past 2 months now. Very frustrating.


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