Calling all vegans and vegetarians

I've been a vegan for over a year now. Like anything else, you can still eat crappily and be a vegan, and it took a little while to figure out that calorie-dense/nutrient poor food can keep a person from meeting goals whether the foods are vegan, omni, or anything in between. I've since lost over 40 pounds, and am fitter, leaner, and more active than ever. I'm happy to offer tips/advice/resources, just let me know what specific questions you have, feel free to ask. I'm only on the forums sporadically, so feel free to send a direct message as well. Good places to start: Forks Over Knives (movie, website); Engine 2 Diet (book, website); Jeff Novick, RD (person with website, books, DVDs). Jeff Novick has a great little article discussing nutrien density and calorie density, and specific pitfalls people fall in which they don't often recognize.

I'll look over your diary and see if I notice anything in particular. Good luck!

http://www.gnolls.org/1444/does-meat-rot-in-your-colon-no-what-does-beans-grains-and-vegetables/

Please ignore the Paleo part of it unless you have interest. I posted the link because of the science involved. He sends you on a trip through digestion and it's pretty interesting (and why you can have gastrointestinal issues from a lot of veggies). So I'm not trying to offend any v**ans or try and push meat on anyone. I support everyone in their journey to health. I know what works for me won't work for the next person.

I've dealt with a lifetime of digestive issues (hiatal hernia, indigestion, IBS and the symptoms that go with it, stomach pains, spasms in the gut, etc.). Primal Blueprint relieved me of all of them (but N=1) after 6 months of following a healthy standard american diet helped that helped me lose weight but wasn't helping my health. I found this out purely by experiment. It also got rid of my eczema, my blemishes which would come out like painful welts, my belly, the dark circles under my eyes, my daytime sleepiness, etc. In fact, Mark Sisson's (Founder of Primal Blueprint) son is a vegetarian.

If you have gastrointestinal issues this article might help some. It could be the insoluble fiber:

http://chriskresser.com/got-digestive-problems-take-it-easy-on-the-veggies

He talks about certain types of veggies that can upset the gut. You can switch ones out and see which ones affect you (be your own scientist). There are foods on both lists that I can and can't tolerate. And please ignore his comparison of beef and beef liver to fruit/vegges - it's a Paleo-based site. But there's still a lot of good information on these sites for vegatarians and vegans, too. It just doesn't involve grains or legumes.

My man's stepmother has been taking medications for severe acid reflux for about 30 years or more. She removed bread from her diet recently on the advice of her sister - and she has stopped the medication - it was instant. She still eats grains just no longer as bread. It's even something worth trying out.

My gut is healing. I'm so happy about that. But I still can't tolerate raw fibrous veggies - and grains inflame it bad (no I'm not celiac). I have to cook all my veggies. Broccoli is probably the worst and I love it. *sigh*

Hi there! :flowerforyou:

I'm in the same boat, and last month, Lindsay Nixon of The Happy Herbivore wrote a GREAT piece addressing this precisely. Here's a link to her Top 10 reasons the weight loss stops, even when eating plant-based.

Hope this helps!

http://getmealplans.com/blog/2012/07/12/get-out-of-diet-rut/

Edited to add: Being honest, I found I was guilty of several of these.