Should I Vegan? Broad topic.
slingshotsparro
Posts: 34 Member
In the last 24 hours, I have begun an interest in a vegan lifestyle. I am even looking at a serious set of vegan hiking boots called the "mountain masochists". (love that name). I have dabbled in Vegetarian lifestyle at one point, but gained enormous amounts of weight. (I subbed most of my meats for cheese. Honest mistake.)
Aside from the obvious planetary effect, and humanitarian statements, I am also curious about how this will affect my dieting efforts. I am a huge over eater. And an emotional eater. And I have limited impulse control. The theory is that a vegan diet may be what I need to give my diet some guidance. Unfortunately, I think that extra restriction will only send me spiraling into an overeat of defiance and enormous proportions.
Tell me about your experiences having to do with this subject matter. Is Veganism something you have tried or are trying now? Have any of you tried and then been unsuccessful? Is this something you would never consider? Do you have a lack of impulse control, or have a high rebellion rate to restriction? Chime in!
Aside from the obvious planetary effect, and humanitarian statements, I am also curious about how this will affect my dieting efforts. I am a huge over eater. And an emotional eater. And I have limited impulse control. The theory is that a vegan diet may be what I need to give my diet some guidance. Unfortunately, I think that extra restriction will only send me spiraling into an overeat of defiance and enormous proportions.
Tell me about your experiences having to do with this subject matter. Is Veganism something you have tried or are trying now? Have any of you tried and then been unsuccessful? Is this something you would never consider? Do you have a lack of impulse control, or have a high rebellion rate to restriction? Chime in!
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I am a vegan! I have been since last May. I love it. I feel lighter and less bloated all the time. I have more energy and have gotten sick less. (This is all just what I personally have experience). There are some great documentaries on Netflix you should check out for info about the health benefits of switching to plant based. Forks Over Knives, Food Matters, The Engine 2 Diet and more!
Add me as a friend if you want some support!0 -
I was vegan for about a year in the middle of an 8-year span of vegetarianism. You have to eat carefully to make sure you get enough nutrients. I got really sick when I first started out because I thought I could just cut stuff out of my diet and be fine. WRONG. I had to drink Spirutein shakes (the vanilla is pretty good with grape juice!) and really load up on vegetables and legumes to get healthy again. Please research how to eat a healthy vegan diet.
In terms of weight loss, you have to be careful with all the vegan products these days, because it's easy to overeat them and think it's ok since it's vegan. Yes, I've seen overweight vegans who don't cheat ever!
The bottom line is, do what you feel is right. Try it and if after a couple of weeks, you find yourself obsessed with dairy or meat, maybe it's not right for you.0 -
i was vegetarian for two years and gained a lot of wight, thru over eating dairy and take aways. I've now been vegan for 7 weeks. i love it
it's helped tremendously with my weight loss as i can't just snack on crap like chocolate, cheese, fast foods etc.
there are a LOT of vegan alternatives where i live (in the UK) vegan yogurts, milk, cheese, chocolate, mayo even mock meat produce etc.
i eat a lot of whole foods now and feel a lot more energetic, my skin has cleared up a lot and I've lost 16lbs in the first month of being vegan.
i went vegan for ethical reasons but i personally think it is a great health boost for your body.
if you do decide to go vegan, make sure you buy some vegan multi-vitamins.
add me on here if you like, i log my diary everyday and I'm always willing to answer any question just in-box me
Iesha0 -
Why would you do that? Chicken, pork and Beef are delicious.0
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Broad answer: yes.0
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I am a vegan! I have been since last May. I love it. I feel lighter and less bloated all the time. I have more energy and have gotten sick less. (This is all just what I personally have experience). There are some great documentaries on Netflix you should check out for info about the health benefits of switching to plant based. Forks Over Knives, Food Matters, The Engine 2 Diet and more!
Add me as a friend if you want some support!
I watched "veducated" on netflix last night. It's kinda what started this thought process.0 -
You may want to post this in Happy Herbivores, there are a lot of vegans, vegetarians, v*gans of various descriptions, and "flexitarians" who would weigh in there.
