The Ex-Vegan Encyclopedia

128 min read

The Internet's Largest Collection of "Why I Quit Veganism" and "I'm Not Vegan Anymore" Blog Posts, Articles, Interviews and Message Board Posts

With a foreword featuring Gary, of course.


Preface

I have read every single article linked on this page, then summarised them here - while still maintaining their original unique stories.

For quicker browsing, the highlighted parts are the exact reasons the author states why they started to eat animal products again.

Except for a couple of exceptions, I did not include "Why I'm No Longer Vegetarian" links here. I may update this.

Nothing has been taken out of context.

At the very bottom of this page is an appendix with notes for further reading on the subjects covered by the ex-vegans in their posts collected here. Click here to go straight to the Appendix.

Introduction

If you actually read the following blog posts and articles, you will notice, as I did, that at least one of the following four recurring themes appear in all of them. The only exceptions are the few with religious motives.

  • Eating disorders.
  • "Just listen to your body; everyone's different."
  • "Cravings".
  • Becoming vegan for reasons other than ethics.

By far the main recurring theme is simply not being in it primarily for the animals, and instead, going vegan for personal issues, i.e. to "try out the vegan diet" for weight loss. So is it really surprising that veganism doesn't stick with these people?

After reading every word of the following blogs and interviews, I believe, even more so now than before reading all these articles, that the ethical foundations for veganism are the strongest, and that if you start seriously from these roots and build from there that only a strong vegan life will be able to grow from it.

The ethical foundations for veganism are deceptively simple and can be illustrated in the following four points:

  1. It is wrong to cause unnecessary harm to animals.
  2. The consumption of animal products harms animals.
  3. Eating animals is unnecessary for optimal human health.
  4. Therefore, we shouldn't consume animal products.

(These points are expertly elaborated on here)

I put forth that it is a concrete understanding of these simple points - and their implications - that differentiates "hardcore" vegans from the rest. Who, it would appear, only seem "hardcore" from the view of the fleeting visits by those who come-and-go for more temporary reasons.

Though of course, coming and going is better than never arriving at all. I know I am not alone in thinking this as many of the following ex-vegans who, after returning to animal consumption, continued to eat largely plant-based meals due to what they learnt and experienced during their veganism.

It is unsurprising that nearly all of the following blogs do not refute the above four ethical points, but either acknowledge their truth or avoid them completely... That's all they can do.

The only point that appears to come into question is the third point, that eating animals is unnecessary for optimal human health. This is where the "just listen to your body; everyone's different" position sounds reasonable. And I actually agree with this statement. We are all different. But does this make it sound reasoning for exiling veganism?

This paper from The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics – the largest nutritional organisation in the world – states that their position is that "appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases." They followed by stating these diets are "appropriate for individuals during all stages of the lifecycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.”

Yes, we are all somewhat different, though unquestionably our similarities are far greater. So maybe the aspects in which we differ makes it not a question of "is a vegan diet right for me?" but rather as the statement above suggests, "what would be considered an appropriately planned vegan diet for me?"

It's true that a minority of the following posts say they went vegan for "partly" ethical reasons, but then eventually transitioned away from veganism for some other reasons. Some of the blogs linked to below say their "morals changed", without further elaboration, but none of this comes close to negating the above four points concerning morality.

As these four points are the core of the case for veganism - and can never be opposed by anyone's personal issues, however imminent they may be - I too, like Gary and Emily in her video above, see no reason why the case for veganism would ever not be rock solid.

Whether this translates into each individuals action of actually maintaining a vegan lifestyle is another story, and is also completely not the point: the case for veganism is still valid. And until the case isn't valid, the case for everyone to adopt a progressively more vegan diet is also still valid.

Unlike when your own health becomes dangerously compromised (like in some of the posts below) and you start taking your diet seriously because of it, it can be difficult to snap some people into conscious awareness of the ethical basis for veganism. Which is why, because of their undeniability, I would still think, in addition to the above four ethical points, the three most suitable routes for our activism to take would be in the raising awareness of:

  1. the processes that animals go through to get to our plates,
  2. carnism, and probably most importantly,
  3. the many logical fallacies that support meat consumption, as without them, the platform of carnism falls flat on its face and eating plants is the only rational thing left to do.

However, the point of this article is not to elaborate on those. It is simply to collect and look objectively at - for whatever they are worth - all the written reasons online as to why people are no longer vegan.

So it's my pleasure to introduce to you the article I went looking for but didn't find, so I made it myself: The Internet's Largest Objective Collection of Ex-Vegan Blog Posts, Articles, Interviews, Forum and Message Board Posts.

Or, as I prefer to call it, The Ex-Vegan Encyclopedia.


I am not Vegan Anymore

  • https://alexandrajamieson.com/im-not-vegan-anymore/
    13 years ago, when I decided to eat a vegan diet and live a vegan lifestyle, I initially did it for my health. ... But then, a few years ago, something began to shift. ... I was exhausted, depressed, and foggy-brained. I wanted to feel strong and grounded again. ... So, with the support of a few close, trusted friends, I allowed myself to eat what I was craving and started with some eggs. ... I tuned in to my body instead of my thoughts. And my body said YES. It felt good and strong. And it wanted more. ... I would secretly visit restaurants or stores and buy “contraband” animal foods, scurry home, and savor the food in solitude. ... It’s so strange now to realize that, after working for 12 years as a health and wellness professional, I’d developed an eating disorder. ... People can still love animals and care about protecting the environment AND honor their own animal bodies and consume the foods that they need.

