Odd question - vegetarian diet and anger?

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vineas
vineas Posts: 84
in Food and Nutrition
I occasionally do a 30 day trial of different things (an idea I got from a blog post on stevepavlina.com), and my most recent trial was a switch to a vegetarian diet. I'm about two weeks into the trial, and have been noticing that lately my mood has been very bad - I'm having mood swings and am very quick to anger. Tonight I was online doing my football draft, and my wife called when my turn was just about up. I have some DSL issues that knocks out the internet when a call comes in, takes a few minutes for it to come back. Not too big of a deal, but I was very short with my wife, then when I hung up, I threw the phone down the hallway, screaming the entire time. This is not me normally. That was definitely the worst of things recently, but I've been very short with everyone including my son. I'm normally a very patient person and not prone to quick changes in mood, so I'm a bit weirded out.

Could this have anything to do with my diet switch? I found some correlation to this by googling, but it still seems a bit odd - I wasn't really expecting anything like that, and if anything, shouldn't a vegetarian diet make a person more mellow? Anyone else have ideas?
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Replies

  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,550 Member
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    Are you eating anything different? Something you normally do not? It might be a food allergy, or it may be something in the food you WERE eating that you are withdrawing from. Other ideas may be blood sugar issues or some other environmental change...sleep changes, stress changes.
  • antiadipose
    antiadipose Posts: 447
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    r u eating a lot of soy products?
  • KyliexBird
    KyliexBird Posts: 42
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    You need to make sure you are not deficent in ANY of your mineral or vitamins...or even protien. Especially if you usually eat mean/protien often when you are not a 'vegetarian'. This could be your body telling you, HEY YOu MISSING SOMETHING!!!!
    LOL. I also get irritable and moody when I dont meet my daily goals...its because I'm making it hard for my body to function properly. :)

    Take a look at what you are eating and looking up what it is made up of. You might want to check out Mypyramid.gov to get an idea of what you might be missing.

    Hope you feel better!!
  • lizzys
    lizzys Posts: 841 Member
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    you might not be geting enought protein,or b12 vitamins, your body needs a certain amount of protein carbs fats or it could just be a bad withdrawal like i do when i stop smoking this time iv been real sweet:huh:
  • Nich0le
    Nich0le Posts: 2,906 Member
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    Are you by chance cutting out sugars, salt and or caffiene? These could easily be the culprit. I did a "cleanse" that went vegetarian for 9 days and the first 3-4 days were miserable I was grumpy and tired but toward the end of the week I felt great.
  • nbingham
    nbingham Posts: 102 Member
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    I don't know, honestly. My daughter is Vegan and I've noticed that since she started eating all Vegan she's been a lot more angry and well... mean. :(
  • tiffanygil
    tiffanygil Posts: 478 Member
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    I think anytime you change your diet even if its for the better (I honestly don't have an opinion if a vegetarian diet is healthier or not) your going to go through with drawl. Also it is way harder to get in the amino acids and protein that meat gives you even if your an experienced vegetarian. Google amino acids, if I remember right from nutrition classes, protein and amino acid is essential for your hemoglobin to carry oxygen through out your body.This causes all kinds of bad things including mood swings. Just a thought ....and FYI I could be wrong I'm basing this from nursing school 8 years ago =)
  • vineas
    vineas Posts: 84
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    Not really eating any soy, very little at least. Looking over my diary over the last week or so, I'm close to my goals in the carb/fat/protein areas, a bit lower in protein than before, but still at or near my goals. Most of my protein is coming from dairy products, but I'm not eating much more than before - pretty much the only change in my diet is no beef, chicken, pork or fish (with the exception of 2 days ago at a company party where there were NO vegetarian options). As far as I know I'm getting all my vitamins and minerals.
  • vineas
    vineas Posts: 84
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    Are you by chance cutting out sugars, salt and or caffiene? These could easily be the culprit. I did a "cleanse" that went vegetarian for 9 days and the first 3-4 days were miserable I was grumpy and tired but toward the end of the week I felt great.

    These were cut out a long time ago, and I never really had this kind of reaction when that was done, just some headaches - which I haven't been having lately.
  • vineas
    vineas Posts: 84
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    I think anytime you change your diet even if its for the better (I honestly don't have an opinion if a vegetarian diet is healthier or not) your going to go through with drawl. Also it is way harder to get in the amino acids and protein that meat gives you even if your an experienced vegetarian. Google amino acids, if I remember right from nutrition classes, protein and amino acid is essential for your hemoglobin to carry oxygen through out your body.This causes all kinds of bad things including mood swings. Just a thought ....and FYI I could be wrong I'm basing this from nursing school 8 years ago =)

    I think you may be on to something with the amino acids - from what I've read now, it doesn't look like I'm getting much in the way of them at all. I'll have to hit up GNC for some supplements and see how that helps. Thanks for the heads up on that.
  • kickitlarson
    kickitlarson Posts: 204 Member
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    How much raw fruits & veggies are you eating? If your just eating a bunch of processed stuff (especially grains) instead of what you normally eat then this could be the issue. Up your fruits & veggies & look into quinoa (sprout it & have it raw on salads & stuff for an amazing source of amino acids).
  • 2BSuccessful
    2BSuccessful Posts: 32
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    Not too big of a deal, but I was very short with my wife, then when I hung up, I threw the phone down the hallway, screaming the entire time.
    Not to sound critical, but if this was your way to handle a very small stress in life, you might need to work on anger management more than dieting right now.
  • lilmissy2
    lilmissy2 Posts: 595 Member
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    If you are getting most of your protein (amino acids) from dairy and you are close to your protein goal then you don't need supplements since dairy will have high quality, complete proteins.

