The KInd Life Community Forum
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Hi all,
I'm having a problem just trusting anything I hear I guess. I really want to be able to transition into a kinder diet and life but every time I start researching or even just turning on the internet it seems there is something going on about people on vegan diets who are having major health problems. Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Maybe someone who has been vegan a long time and knows others in this lifestyle who are healthy and happy. There are even a lot of people on here who are having problems with it it seems. Any comfort would be greatly appreciated. : )
Hi Michelle! I have been vegan for about 2 1/2 years now, and my health is improving steadily every week. I cannot speak for everyone, but for myself, when I initially went vegan I was already having health problems and I went vegan to try and alleviate some of them. It worked for me! Many of my problems went away quickly, others gradually, and others I found out about along the way but they were there the whole time. There is a lot of propoganda out there to deter people from trying a vegan lifestyle but you need to take it a day at a time and listen to what your body is telling you. Most of the time, people have been so unkind to their bodies for so long that once they start taking care of themselves they go through a terrible detox period- it could last for a while or it could come and go. But some people mistakenly think the vegan diet caused the problems when it is really just a sign that the body is finally working to cleanse itself. Hope this helps!
Thank you, yes that does help. I guess I didn't really think of the detoxing part of it all. And I know some people really go to extremes when it comes to diet so maybe the stories I read are a big part of that.
Hi Michelle. You also have to consider the source; there's a lot of anti-vegan propaganda out there sponsored by the meat and dairy industries.
I've been vegan for almost three years. Lost 20 lbs, my skin and hair look great, and best yet my chronic digestive problems are gone. I do have my doctor check my B12 levels every once in a while as B12 is the one vitamin you really have to worry about on a vegan diet.
The problem is that eating a somewhat restrictive diet which is what most would consider a 100% plant food vegan diet to be, needs to be done with care or can be done wrong. Vegan is not the type of diet where you can live mostly on mock soy burger/meat products, chips/poor grains and carbs and sweets. You would get more nutrition from the real alternatives should to being more nutrient dense than some of these wheat protein based mock meat vegan foods.
So care must go into getting enough calories, different varities of foods so you are getting exposure to different nutrients, supplementing and monitoring levels of vitamin B12, iodine, vitamin D3, zinc and other "problematic" nutrients vegans are often low in. Which is why it is often easy if eating a poor diet and really largely on processed vegan foods that you can have problems with a plant based diet.
Amla & Vegan Blog
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