My Break Up With Veganism ... I'm now an ex-vegan

  • http://erikaawakening.com/my-break-up-with-veganism-ex-vegan/
    I am officially an ex-vegan. ... What I’m going to say here is not new. Many, many people have had the same experience that I did. ... Mahatma Gandhi could not sustain a vegan diet. The Dalai Lama could not sustain a vegetarian diet. ... In my last blog post, I detailed some of the symptoms that I had been experiencing on a vegan diet from lack of DHA and EPA. ... I was feeling utterly exhausted, my joints were painful and dry, my skin never seemed to heal completely, I was dropping things in the kitchen on a regular basisBlood vessels were protruding on my temples. I was getting muscle cramps constantly. My muscle tone and conditioning was just…off. The white hairs on my head were proliferating quickly. My teeth were feeling sensitive. My face seemed weirdly and asymmetrically puffy. The bone in my right calf was aching on a regular basis. It seemed that veins in my legs were becoming slightly varicose. My eyes felt weird and hard to focus. And I was waking up angry every single morning. Really angry. ... The symptoms were not getting better with time. They were getting worse. ... Then, as I had mentioned a couple articles ago, I seemed to be extremely sensitive to a ridiculously growing list of foods. ... It was getting to where there was literally nothing I could eat. I had actually become fearful of food. ... I knew something was very, very wrong. ... A few weeks before I ended my vegan diet, a man dropped dead of a heart attack right in front of my apartment building on my street in San Francisco. ... That it happened so close to me seemed like a message. I was in danger. ... The last weekend of my vegan existence, I had to call my neighbor because I was having heart pain and shooting pain in my arms. ... I felt extremely thirsty and could not quench my thirst no matter how much water I drank. I was scared. My mind flashed back to the man who had a heart attack. I knew it was time to make a change. ... I wrote to my dad and told him I was feeling scared. ... My dad suggested I eat the “morally acceptable equivalent of a cheeseburger.” ... I popped open one of the cans of high-quality tuna from which I’ve been giving Fritz the Cat juice for a couple of years … and I ate fish for the first time in three and a half years. I ate the entire can, and I noticed that fish felt good in my body. I noticed that the thought of eating even one more vegetable or legume was absolutely abhorrent. ... I walked to Whole Foods to get a dozen certified humane eggs, and on the way home, the muscles in my legs were cramping all the way up and down. I felt fragile, and my neighbor said I looked frail. ... I was even supplementing magnesium. But my body could not use it because I was lacking the co-factors due to a strict vegan diet. This is scary stuff, my friend. ... If you do the research, it is abundantly clear that it is NOT POSSIBLE for most humans to get the nutrition they need on a strict vegan diet. We can go down a long, long list of nutrients, and that is probably just the tip of the iceberg. Because even the most well-informed nutritionists have no idea about the unknown factors. ... I started taking about 25 supplements over the course of a few months. NOTHING WORKED. Moreover, I had become completely dependent on supplements for even minimal health. ... I’m sorry, but a diet that requires that many supplements and still has alarming symptoms like this is not in any way natural or healthy. ... I am willing to bet a lot of money those people who can maintain optimal health on a vegan diet are few and far between. ... In parallel to this slow awakening to the fact that a vegan diet was wreaking havoc to my health … I was also becoming rapidly disillusioned with the entire vegan ideology. ... Meanwhile, even before I came to the conclusion that most humans do in fact HAVE TO eat meat, fish, dairy, and eggs, at this stage of our evolution … it was becoming increasingly clear to me that veganism does not really solve anything. ... The final death blow to veganism for me came from the intelligence of my own body. ... Thousands of dollars invested in supplements and special foods and my alarming symptoms were only getting WORSE. ... Once you realize that most humans cannot be healthy on a vegan diet, the other arguments in favor of veganism just become ludicrous. ... I am now an ex-vegan. I ate a cheeseburger, rare, two days ago for the first time in almost four years. It felt very satisfying.

Why I'm Not A Vegan, Part 1: What is Veganism

  • http://www.performingwoman.com/2013/08/26/why-im-not-a-vegan-part-1-what-is-veganism/
    My number one reason for not being a vegan is incredibly unscientific, but the best possible reason I could ever, ever provide: It made me feel like sh!t. Plain and simple, when the glow wore off, I was bloated, depressed, covered in acne, and without a period. My anxiety was back in force, and my eating disorder was taking back over. ... When I first realized that my “Eat-Clean Diet” was the reason for my relapse with anorexia ... I realized that I needed to make a big change. ... I did not become a vegan for ethical reasons. I did not even become a vegan for health reasons. I became a vegan because I thought it would help me get skinny again. ... And when it comes down to it, as much as it pains me to say it, most of us are in it for the weight loss. ... Don’t for one moment think you’re fooling me or yourself. Health, in this country at least, is connoted by weight loss. It just is. ... I quickly dropped the extra 10 pounds I had put on in the months since my ankle injury ... and I felt like lighter than air. ... I know I’m not the only one to have experienced this feeling. ... But then…your body realizes that something’s wrong. Something’s…missing. And that’s when things start to go to hell. ... I was aware of all of the nutrient deficiencies I was setting myself up to suffer: B12, Iron, Vitamin D, Protein, Zinc, Omega-3s ... The fact that I was also suffering from the worst acne of my life, constant fatigue, bloating, and a host of other very unpleasant side effects that were definitively NOT in the “list of amazing side effects of being a vegan” ... Veganism is Not an Eating Disorder but that doesn’t mean that people with eating disorders don’t turn to veganism because they’re too scared to consume the excess calories in fat and meat. ... I’m not calling all vegans EDs. But you asked why I’m not a vegan, and my eating disorder is one glaring, huge, no-way-would-I-ever-turn-back sort of reason. ... I do my best to eat the highest quality animal products, because, frankly, I think there’s a lot to the ethical argument. Treat your food the way you want to be treated–which means you should be treating yourself well too.

7 Reasons Why I'm Not Vegan Anymore

  • http://fitlife.tv/7-reasons-why-im-not-vegan-anymore_original/ and http://spasique.com/7-reasons-why-im-not-vegan-anymore/
    I love animals. I also love the taste of meat. Clearly, there’s a real disconnect there. ... It was right then and there I decided to try the whole vegan thing. ... Food tasted different. I enjoyed it more and savored it more. My meals felt more mindful and I was able to enjoy the experience, rather than just shoving food down my throat to feel full. ... The biggest difference was the spiritual aspect solid yoga practice vegan diet [sic] ... Even though I saw some really great benefits of being vegan, I also found another side, which ultimately pulled me back and here’s why ... 1. Going out for dinner at a friends place was a nightmare. ... 2. Finding the time to prepare proper vegan meals was really hard. ... 3. I almost passed out more than once working out. ... 4. I was losing too much weight. ... 5. I love the taste of bacon. ... 6. It’s culturally difficult. ... 7. We’ve biologically been meat eaters for years. ... I have a ton of respect for vegans and like to think that one day, I’ll find my way back to that kind of eating with greater knowledge around how to do it properly. For now though, my reasons (or excuses, depending on how you look at them) for not being vegan stand. And I am perfectly happy with that.

The Vegetarian Myth and Why I Quit

  • http://www.drcurtisduncan.com/2014/06/the-vegetarian-myth-and-why-i-quit.html
    I first started being vegan/vegetarian when I was a sophomore at the age of 19 in college since I read about the mistreatment of animals and some of the harmful effects of eating meat. ... I was a vegan for roughly about four months, lost a lot of weight but due to peer pressure, I decided to go back to eating meat. I then became a hardcore vegan/raw foodist again when I was in graduate school at the age of 22. I did it for four years for health reasons. ... Towards the end of my fourth year into veganism, I came across a variety of information that veganism was not healthy and that eating meat was not bad for you. ... I am thankful I was open minded enough to receive new information and critique it. ... I have said that being a vegan is really an eating disorder because people who really get into [it] are very insecure and seeking something to validate themselves. ... Along with the information, I found myself craving eggs and salmon. I was craving cholesterol rich foods because your brain does not work without it! Our brains need animal fats and cholesterol to function properly and that is why vegetarian diets cause people's brains to shrink. ... I did it for health purposes and once I realized being a vegan was not healthy, then I quit.