    I'm not a vegetarian but I know many, many sweet and lovely vegetarian and vegan people. Do you just miss meat? I think when people cut foods out they can just become irritable. For no specific reason other than that they feel restricted.

    As for the mentions of teenagers who are angry after they become vegetarian, I think that's just to do with the timing and that dreaded broody teen phase! hehehe
  • Dom_m
    Dom_m Posts: 337 Member
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    It certainly has nothing to do with vitamin deficiencies - in 2 weeks you couldn't possibly have such a problem. More likely is either (as someone said) withdrawal from something that you actually have an addiction to, or some other change in your life unrelated to the diet change (I'm taking your word for it that this is infact unusual behaviour for you).

    The other option is that you're simply hungry and not eating enough. People get irritable when they don't feel satiated. If this is a possibility, have a look at some more filling vegetarian food options. Add tofu or some mock meats or whatever it takes to fill yourself up. Other than that, I can't think of anything.
  • vineas
    vineas Posts: 84
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    Not too big of a deal, but I was very short with my wife, then when I hung up, I threw the phone down the hallway, screaming the entire time.
    Not to sound critical, but if this was your way to handle a very small stress in life, you might need to work on anger management more than dieting right now.

    That's the thing - this isn't something I EVER do, it's not me at all - once I calmed down, I realized how extremely odd and out of character it was. I'm a very mellow person, things that make most people mad don't usually even phase me.
  • nbingham
    nbingham Posts: 102 Member
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    If you are getting most of your protein (amino acids) from dairy and you are close to your protein goal then you don't need supplements since dairy will have high quality, complete proteins.

    I'm not a vegetarian but I know many, many sweet and lovely vegetarian and vegan people. Do you just miss meat? I think when people cut foods out they can just become irritable. For no specific reason other than that they feel restricted.

    As for the mentions of teenagers who are angry after they become vegetarian, I think that's just to do with the timing and that dreaded broody teen phase! hehehe

    Unfortunately my daughter is 22, so I can't blame it on teen angst. :-\
  • JMun
    JMun Posts: 409
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    I'm a pesco vegetarian. Still consume some dairy, eggs & fish

    I agree with other comments in regards to withdrawal. If you consumed meat or animal byproducts on a daily basis and suddenly cut them out then it's obviously an adjustment that your body has to make

    Get a good vegan protein powder and vegetarian vitamins.

    I'm a happy and well adjusted vegetarian (aside from being a fatty).
    I find it puzzling that folks think being angry is a vegetarian trait. It's like saying Christians are dumb. Kinda baseless.

    Just my two cents
  • Babbs1977
    Babbs1977 Posts: 42 Member
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    QUOTE:

    QUOTE:
    Not too big of a deal, but I was very short with my wife, then when I hung up, I threw the phone down the hallway, screaming the entire time.

    Not to sound critical, but if this was your way to handle a very small stress in life, you might need to work on anger management more than dieting right now.


    That's the thing - this isn't something I EVER do, it's not me at all - once I calmed down, I realized how extremely odd and out of character it was. I'm a very mellow person, things that make most people mad don't usually even phase me.


    I'm his wife and I can agree that this is something he NEVER does. He is honestly the most mellow laid back person ever and it's usually me that is high strung so this behavior was very odd, hence the reason for the question.

    I think it's all diet related...have a steak babe!!
  • abyt42
    abyt42 Posts: 1,358 Member
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    I became self-righteous when I became a vegetarian...but I was 20 and calmed down :blushing: .... about once a year I fall off the wagon and eat meat for a couple of weeks. Usually when I stop, all I notice is that I'm more regular and less tired....
  • Barneystinson
    Barneystinson Posts: 1,357 Member
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    It's most likely a mineral deficiency. As a vegetarian, you may (well, basically you MUST) supplement with a B complex, vitamin D (as it's most potent in animal sources, namely oily fish), Iron (depends), and potentially Zinc, Chromium and Magnesium. Irritability goes hand in hand with a Vitamin B complex deficiency.

    Also...Check your Omega 3-Omega 6 balance. Many vegetarian diets tend to be much higher in Omega 6 due to the lack of natural Omega 3 sources (i.e. fish) in the diet. If you're not consuming fish, you need to supplement with quality Omega 3, which assuming you're fully vegetarian, you'll need to use a high lignan flax oil. If you will allow it - take a high quality fish oil in capsule or liquid form.

    Symptoms of Omega 3 deficiency can be vague and don't typically appear overnight. Rule of thumb is, though, that many diets where one is not consuming oily fish, even those that are "healthy" are deficient in Omega 3.

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