do i go vegan?

happytree923 wrote: »

I am a former vegan and I struggle with binge eating. I gave up veganism because it made my binging worse. At first I had the same experience you did and I dropped a lot of weight but over time the binging came back. Because vegan 'treats' like desserts and fast food are so rarely available I would end up binging whenever I had them. Like if I was at a vegan restaurant that had a lot of things like veggie burgers, fried chik'n sandwiches, cupcakes etc. my thought process would be ok, I won't have access to these things again for a long time so I need to get everything I want to eat.

Veganism is a very restrictive diet and I don't think most people could stick to it without any ethical motivation to do so. Personally I have a much better attitude towards food when I don't have any category restrictions. But this is just my experience and you may find you enjoy eating vegan after you figure out what staples you enjoy.

I'm actually quite respectful/envious of people that can go Vegan for ethical reasons and eat healthy. I've moved a lot more plant based in the last few years, but my wife and I eat meat a couple of days a week. I do find that the three or so Vegan days I do a week now, I can eat a lot heavier or binge. I mostly binge on nut butters on those days. I do train heavy and intake quite a bit of protein, so if I have a SunWarrior protein drink during the day, that helps quite a bit.

I don't think it hurts anyone to plan a few plant based meals a week. The same way we used to look at our homecooked meat and potato meals, we are gaining more and more plant based favorites all the time. I'm all into Vegan Buddha Bowls now. Love them.

If someone can go entirely Vegan and do it with more vegetables and less processed food (and have knowledge of dietary supplements like zinc, B-12, Vegan Omega 3s and other potential shortfalls of the vegan diet), then that's fantastic. More power to them.

Stockholm_Andy wrote: »

If you are going to live on shakes and vegan nuggets then no I don't think you'll see any benefits over eating chicken nuggets and shakes.

Either diet sounds unhealthy to me.

I second this! You’ll be just as unhealthy as before if all you eat is vegan junk! Like any other way of eating, vegans can be just unhealthy if all they eat is substitutes. From my experience I’m a lot healthier on an 80% raw and other 20% cooked vegan diet. Everyone is different. But if you can’t get most of your nutrients from Whole Foods, I wouldn’t recommend a vegan diet. You can be healthy on an omnivorous diet too, but with my health problems such as hormone imbalance and infertility, it wasn’t resolved until I switched to vegan diet.

My daughter and I gave up all animal products over a year ago. It’s not hard, and there’s more food to eat than you can imagine. Our grocery bill was cut in half too. Now if you eat all the processed crap that’s vegan, then it will be expensive and unhealthy. At first it was hard reading every label, but it just became a way of life. It takes more food prep, but the difference in health is amazing. I lost 30 lbs and lowered my cholesterol in 3 months without dieting! I never counted a calorie! I eliminated the need for a statin. My teenage daughter’s face cleared up almost immediately! It was amazing the difference in her skin. We have way more energy and did not get one cold or flu in over a year!!

Now I’ve put in a few pounds because I’ve been lazy and eating prepared snacks, pasta etc. the past few month. But it’s now time to cut all that out. I’m. salty snacked chips nuts etc. I’ve been eating way too many chips. But it’s an easy fix, I need to snack better, with wholesome food grown from the earth.

I was vegan for 13 yrs before I became pregnant with my daughter. I found it hard to get enough protein, so I added dairy which doesn’t exactly agree with my stomach to get the necessary protein.

We have no problems without animal products. Most restaurants have vegan menus if you ask, or you could always order sides. It’s not hard to adapt.

What are your reasons for going vegan?? I’m not vegan because I still have leather purses and shoes. My daughter however is full fledged vegan because of her outrage at the treatment of animals in commercial farming. Watch What The Health, Vegucated, and Forks Over Knives to see firsthand the benefits of getting rid of animal products.