Why I'm Not Vegan Anymore

  • http://www.docloco.com/2012/05/why-im-not-vegan-anymore.html
    My husband Doc and I were vegan for 25+ years, he was a vegetarian for about 7 years before I met him. I became a vegetarian to battle ulcerative colitis and he became one to conform to the Mormon doctrine of the Word of Wisdom. ... After about 3 years of becoming a vegan I became clinically depressed and had waking visions of throwing myself in front a cars and buses. This fear kept me home bound for over a year. ... At the same time \[my husbands] thyroid failed and he suffered a mental break down which left him disabled. ... All I could think of during those 23+ vegan years was how much I wanted to die. I tried to commit suicide several times. ... y latem 30's and through out my 40's on top of continuing depression and insomnia, I had I developed several autoimmune symptoms and my heart felt weak. I couldn't walk even a mile. ... Now that I look back on those days I can see that we weren't able to think clearly. ... We spent upwards of $1000 a month on "good" foods to feed our family, but some how still had all the same illnesses and health struggles of people who lived on nothing but take-out. ... Then in the fall of 2010 Doc suddenly, after trimming some small trees, became partially paralyzed from the neck down. ... So we reverted back to what we knew and tried to use raw food vegan diet and "super-foods" trying to heal this paralysis. ... During this period my teeth started to hurt and my gums quickly receded a lot. They hurt all the time and I could barely eat. ... In addition to having problems with my teeth my autoimmune problems seemed to get worse and I became even more chronically exhausted and depressed. I couldn't get enough sleep, I hurt all day everyday. I felt like we were just sitting around waiting to die. We eventually decided to try the medical route. ... I became convinced I was on the right track and started eating some free range eggs and raw fermented milk products. To my surprise, my 23+ year struggle with depression went away in about 3 weeks. ... [My husband] decided he had nothing to lose and joined me in my experiment. His paralysis improved after a couple of months. ... Then further research brought me to the GAP diet. This diet includes low starch veggies, navy beans and lentils. We had to give up veganism as this diet also includes cod liver oil and homemade meat broth. ... I felt drawn to do further research and began to study the Paleo or cave-man diet. ... We are getting well and now realize that our new paleo diet is our true NATURAL diet, being led previously by false religion that God was vegan and preferred us to be also (even though we seemed to be the only true believers in those teachings all those years, we were often accused at church of being satanists because we were vegetarian) which is how I became a vegetarian in the first place - to please God and eat like him.

5 Reasons I gave Veganism a Pass

  • http://globalcomment.com/5-reasons-i-gave-veganism-a-pass/
    I was 16 when I stumbled across an article on animal cruelty in the meat industry, and a few hours later, I became a vegan. ... As soon as I became a vegan, I began to get significantly more tired than before, even though I was taking all of the extra supplements and trying my best to eat enough protein. ... A couple of years later, when the passion wore off, I went back to being an omnivore and felt much better.

Why I'm Not Vegan Anymore

  • https://wanderlust.com/journal/why-im-not-vegan-anymore/
    When I thought about becoming vegan at the age of 16 it was nothing more than my innocence getting the best of me and wanting to live as lovely as the girls I’d admire on Instagram who appeared to eat nothing but mangoes and green smoothies on the beach in Australia all day. ... Long story short, I can now say that this was certainly not a way to truly live. ... I began to crave living more of a “normal”, whatever that means, and moderate life. ... I ate almonds and avocado and watermelon and kale like it was my job until I eventually started to develop what felt like an unhealthy relationship to food due to my lack of protein and nutrient imbalances. After about 9 months, I could not wait any longer to eat fish again.

Why I'm Not Vegan Anymore

  • https://exploringwithmimi.wordpress.com/2017/07/29/why-im-not-vegan-anymore/
    I gotta be honest with you guys, I’m kinda nervous to be writing this blog post. ... Well here’s the thing, I just do not want to be vegan anymore. ... To be truthful, when I first went vegan I was on top of the world and felt the best I’d been, but that wore off after the first few months. ... I think it’s also important to just quickly bring my mental well being into the topic. ... I’m a full time student so the last thing I want to be worrying about is whether there are traces of milk in a packet of noodles. ... If you are super into fitness you probably can attain that vegan fit body aesthetic, but not without the work. ... The reason why there is world hunger and class inequalities is simply down to our capitalist system my darling, not because grains that are given to cows aren’t being given to poor people. Let’s face it, if the whole population went vegan tomorrow corporations would simply give the grains to the richest classes, not the poor. ... A virus isn’t going to turn away from you because you decide to munch on more veggies than the average person for anybody can catch a flue or stomach bug no matter what diet. ... It really is the most ethical lifestyle which is why I’m going to be sticking by it as much as I can. But, for now in this point of my life I’ve decided to not restrict myself for being vegan isn’t always accessible or the most practical for me at this point in my life.

Veganism - My Thoughts and Why I Am No Longer 100% Vegan

  • http://www.laceydaunt.com/journal/2016/4/4/veganism-my-thoughts-and-why-i-am-no-longer-100-vegan / http://www.laceydaunt.com/mystory/#bi
    There are so many viewpoints to be had. ... But who is "right?" is there even a "right?" and "wrong?" ... I began to explore veganism for health reasons back in 2014. ... 2 years on the vegan bandwagon. ... yes, over consumption of meat and dairy is NOT healthy for the human body. Side note: is over consumption of anything going to benefit us? In my opinion, thats a no. Balance folks. ... YES. You can still be a good person and consume a diet with animal products! You can still save the environment, you can still contribute to ending animal abuse and you can still be healthy, ALL WHILE consuming animal products on a daily basis. ... I am thankful for my years spent without animal products because it caused me to create a bond with these animals that I never had before. ... As I began really craving animal products again, I realized that I could do this in a humane way. ... People change! We are all so unique. ... Nutrition is the only field in the world where two theories can both be proved correct. ... we as humans are all different, requiring different foods to nourish us accordingly. ... Two words; Healthy. Fat. OMEGA 3's baby. ... I am supporting the consumption of meat AND the consumption of a plant based diet. So which one is the right call? That is for you ALL to decide. ... As time went on, I started getting random symptoms ... I was breaking out, constantly. These small little pimples, everywhere on my face and even on my arms. I was so low on energy. I felt like I couldn't workout even if I wanted to. My hair stopped growing as fast as it used to. I started gaining weight fast. Even though I was eating cleaner than I ever had before. ... I tried raw veganism, high carb/low fat, high fat/low carb, etc.. ... I wound up getting exceptionally sick in Indonesia. I genuinely felt like I was on my deathbed. ... This is where my first cravings for animal protein and dairy began. ... I realized how one-sided I was actually acting in regards to veganism. I may have been inspiring tons of people with my posts, but what about the people I was hurting with my posts? For example; what about the meat eaters in india who didn't have access to films like "Cowspiracy?" ... The final straw was when I went and got blood tests taken. It wound up that for whatever reason after being two years fully vegan, my TSH \[thyroid-stimulating hormone] levels were elevated. ... I was craving animal protein. All of it. Beef, fish, eggs. I said screw it. And I started listening to my body again. I exhausted all options with a vegan diet. It was time to listen to me and honor myself. WITHOUT GUILT. I began experimenting and I have felt absolutely incredible ever since. ... I jumped into a healthier position on including animal products in my diet. ... I am stoked veganism works for you, I hope you can accept and understand why it does not work for work for me.