I have been vegetarian for ten years. At first, the strength of my convictions kept me from caving to "temptation" (it seems so ridiculous now!) I had a script that I would think about whenever I was finding it hard to resist. If you want to make a change and you think you will be tempted, make sure your reasons are very clear to yourself. Write them down, put them in a little list that you can remember. That helped me a lot; when I really stopped to think about it, it was not worth it.0 -
Why would you do that? Chicken, pork and Beef are delicious.
I watched a documentary depicting the treatment of livestock, and the conditions that they are subjected to. I just got sick over it. I may not end up being vegan for long, and I am certainly not starting today. But it gave me some serious "food" for thought.0 -
I am experimenting with vegetarianism and veganism (although right now I'm more pescatarian because sushi is love), but if you have Netflix, two things on there to watch are "Forks Over Knives" and "Vegucated." Changed my life, along with reading "The China Study."
Surprisingly, I really don't miss meat much at all. I occasionally want fried chicken when everyone else is eating it, but that's the worst it gets. And I honestly feel better.0 -
I tried it but got copper poisoning from it, just do some research and make sure it's well balanced diet0
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Well it's easy to still overeat and have a vegan diet. If you overindulge, it will not give you anymore restrictions than you have now. You can easily overeat on vegan food and there is lots of vegan junk food like oreos, chips, sodas, ect. If you are hoping that the restrictions of a vegan diet will help you meet your goals without addressing your issues of over eating then I wouldn't suggest trying to go vegan for that goal.0
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It doesn't have to be a big decision and you don't have to switch overnight. Start by educating yourself on plant-based foods and adding some vegan meals to your diet. You might find that you segue easily into a vegan lifestyle. Other posters are correct though that vegan does not necessarily mean healthy. So, you need to think about what you are eating and why, rather than just animal products vs. no animal products.0
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Why would you do that? Chicken, pork and Beef are delicious.
this.
I like my animal products, and would never get enough usable protein from veggies.0 -
Look into the McDougall diet. Or the Pam Popper diet. Or the Esselstyn diet. Or the Ornish diet. Or the Engine 2 diet. Or the Neal Barnard diet.
All of these are a whole foods, plant-based approach to eating. No meat, no fish, no dairy or cheese, no oil. NO LIMIT on whole wheat bread, potatoes, rice, legumes, fruit, or all the other vegetables. I've been doing this for 9 weeks, and I feel and perform like I took 20 years off the clock. My lifting has improved. My rando ski racing times have drastically improved. My weight is back to my summer 2012 best weight.
For more information search Youtube for: Tedx Kathy Freston, John McDougall the Starch Solution, Bill Clinton Esselstyn, Rip Esselstyn Engine 2, Tedx Vegan Bodybuilding.0 -
Why would you do that? Chicken, pork and Beef are delicious.
this.
I like my animal products, and would never get enough usable protein from veggies.
Smokers like tobacco too.
Vegetables have all the protein you need. And you can skip the eventual heart attack or stroke when you reach your senior years.0 -
Don't go Vegan for health as there are a lot of unhealthy vegans out there. Being vegan doesn't mean you will be healthy.
If you decide to go Vegan make sure you do your research. There are a lot of things out there that you would think are vegan that aren't normally unless labelled as such (McDonald's fries in a lot of countries, Jello, some regular Sugar, marshmallows, etc). You need to research to ensure you are not consuming non-vegan foods as well as to ensure you will still get proper nutrients in your diet. Also, you will need to decide if you will be a vegan or follow a vegan diet. Full vegans will not consume anything that has animal products in it, they won't use products that were tested on animals, and they will not use/wear anything that has any animal products in it (a lot of cosmetics, lotions, shampoos, soaps, leather clothing, etc).
I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian and it took a lot of research and such to ensure I was getting proper nutrition from my diet. I would love to go Vegan however due to finances I can't right now as a lot of vegan alternatives (mayos, cheese, yogurts, etc) are fairly expensive where I am.0 -
Why would you do that? Chicken, pork and Beef are delicious.
this.
