The KInd Life Community Forum

I just finished reading "The Kind Diet" and I LOVED it. I've been vegetarian for about 4 years now, but it gave me the extra kick I needed to go vegan (and hopefully superhero someday)! I started blogging about it too (http://noticeverything.blogspot.com/) - I'm very excited to try all of the recipes.

Anyway, I'm a few days in now, and feeling ridiculously tired. I'm not a huge coffee / caffeine person, and I used to only have a cup maybe 2-3 times / week. I'm sleeping well, and very solidly, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of bed in the morning. I am exhausted and feel like I could sleep for hours. Is this normal? I workout regularly (2 hours of roller derby 3x a week, and am working to up that time with cross training), so I don't think it has to do with that.

I don't feel sick or anything, just tired all day, and having trouble waking up. Is that normal? Has anyone else experienced this?

Thank you in advance - I'm so happy to be here! :)

Hello, Sweet Dee (LOve your name btw, PERFECT!)

I'm a physician and one of the first things that pops into my mind when someone says that they might be feeling tired as a result of transitioning to a plant-based diet (vegan) is a potential lack of Iron in the diet. Sometimes when we switch (I am guilty as charged) we don't eat the most balanced of vegan diets as we are learning all the ins and outs and figuring out what works best for us. That's really very normal. In fact most people usually say they are either worried about not getting enough protein in their new diet or are craving meat.

This is also normal for new vegans think they're not getting enough protein, but if you're feeling, tired, weak, and craving 'meaty' foods, it's more likely the real culprit is iron. A prolonged lack of iron in the diet can lead to iron deficiency anemia, and menstruating women and teens are among the highest-risk groups. In North America and Europe, an estimated 10% of women and teens are not getting enough iron, regardless of diet.The US Recommended Daily Allowance of iron is 14.4 - 32.4 mg for women and 14.4 mg for men. Vegans need a bit more dietary iron than meat eaters because we get all our iron in non-heme form, which isn't absorbed as readily as the heme iron found in meat. Studies of dietary iron and serum ferritin (the form iron takes in the bloodstream after it is absorbed) suggest that although vegans tend to eat more iron, our serum ferritin levels are lower than meaters-- but they're still within the normal range.

(it's making me shut up for talking so much so I will continue on another post! Sorry!)

Hi there, I would say it's far too early for you to be feeling any potential ill effects of a vegan diet. I would guess it's probably the time of year that's left you so tired (if you're sure you don't have some kind of viral illness). I feel pretty wiped in deep winter no matter what my diet.

And just by way of qualification of earlier points made, while it's true a vegan diet is usually higher in dietary iron than a vegetarian diet, the larger portion of that is not absorbed- in some cases just a few percent of the iron. Make sure you combine your iron rich foods with vitamin C and soak and/or sprout nuts, seeds and legumes that you eat regularly and never drink tea or coffee with your food.

In my opinion, it is likely just adjustment or detox. The only ill-effects I experienced while transitioning were tiredness and extreme hunger for about the first two weeks, my boyfriend was also ravenous. We were hungry all the time for that period, but then our bodies adjusted. One of my friends went vegetarian a few months after and she was really tired after a few weeks. When I asked her what she was eating, it was clear she was mostly missing good carbs. Once she simply started adding a little brown rice to just her lunches - major change! I would suggest making sure your meals are well-balanced, whatever that means for you, but for me I try to go with at least 50% veggies, if not more, then some grains, and protein (though I may not make a specific protein, such as legumes, part of every meal as even veggies and grains have protein and I am not some huge athlete who needs to load up on it). Grains and protein are generally around 1/3 of a cup each, but I don't actually measure or anything. So I would suggest waiting a couple of weeks, take a look at your meals, and possibly adding a B vitamin complex to your diet - then see how you're feeling and if you need to make other changes. Good luck!

A couple of weeks after going vegan, I felt all of a sudden exhausted and low-energy for about five days. It might have had nothing to do with my diet, but I was more tired than I'd been in a long time. It went away, and now I'm more energetic than ever, I think. Maybe I wasn't eating enough leafy greens or whole grains, I'm not sure.

I'll be reading your blog, Beth. I've got a similar one if you're interested, which follows my exploits of being vegan for a few months and of trying to eat superhero (since Saturday, when I started Kind Diet recipes)! http://sassysoyfreevegetarian.blogspot.com/