Why I'm No Longer Vegan

Why I Stopped Being Vegan

  • https://www.popsugar.com/food/Why-I-Stopped-Being-Vegan-35306835
    I am a food editor who is a former hard-core vegan. ... I felt utterly convinced that I was doing the right thing for the planet, for animals, and for my health. However, all that changed when I moved to New York City upon graduating college. ... My weight (and energy) were at all-time lows, yet I attributed it to my busy schedule and the rigor of city life. The only thing I couldn't handle was the hunger. Sure, being vegan, I felt my stomach grumble every couple of hours, though in New York, I felt painfully hungry constantly. And then, I started dreaming of steak. I mean, x-rated, slow-mo, sizzling food-porn dreams. I'd wake up in a panic and run to the kitchen to stuff myself with spoonfuls of peanut butter, pea protein powder smoothies, and leftover lentils. Despite attempting to eat every type of vegan protein known to mankind, I'd always leave the kitchen unsatisfied, salivating, and angry because I still envisioned a big hunk of charcoal-grilled steak with bloody juices seeping onto the plate. ... Then, I started to dream of salmon, too. Flaky, Asian-glazed salmon with a crisp skin. Waking up from those dreams was agonizing, and I'd shlep to the kitchen to eat my sad, slimy bowl of sprouted amaranth cereal. ... A few friends from culinary school planned a trip to go to a farm in upstate New York to learn how to slaughter chickens. ... I was so ravenously hungry, the thought of doing so excited me. My primal needs to hunt and eat meat were kicking in. ... It was time to break up with veganism. ... Today, I think I have a much healthier approach to food and, most importantly, to fellow humans. ... What works in one city, in one period of my life, may not work in another. It's all about being open, experimenting, and seeking the guidance of professionals when necessary. Oh, and creating balance. The key word is definitely balance.

Quitting Veganism

  • https://www.theodysseyonline.com/quitting-veganism
    Participating in veganism was incredibly rewarding for my body and mind. The reasons I quit are attributed solely to my lifestyle and might not apply to everybody else. ... The diet, to say the least, was a monumental shift in the way I lived my life. ... Cravings eventually subside (at least, they did for me), and you learn to switch the foods you eat for others. What was difficult, were the social activities, such as being with people and eating with people. When you become a vegan, every social excursion is strenuous. ... I struggled with the decision of leaving veganism. I was proud that I had maintained it for so long, and honestly, did feel healthier. After I ate meat, my stomach always felt heavy, and I would sweat. ... Despite its benefits, the social aspect of the diet proved difficult for me to stomach. I constantly avoided even mentioning my diet, in fear of being judged as a "preacher" or as "judgmental." ... So, with all of these factors swirling around in my mind, I left veganism about a year ago in favor of a more relaxed, less controversial option: vegetarianism. ... While the diet wasn't a right fit for me at the time, there is more time in the future, and with that time, comes more opportunity.

Why I Stopped Being Vegan

  • https://www.healthfulpursuit.com/2014/01/why-i-stopped-being-vegan/
    This topic is highly personal and very raw. ... This is not an attack against the vegan lifestyle, but rather my experience in setting a positive and healthy relationship with my food. It just so happens that one of the steps I had to complete to get there meant giving up being vegan. ... I have been liberated by the idea of not sticking to any strict classification of my eating style. I go with the flow by choosing foods that are right for me. I release guilt, shame and celebrate my food choices. ... From as far back as I can remember, meat was something I was afraid of eating because I thought it would make me fat. So, when I was a teenager, I swore off animal products. ... I began losing weight, it fueled my unhealthy thoughts, and I stayed in this place for years. ... No matter how much I ate, I was never full. The more I ate, the more my stomach hurt, and the more guilt I had that I was eating too much. 2 years in, I started experiencing meat cravings. They never stopped. ... I couldn’t think straight. Almost as if the wires in my brain were somehow criss-crossed. ... The control that I felt I had over my food by being vegan was what was keeping me from relinquishing the stronghold that my eating disorder had on me. ... The vegan lifestyle was slowly killing me. In 2008, 8 years since I went vegan, 6 years since I’d experienced my first meat craving, I mustered up the courage to eat animal protein again.

Quora Question: Why Did You Stop Being Vegan / Vegetarian?

  • https://www.quora.com/Why-did-you-stop-being-vegan-vegetarian
    [Answer 1] I went vegan. Then my blood pressure skyrocketed up. Ugh! Hypertension continued into my 30’s. ... I cut out all fruit and carbs. I consumed lots of meat, fat, eggs and salt. Lo and behold my blood pressure normalised. WTF?! I tell you, stay away from veganism. It’s evil! By default, if you’re a vegan, well then you’re evil too.
    [Answer 2] I have struggled with health issues for most of my life, so I have learned to listen to my body and hear what it needs. I was a vegan for around a year, but I could tell it wasn't working for me, so I added in organic dairy & eggs. That worked for me.
    [Answer 3] I noticed meat-eaters were far more mean-spirited to vegans than the other way around. ... I thought going vegan would be separating myself from them and being on the right side of history. ... But the real underlying reason for the transition was definitely a deep-rooted sense of self-loathing. ... Ecological and health arguments I’d heard also helped out, but this was the core of it. ... Eventually, the sense of being left out really got to me, and I kept trying to challenge my convictions and find some loophole, to no avail. ... I would occasionally wonder if my veganism was not necessarily just atonement but also internalized aggression for its own sake. Eventually it occurred to me that the logical conclusion of my ideas was that humans should all be destroyed. ... Shortly after, and in a very strong mood of ‘fuck this, fuck everything, fuck me in particular’, I looked at the jar of mayonnaise in the fridge (fuck how I’d missed mayonnaise) ... and then I said ‘fuck it’ and ate some on a slice of bread. ... At that point I suddenly felt a surge of positive energy and dropped down and ecstatically did some push-ups. ... I might go back to veganism. ... But if and when I do, I want to do it for the right reasons.
    [Answer 4] Health ... Convenience ... Annoyance.
    [Answer 5] I was vegan. Then I had kids. Now I'm vegetarian. Raising (healthy) vegan kids is not impossible, but it's pretty hard. And if I've just made them a tasty cheesy snack, my bowl of lentils seems a lot less interesting.
    [Answer 6] It was general malaise (low energy, dry skin, brain fog, greater frequency of Raynaud’s attacks, and so on). Later, it turned out that I don’t process nonheme iron well. And then, I developed a nasty intolerance of legume seeds. ... A low-carb, high-iron, legume-free vegetarian diet would be ruinously expensive enough; veganizing it—to say nothing of potentially cutting out gluten and corn—would only exacerbate that. And on top of all of that, I’d still probably have to take supplements—yet another expense.
    [Answer 7] Ex vegan here. Still vegetarian. First I said I could eat animal products if they were going to be thrown away anyway. Then I said I could eat animal products if they were organic and the animals were cage free. Then I said I could eat animal products if they were really, really tempting. Then I said I could eat animal products.
    [Answer 8] I used to be a Vegan when I lived in Dublin Ireland (mild climate) and had an office job. After I moved to central Canada and drove long haul truck, I felt it wasn’t quite enough to keep me going in the winter. ... I still eat vegetarian/vegan meals a few times a week, and large portions of meat make me queasy; I mostly eat white meat but that’s just my taste preference.
    [Answer 9] I gave up being a Lacto-vegetarian Because my body needed the nutrients in meat, fish, and fowl that cannot be found in a vegetarian diet.
    [Answer 10] I stopped being vegetarian because it was lunchtime and the chinese food place has a great barbecued pork.