I like my animal products, and would never get enough usable protein from veggies.
totally agree with this, I could never go without meats and other delicious things, God gave them to us to eat and that's what I'm going to do0 -
If you are seriously interested in it you should try it, sounds like others who have like it...but from what you said that you may need to find a way to control your urges/portions in general instead of putting a vegan bandaid on it? You can still over-eat vegan food and restricting yourself that much may backfire. Just a thought.
I personally like dairy, meat and too many other things to consider it as an option!0 -
I've been vegan for 3 years now; vegetarian for about 5 years before that. Ditto what everyone else has said regarding the need to really be conscious of what you're eating so that you achieve a healthy balance. It's totally do-able!!
As far as losing weight - going vegetarian then vegan didn't help me with that. In fact, I was running 3 miles/day, 4 days/ week, doing Jillian Michaels on my non-run days, and walking to work 4 times/week (2 miles). The scale never budged. It wasn't until I joined MFP and became aware of my calorie intake that I began to see that change. I did the crazy 1210 calories at first, and lost, then plateaued. I've now switched to TDEE. Eating 1785 calories (TDEE -20%). While I've only lost one pound (I just switched about 2 weeks ago), the change in my body has been surprising...in a great way!!
You'll still have to deal with the issues you described (overeating, emotional eating), but it's a great trade-off in terms of all the reasons you listed for wanting to make the switch. Good luck to you!!0 -
Vegetables have all the protein you need. And you can skip the eventual heart attack or stroke when you reach your senior years.
Tobacco = / = meat
And veggies aren't going to net me 180+ grams of protein per day........There's a reason there isn't an abundance of vegan bodybuilders or elite level athletes who are vegans........
I'll gladly take the potential health risks that come along with enjoying the foods I love and being able to meet my current fitness goals.0 -
I was vegan for eight years before switching back to eating meats. I'm fairly lactose-intolerant, so not eating dairy wasn't a big deal for me. Giving up steak was, since I lived in Texas when I started and the beef available to me was very humanely treated.
I did end up gaining weight, and whilst I felt "lighter" I lost a lot of my strength. I feel a bit healthier now that I'm eating meat again, and trust me, I was eating a very well balanced vegan diet. Some people do very well on a vegan diet, and others don't have the body to handle it. My body doesn't process non-animal based fats and proteins as efficiently. It took me a long time to get over myself and my feelings of failure to eat a piece of chicken again, and it took me over a year to be able to physically stomach beef again. I still love vegan foods, but I go out of my way to support local farmers who grow multiple crops and raise rare breeds of livestock (humanely). I also found that when I went vegan I used grains as a crutch for my diet moreso than when I wasn't vegan.
Just my two cents. I hope whatever you choose works for your body!0 -
You can definitely overeat as a vegan and it's not going to be some magical cure all weight loss trick. However, health and environment-wise, it's a great thing.
I've been near vegan - I can give up dairy but I just can't give up eggs. My advice is to start slow - do the research and try different vegan options to see what you like. Because there are a lot of good vegan alternatives out there...and a lot of gross vegan alternatives. It might be discouraging if you dive right in and don't like any of the options you are choosing and then you might overeat on other things.
I would suggest reading books written by Brendan Brazier. He's an endurance athlete and a vegan. They way I see it is, if he can win a 50km marathon and eat a plant-based diet, he's got it figured out.0 -
There is a widespread assumption that veganism is more "ethical" and has the least environmental impacts of all possible eating plans. I would suggest that you do some research and also consider the views, and published material, of vegans who are no longer vegans due to a variety of reasons. Research topics such as agricultural practices of mono-cultured crops (past, present, variety of methods, politics; also what it takes to replicate the nutrient cycle when animals are removed from farming-soil is alive and must eat), anthropology (esp medical observations on how changing diet affects aboriginal peoples, none of which are, or ever have been, vegan), physiology, health, food politics, globalization, hydrology/watershed management, etc.
While it is my opinion that animals have to be part of a healthy agricultural system and are essential to diet (I live with Inuit so I might know a thing or two about whether eating animals is natural or healthy) I do NOT agree that animals should ever be mistreated. The current system of removing animals from the fields and to confine them on factory farms is completely unacceptable. We must make ethical choices about the animals that we do eat; for our health and also for preserving healthy ecosystems (on farms and in the wilderness).