I'm Not Vegan Anymore

  • https://erinwardrop.wordpress.com/2017/07/16/im-not-vegan-anymore/
    This is simply my opinion based on personal experience; I am in no way trying to insult the vegan lifestyle or those who participate in it. ... While I was only going “vegan” from a nutritional standpoint, I was hoping to create a new relationship with food through a long-term adjustment. However, I only lasted 90 days. ... For the first two and a half months of the diet, I felt great. After eliminating dairy from my diet, I was able to control some of my bloating, my complexion, and I had much more energy than before. ... I felt as though I had finally found the answer to my health problems, and that I had found the lifestyle that was meant for me. However, I didn’t lose a single pound during my time practicing veganism. ... The vegan diet unquestionably took a toll on me emotionally. ... Before going vegan, while I did not know much about it, I had never looked into it from a serious standpoint. ... Aside from the specific instances of expressed or latent negativity, there is simply a pessimistic vibe that accompanies the concept of veganism as a whole. ... I had to explain what I was doing/why I was doing it countless times, and although I was very passionate about the lifestyle, it was annoying (to say the least) to repeat myself so many times. ... Honestly, my outlook on diets and nutrition in general hit a low point about a two days before I ended my vegan lifestyle. ... I didn’t stop being vegan out of negativity towards the diet or towards the community that it brought me. Rather, I learned from the lessons that the experience taught me. The biggest one, highlighted so beautifully by the morals of Sarah Stevenson (who I mentioned before), is that you must LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. ... And no, contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t because I was depriving myself of protein, though it did have something to do with that. ... I have now reintroduced chicken and eggs back into my current diet and am living a lower-carb, paleo-based lifestyle. I am using the “listen to your body” mindset and, well, doing just that.

Sorry Vegan Friends - I'm Not A Strict Vegan Anymore Either

  • https://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/01/sorry-vegan-friends-i-am-not-strict-vegan-anymore-either/
    I believe this wholeheartedly…not everyone is meant to be vegan. ... If we all ate less meat, ate local, in season produce and skipped processed and chemical foods that is the answer. ... Bottom line: I am not a vegan anymore because it was making sick when I moved to Colorado. The lack of sunshine and fresh local produce made it nearly impossible. ... I guess the label would be lacto-ovo vegetarian. ... Face it, at the end of the day something has to die in order for something to live…how we live up to that point is what really matters. PS Yes I still consider myself an animal rights activist.

Why I'm Transitioning Away From Veganism

  • http://www.thebalancedblonde.com/2014/06/23/why-im-transitioning-away-from-veganism/
    When I created this blog over a year ago, I identified with being a plant-based vegan. As the months wore on and I learned more about health, the body and dietary labels, I started believing less in the label of “veganism” and more in listening to my body. I ate a cruelty-free plant-based diet because it felt good to me, my body felt nourished and fueled. ... I started living in a bubble of restriction. Entirely vegan, entirely plant-based, entirely gluten-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, flour-free, dressing/sauce-free, etc. and lived my life based off of when I could and could not eat and what I could and could not combine. ... Yeah, it sounds crazy to me too. ... My stomach was in knots because I had hardly eaten for days, and my body wasn’t sure it could even walk a mile without any sustenance. ... I needed FOOD & I wasn’t allowing myself to have it for 5 billion reasons in my head that are hard to explain but you’re starting to get the picture. Things continued to spiral downward for a few more weeks. ... I was also addicted to juice cleanses. I felt that if I cleansed my body like I had done successfully so many times in the past, these cravings and hunger pains and disordered habits would go away. ... I knew I had disordered eating habits, but until I was willing to admit I had developed some variation of an eating disorder I wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it. ... It’s time to advocate a lifestyle that doesn’t involve restriction, labeling or putting ourselves into a box. I am extremely passionate about eating ethically and eating whole, plant-based foods from the earth. ... Plants are amazing! Vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts and legumes are beautiful foods from the earth and should be incorporated into as many meals as possible throughout the day. But that’s not ALL that is out there. Some of us need more in order to fuel or bodies properly– especially those of us with extreme “all or nothing” personalities like my own. ... I absolutely respect anyone who chooses that lifestyle. I still think it’s amazing. But sometimes, in some bodies, things change and we have to pay attention to that. That’s the point... we are all different! ... As a health coach, I want to help other people learn to eat in the best possible way for their bodies. I want to work with people who have developed “orthorexia,” as I have, and I don’t believe TBV [The Blond Vegan] will serve me as a name for those purposes.

Decisions Why I Stopped Being A Vegan

  • https://groundswell.org/decisions-why-i-stopped-being-a-vegan/
    In fifth grade, I became a vegetarian—not because of animal welfare, the relative sustainability of a meat-free diet, or to save my mom money on steak. ... I lasted nine years. ... I almost certainly would have rejoined the omnivore ranks at some point—if I hadn’t developed anorexia nervosa my junior year of high school. ... I almost certainly would have rejoined the omnivore ranks at some point—if I hadn’t developed anorexia nervosa my junior year of high school. ... Not eating meat gave me a socially acceptable way to say no to a plethora of dishes. ... Here’s where my journey into veganism most resembles the traditional one. See scary documentary, realize the horrors of the dairy industry, renounce all animal and animal by-products. ... I was back to feeling guilty about the butter on my bagel, but this time for ethical reasons, not caloric ones. ... If being vegetarian had let me get away with not consuming all sorts of “normal” foods, being vegan let me get away with not consuming, well, anything. My eating disorder came back in full force, but no one noticed. In fact, everyone was calling me dedicated and altruistic. ... I carried on like this for a few months. There was a growing voice inside my head telling me I couldn’t keep it up—that I had worked too hard to exorcise my demons the first time around to let them return. ... Now I have much more at stake—like my health, sanity, and happiness. I still care deeply about the planet and the non-suffering of animals. But doing the right thing for myself actually means doing the “wrong” thing and eating meat. ... The good news is that just because I’m no longer vegan or vegetarian doesn’t mean I can’t still make ethical choices. I can buy eggs from chickens that were raised in a pasture, not a cage. I can buy meat from producers certified as humane. I can buy ethically-made yogurt.

Why I Stopped Being Vegan

  • https://www.prolificliving.com/why-i-stopped-being-vegan/
    After 8 months of a strictly vegan diet, one day, I decided it was no longer for me. Here’s the story behind that decision. ... I could put eating in two category: you either ate regular foods or you were on a diet. ... I love eating, but what I love more than eating is my body, my temple. ... If my body says no, I say no. If my body says yes, well, then I say yes. You get the point. ... I explored green juicing, raw foods, vegetarian diet, low-carb Atkins-like diet, and finally opened the vegan chapter phase. ... I was a strict vegan and boy did I love it. I decided to eat only vegan food simply because I wanted to know if it is as beneficial and enjoyable as it was made out to be from all of my research and studies. I did not become a vegan for any previous health conditions or to save the animal kingdom, much as I adore animals. ... I did not crave or miss anything. I felt content and satisfied. At least, I did until August. ... I visited my beloved doctor, who fully embraces alternative lifestyles including a vegan diet, and my clean bill of health now showed a deficiency of Iron and Vitamin D. ... Then one day, I simply couldn’t get the thought of eating other foods out of my head. My body started talking to me. ... Just like that, I went back to eating fish, chicken and my plain Greek yogurt. ... I had become more obsessed about optimal health and yet, I had no interest to remain exclusively vegan. ... I made a decision to honor my body because the sound of it screaming in my ears became unbearable. ... Today, I remain in love with vegan food, delicious raw foods, and green juices and yet feel fabulous with the new non-vegan additions to my plate.

Why I'm Not Vegan Anymore

  • https://quitesimplyannie.com/2017/04/17/why-im-not-vegan-anymore/
    Different people’s bodies process foods differently, for some reason my body couldn’t function properly on this diet. ... When I was sixteen, I went through this phase where I thought it was “cool” to be vegetarian. ... That lasted for about a year before I started to think that being vegan was cooler than being vegetarian. ... Little did I know that a lot of vegan foods are artificial and can be incredibly unhealthy. ... A little while after I started on the vegan diet, I lost all of my energy. I was eating all the “right” foods, but I felt weak. I went through periods where I was either hungry all the time or I would completely lose my appetite altogether. It was horrible! And to top it off, it was expensive. ... Weeks went by and I started getting moody, I was annoyed all the time. I just felt all out of sorts and I started obsessing over what I could and couldn’t eat on this diet. Then one day I hit my limit. I ate meat! It was so incredibly satisfying! I hadn’t had it in two years and by now my body seemed to be craving nothing but meat. ... To this day, I still get sick a little when I eat dairy, but it’s worth it for things like ice cream and cheesecake! ;) When I began reincorporating meat into my diet though, I almost threw up. It was too much. I had to start little by little to get my body use to it again. And let me tell ya, I learned my lesson! I would never go back to being vegan ever.

Not Vegan Anymore...

  • https://bossinthemiddle.com/2017/10/16/not-vegan-anymore/
    I tried it for two weeks and had good results, but decided to go back to a more balanced diet, that includes meat and dairy products. There are however, some lessons I learned along the way. ... I know for a fact now that I can live without meat. ... If you’re truly trying to go vegan, you still have to watch calories. ... Sometimes, it’s hard to find alternatives. ... I was very limited on dessert options. ... Soy milk isn’t bad. ... I don’t think I had a “protein” issue. ... Even though I’m eating meat again, I don’t think I’m going to eat meat at every meal. I think I’m going to reduce the quantity and type.

Why I'm Not Vegan Anymore

  • http://daceg.tripod.com/1/vegan.html
    I was Vegan for maybe six months. Not too long. ... The main goal in Krishna consciousness is to "go back to Godhead." Basically to get to the Kingdom of God. But that is not replete with selfishness, at least nit [sic] shouldn't be. ... By offerering her [the cow's] milk to Krishna, she is automatically spiritually advanced in her next life. That is the best gift that you could give apart from taking her in and giving her a slaughterhouse free home. ... People who do that often think only about the present, "I'm going to stop the cruelty of today." Well what about the spiritual life of tomorrow and beyond? If we are Krishna conscious, we should think more of the spiritual future than the material present. It only makes sense.

Why I am Not Vegan Anymore

  • https://www.lifepositive.com/vegan-anymore/
    [You need to sign up / log in with facebook to see the full article. You can use a fake email though.] When a friend recently asked me why I had stopped being vegan, I looked dumb. I didn’t have a short answer. ... I had made a job hop. From being a mainstream journalist I had joined an animal rights group. The offer was attractive as I was very fond of animals and wanted to do something for them. ... The office space overflowed with Peta calendars, pamphlets and videos showing extreme cruelty in the dairy, poultry and piggery industry. ... The transition from vegetarian to vegan would be a cakewalk, or so I thought. But it turned out that it wasn’t easy at all. Why? Because veganism is not about food alone; there is a whole philosophy and lifestyle behind veganism that embraces the fact that animals are sentient beings and not objects to be used as food, clothes, accessories, cosmetics, medicines and for vivisection in labs. ... My life now revolved around what to eat, how to eat, where to eat; what to wear and where to shop. Slowly it was boiling down to whom to meet. Even my friends circle started to shrink. ... These ethical issues haunted me day and night, and made me quite unpopular both at home and outside. I literally went through fire and water in my pursuit of veganism. ... There could be certain deficiencies in diet that could cause health issues. A staunch vegan friend of mine stopped being vegan when another friend had a stroke due to B12 deficiency. This vitamin is obtained from meat, eggs, milk and fish. ... There is no support from the family and society at large. It is not easy to procure cruelty-free vegan products. Vegan alternatives to essentials are expensive. E.g.soya milk, or tofu. Medical industry thrives on animal exploitation for cheap medicines. Vegans need support groups to help them keep on track. ... I cannot pinpoint one reason why I turned my back on veganism. It could be all of the above. It could also be a lack of will power to go against the tide, and so I took the easy way out. I do feel guilty sometimes. Someday I still hope to go back to being vegan.

Why I'm Not A Vegan - Daniel Vitalis #94

  • http://www.danielvitalis.com/rewild-yourself-podcast/why-im-not-a-vegan-daniel-vitalis-94
    [this is a 90 minute podcast] Why aren’t I a Vegan? ... I consider myself to be a conscious omnivore and promote a Four Kingdoms approach to diet (eating from the animal, plant, fungal and bacterial kingdoms). In my personal quest for the most natural diet, I was a vegan for about 10 years. In this show, I’ll tell you a bit about my experience as a vegan, why I started eating animal foods again and why long-term veganism is an experiment and maybe not an appropriate diet for a healthy, robust human ape.

I'm Not Vegan Anymore Either

  • http://www.healthmediatoday.com/article/Im-Not-Vegan-Anymore-Either.html
    Inspired by one holistic nutritionist’s recent coming out [who is conveniently featured first on this list], I wanted to share my own coming out story. ... I wanted to build on her openness and remind people that it’s okay for us to change and it’s okay for others to change too. ... I used to love sushi before I eliminated all meat from my diet. ... A year later I stopped eating dairy because of some mucous issues I was trying to resolve. The mucous didn’t go away, but I grew closer and closer to the vegan label others were giving me. ... I had been craving salmon for the last little while and so I confessed that I was going to order some salmon sashimi. I was going on and on about it, almost in a panic until he finally stopped me and said, “Sandra, it’s fish not crack. Enjoy it.” ... While I still think that most people can benefit from including more plant based foods in their diet, support animal rights, and love all the good the vegetarian and vegan community are doing – I’m not a vegan. I never was a vegan. What I eat does not define me or who I am. I strive to make the best choices for my health. Sometimes I don’t and that’s okay too. Health is a journey, not a label.