Re: veganism: been there, done it. It was neither healthy, "ethical", or better for the environment.
All life matters, whether it has a face or not (think soil organisms! and the creatures in waterways that suffer agricultural run-off) . Grain production for us AND animals, neither of which should really be eating mono-cultured grain, is what is destroying what little arable land is left. Petroleum products and sewage sludge are now what we are using to prop up a broken nutrient cycle: how ethical and sustainable is that?
How ethical and sustainable is wearing synthetic materials (usually made from petroleum products AKA oil) that are made in a factory (toxic emissions) and take ages to decompose? I'm not saying stop wearing synthetics, but just give some thought about natural materials versus synthetic.0 -
Wife was a vegan for a couple of years and I a lacto-ova veggie. In all honesty....you have to be able and willing to cook your own meals...everyday. If you get alot of take out or go out for dinner often, you may want to reconsider. We love to cook and rarely eat out, so it fit our lifestyle well. However, after 2 years we started to order take out more often (mostly chinese and Thai) and our sodium intake skyrocketed. We also have small children and we did not expect them to only eat vegan or veggie, so cooking multiple meals did take alot of our time.
What I learned from the 2 years as a veggie: I enjoy many more veggies than I used too. Tofu is my friend. I tend to eat more veggies with every meal.
My advice: Give it a shot, if you don't care for the lifestyle, switch back. No Harm, no foul!0 -
Vegetables have all the protein you need. And you can skip the eventual heart attack or stroke when you reach your senior years.
Tobacco = / = meat
And veggies aren't going to net me 180+ grams of protein per day........There's a reason there isn't an abundance of vegan bodybuilders or elite level athletes who are vegans........
I'll gladly take the potential health risks that come along with enjoying the foods I love and being able to meet my current fitness goals.
false. a lot of endurance athletes have switched to vegetarian or vegan lifestyles and actually find that they are more successful on that kind of diet.
not to mention a lot of vegans make the choice for ethical reasons, so your argument of "enjoying the foods you love" and "meeting your fitness goals" is selfish and non-persuasive. be willfully ignorant all you want - we are masters at this as human beings - but do not speak as though what you are saying is fact when you refuse to improve your knowledge on the subject.0 -
woops; i have a hard time not getting heated. *backs out of thread slowly*0
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Why would you do that? Chicken, pork and Beef are delicious.
I watched a documentary depicting the treatment of livestock, and the conditions that they are subjected to. I just got sick over it. I may not end up being vegan for long, and I am certainly not starting today. But it gave me some serious "food" for thought.
If this is your reason you can buy your meat locally and probably even get a tour of the farm, we have several local owned and operated farms in our area and they treat their livestock respectfully. (as much as you can considering your gonna slaughter them for the meat). I personally dont eat alot of meat anymore just becouse I dont maybe once a month or something close to it but I like my Fage 2% yogurt and my 1 cup of milk in my whey chocolate protein shake in the morning.0 -
Well it's easy to still overeat and have a vegan diet. If you overindulge, it will not give you anymore restrictions than you have now. You can easily overeat on vegan food and there is lots of vegan junk food like oreos, chips, sodas, ect. If you are hoping that the restrictions of a vegan diet will help you meet your goals without addressing your issues of over eating then I wouldn't suggest trying to go vegan for that goal.
This.
Be a vegan because you want to be a vegan, not because you think you'll lose weight.0 -
Read Forks Over KNives0
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I have been a vegetarian my entire life. I tried to go vegan for a month last year.... yeah.... no. I can't do it.... why? Because, cheese, most breads, most premade products, and milk.
I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT ICE CREAM!
Oh yeah, i forgot to add. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Likely due to the fact that it is practically impossible to get the high amounts of protein i needed without using soy. And high amounts of soy over extended periods of time can cause thyroid problems. WHOOPEY!!!!
Now i couldn't even be vegan if i tried. I can't hit my protein without dairy products.0
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