Why I'm Not Vegan Anymore

  • https://jentoyourhealth.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/why-im-not-vegan-anymore/
    I’ve been dreading writing this post. ... Here’s the truth: I’m not vegan anymore. ... I was a vegan endurance athlete for 3.5 years. I even wrote a handy-dandy guide for newcomers to the vegan lifestyle, and I still wholeheartedly support every word I wrote. ... Somewhere along the way, my head started getting very foggy. I was fatigued; constantly exhausted. But why? ... I went to a doctor and had my bloodwork done– everything was normal. Iron levels? Great! B Levels? Superb! They had no answers for me. ... After several weeks of this, finally, I made the decision to try — just try– eating meat again to see if it helped. ... The first non-vegan thing I had was eggs, and I wanted to die. ... Then I tried some tuna a couple days later. My stomach tolerated that a little bit better, but it felt very, very wrong. The next day, chicken. A week later, steak. ... The first couple of weeks were the hardest, mentally. Physically, I feel better…and worse. It took about two months for my body to get used to everything. ... The fatigue and brain fogginess is gone, but I also don’t feel as light as I did while plant-based. ... Emotionally, it’s very, very hard. ... I don’t feel any different about animals than I did when I was plant-based. I love all animals. ... It’s hypocritical, really, that I would never be able to kill a chicken in front of me, and yet I’m willing to eat their meat when someone else does. ... I take moments before meals to thank the animal I’m about to eat for its sacrifice. I do not eat unconsciously, and perhaps I will return to veganism again, someday. ... As with all things, you know your body best. Do what works for you.

My Fitness Nutrition Tips

  • https://www.katrinatatae.com/my-fitness-nutrition-tips/used-vegan-im-not-anymore/
    After college, I was able to fully have the freedom to eat the way I wanted to eat. ... So, I began to arm myself with as much knowledge as I could. ... I often get swept away in researching a new “superfood” or philosophy. ... After the discovery that I had Celiac disease, I started to become acutely aware of my body’s reaction to certain foods. ... as I got older I noticed even items that included a remote amount of dairy would send my gut into a tizzy sic. ... So, I began to eliminate dairy out of my diet. I felt so much lighter and brighter! My skin became clearer! My insides felt clean as funny as that sounds. ... Soon after this success, there was a growing movement in mainstream media to “go meatless.” ... I thought I would give it a try, the whole no animal protein thing. ... Of course, explaining it to my parents and coworkers brought endless quizzical looks and jabs at my expense. ... I decided to start over a weekend, slowly and gradually. ... The first couple weeks I did have a bit of anxiety…how was I going to get enough protein, what would I eat for lunch, was I doing this right???? ... I was able to find new sources of protein and try things that I never knew about before, like chickpeas believe it or not. ... However, as I neared the one year mark, I started to deteriorate in health. My energy was listless to say the least. But the most significant part for me was my mental health. I felt on edge a majority of the time, either ready to plummet into a depressive state or soar into a frenzy at the drop of a hand. ... So, I swallowed a bit of humility and made the decision to incorporate meat back into my diet. ... I have learned what works for me and I hope to share my story in hopes that someone else can relate. ... I now know how important animal sources of protein are to my cellular makeup and they are a significant part of my meals.

Why I'm Not Vegetarian Anymore

  • http://crunchychewymama.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/why-im-not-vegetarian-anymore.html
    I first lost my interest in eating ham after dissecting a fetal pig in 9th grade biology. ... When I went to college, I joined the environmental group there, and most everyone was vegetarian. ... Lots of folks were on the animal-rights bandwagon, too. ... I did not go full-on veggie for a few more months. ... And somehow I failed to see the connection between my new diet -- grain-heavy and increasingly dependent on soy products -- and my increase in gastro-intestinal problems or deep-cyst acne. Certainly stress also played into my problems. ... I did okay health-wise while a vegetarian student for the next three years. Well, physically anyway. My mental health -- which had always been on the verge of depression -- took a downturn. ... I should also mention that I was on the Pill this whole time, which did me no favors and I'm sure contributed to my woes. ... I fell into a serious depression that required medication. ... This was years before I learned I had celiac disease. ... It still took a bout with serious and long-term constipation and, a year later, with infertility, to get me to change my tune about my diet. ... I went off the Pill and off anti-depressants in preparation for trying to conceive. That's when the real fun started. It took almost 3 months to get my first period, then 6 weeks, and then nothing. My gut wasn't happy, and my skin looked terrible. ... After three and a half months of no fertility signs, I ovulated two weeks after changing my diet simply to a lacto-ovo (as opposed to near-vegan) vegetarian diet. ... I tried cutting back on gluten and dairy and found an improvement in my health. I'd already started to feel better eating poultry and fish again. ... My six years as a whole-grain-heavy (and soy-based) vegetarian really did me in. I felt better than I ever had, and, six months after I'd gone off anti-thyroid medication, I conceived my son in June 2005.

Why I Gave Up Being Vegan

  • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41158365
    John Nicholson and his partner became vegans in 1984, at the age of 23. ... But 26 years later, the couple decided to return to eating meat for what they believed was the good of their health. ... "I suffered from IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) for 17 years," said John. ... He also started to put on a lot of weight - standing at 5ft 10in (1.78m) but weighing 15st - and had the "highest cholesterol in North Yorkshire", according to his GP. At the same time, his partner was suffering with depression and a slow thyroid, and they both wanted to make a change. ... The impact was almost immediate. Within 48 hours, John started to feel better and his IBS all but disappeared, and, for his partner, there was a marked improvement. ... The pair are still against industrial farming practices and ethically source their meat from farms, choosing free range and organic produce. Estelle Silver had been a vegan for eight years before she made the switch back to eating meat. Little did she know it would also seem to help with her health problems. ... To start with, Estelle was pleased with the effects as it helped clear up her skin - a problem she had faced since her 20s - but as time went on, she became tired, less able to cope with stress and developed anxiety. ... Eight years on, Estelle began craving meat and fish, and she started to have "little cheat treats". "It was like my body was really grateful and I felt better every time I ate a bit of meat," she said. ... "Since then my health has improved hugely and my anxiety has completely gone," said Estelle. "From an ethical point of view, I wish I could live without animal products, but I no longer believe that a vegan diet is a healthy one - my body just can't cope with it."

Why We Stopped Our Vegan Diet After 6 Months

  • https://www.patientsengage.com/personal-voices/why-we-stopped-our-vegan-diet-after-6-months-0
    My wife and I attended a Wellness programme conducted by a “Health and Wellness Coach”. Both of us are 50+ and are suffering from High Cholesterol levels and Diabetes respectively. ... Having heard the experts out and listening to some real-life experiences, we decided that there is no harm in trying it out, which meant that we turned ‘Vegan’. ... The immediate positive effect of this was we started feeling lighter and more energetic. I am not sure if it was psychological. ... However, we did miss out on proteins in our meals and other nutrients that we used to get out of mainly eating curd, paneer, egg whites, etc. ... We do not think there were any negatives in this experiment, except for the earlier stated point that we both lost weight. ... Under the circumstances, after trying vegan diet out for 6 months, we have switched back to our original vegetarian diet. ... Though it didn’t help us, there are friends who swear that they have seen improvements in their condition. I would not term vegan diet extreme by any standards; and am not sure why it is not being prescribed more often by doctors.

Listen to Your Body / Why I'm No Longer Vegan

  • http://www.happilyholli.co.uk/2017/05/listen-to-your-body-why-im-no-longer.html
    For some people Veganism is brilliant and is a great way to help recovery. I cannot deny that. But for myself? Something has changed a little... ... At the time the less meat I ate actually really helped my digestion issues, as I suffer with really bad IBS. It wasn't long till I realised that I wasn't eating meat anymore ... I love plant based food! Meaning my transition to Veganism wasn't that hard. ... The whole idea of being 'Vegan', was a little bit exciting and easy. ... Lets cut a long story short, something very recently happened which I didn't expect and couldn't quite get my head around. My body began to talk to me. ... I began getting cravings I hadn't had for way over a year. ... I was actually scared. ... My moods were all over the place, I was losing interest in food again, binging like there was no tomorrow, energy levels were dropping. ... I was in a lot of pain. I felt miserable. ... I was developing another issue with food. I suddenly felt very restricted but not in a good way. ... I just couldn't wait any longer to eat fish again, so I ate it. ... I just ate it because I wanted to simply let go. ... I feel SO much better for it. My body is thriving off lots of good, nutritious healthy foods again with lots of variation! ... Own your body, and the way it feels. ... Do what suits you and listen to your body. My point is - We change, our bodies change our mind changes, and I changed.

Why I'm No Longer A Vegan and A Valuable Lesson

  • http://www.krakentraining.com/why-im-no-longer-a-vegan-and-a-valuable-lesson/
    Let me preface by saying that I’m not against vegan/vegetarian diets. I think they’re great! ... I was a vegan for 16 months and I didn’t eat meat for 18 months. ... It was just not working for me. ... Ever since I became vegan I’ve been having numerous issues with my health. I developed psoriasis on my elbows and knees. I’ve been having issues with joints, especially my right knee. I’ve been having problems with my body composition. I’ve also been having problems getting my strength up, despite proper programming. Maybe unrelated but, I’ve had strep throat two times since then. ... I was craving meat. But not just any craving, it was an intense, fierce craving for meat. ... If you’re craving something that bad, and there is a serious psychological desire for it then just eat it. ... Keep in mind, eating meat is not unhealthy for you, eating enormous amounts of meat is. ... As much as vegans want to think they’re “healthier” than the rest, they are fooling themselves. ... Don’t get pissed when someone doesn’t care about your morality. There are plenty of injustices in the world. People can’t be perfect and fight against everything. ... Veganism is Incredibly Difficult for Athletes ... 90% of the time these athletes have never eaten meat in their lives. Their bodies are completely accustomed to not eating meat. ... Your body takes years to adjust from digesting meat and dairy as energy to solely digesting plant based foods. ... It all depends on your goals and my goals were not fitting together with my diet. ... This is a big thing for me. I never liked the other vegans. I found them very annoying and pathetic with their approach. ... I also never planned on being a life long vegan. Deep down inside I understood that I wouldn’t be doing it forever. Whether I ate some eggs or had a slide of beef, I knew it would end. ... I didn’t want to seem like I was heavily invested into the diet. ... People will automatically think you’re like the other vegans – always virtue signalling and rambling on about how healthy they are. ... They bring it up in every dinner. They don’t have meat eating friends. It’s very sad what they’ve done to themselves. ... So there you have it. The reasons why I’m not vegan any more.

Im No Longer Vegan

  • https://www.mimentality.com/single-post/2017/06/05/Im-No-Longer-Vegan
    For the last almost two years, I've been identifying as vegan to help me get over my issues with food. It was the best thing I ever did for myself ... But alas, I can't continue the vegan lifestyle any longer, and it totally bums me out ... So why am I suddenly losing my vegan status? My health and I do NOT want this to imply that being vegan isn't sustainable or that humans can't get all the vitamins, minerals, and nutrition they need from a vegan diet, because it is TOTALLY POSSIBLE. ... Some people thrive off eating meat. Some bodies thrive off high amounts of healthy fats. Some people thrive off of fruit and veggies. Some thrive off high amounts of pasta and bread. My body (including my mental being) thrives most when I include eggs in my diet. Plain and simple. ... Here's the back story. I'm currently borderline iron-deficient anemic. Back in high school I actually was considered to have iron-deficiency anemia ... More importantly, my B12 is also abysmal. ... Eggs are super high in B12 and while they aren't the most beneficial for iron absorption, for some reason, my body makes it work. ... No matter how much hummus, nut butter, and vegan protein I was eating, my body continually felt exhausted. But last week, I felt so much more alert and capable. And that really excites me! ... Nothing in my life is really going to change minus the egg a day part. I'm still not eating meat, fish, cheese, or dairy milk. I'm still buying cruelty free clothing and beauty products. ... I realize this is an odd post for a mental health blog. But part of your mental health is making sure your body is being taken care of. ... Eating disorders stem from a power struggle with food - allowing food to guilt you and take over your life. Me coming to a healthy place not only mentally but now physically with food is only going to aid in my recovery.

Why I Am No Longer Vegan

  • http://www.makesyouthinkblog.com/why-i-am-no-longer-vegan/
    Four years ago, I decided to try out the vegan diet. I had watched the Fork over Knives movie, read the book The China Study, and was inspired talking to people about it. ... in January 2012 I decided to removed all animal products from my diet – meat, eggs, butter, broth, cheese, all of it. I did still continue to eat fish on occasion, but that was my only source of animal products. ... The first year seemed to go pretty well. I felt like I had more energy, less bogged down by the heavy feeling of the meat ... I had my cholesterol levels tested again and to my surprise ... Animal products made ZERO difference in my cholesterol numbers! ... For the next year, I decided to give up sugar. ... That year, 2013, was almost one of the most sick I had ever felt. My family couldn’t catch a break from constant cold and flu infections. As soon as we recovered from one, we’d catch another… for an entire year! ... I had my numbers checked again. That was it! That was the key I had been missing. It was the sugar. The excess sugar had made my cholesterol elevated, not the animal products ... But it was too late. Two years of no meat or eggs had taken its toll. My body had been stretched to its limits and been drained of nutrient reserves ... In March of that year, I developed ovarian cancer. ... I had a surgery to remove the tumor ... it had all been removed in the first surgery and nothing, not even a trace of deadly cancer cells, were detected! Thank you, God, for you mercy! ... it has left me with a great sense of awe and wonder over how God created the human body to work. ... just a few months after the cancer appeared and was removed, I began to reintroduce animal products into my diet. Meat was first – and I did not like the taste of it! ... I continued because I knew not having it didn’t work. It didn’t do a thing to my cholesterol numbers and like it or not, I spent a year in the most miserable state I could be in followed by a disease I wouldn’t wish on anybody. .... I believe my cancer came from a lack of nutrients. ... What I was lacking were the animals nutrients – animo acids, vitamins, minerals – and iodine. ... eating a vegan diet can also lead to insufficient vitamins and minerals because there just aren’t enough of them in plant foods. ... The vegan diet lacks the essential elements that humans need to survive. ... I went to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned. I hadn’t been in years, but on urging from my husband, I finally decided to go. The dentist said I had nine cavities! Nine! Never have I had so many cavities. ... I now see a correlation between my poor diet and the depletion of minerals in my teeth causing them to look fragile and transparent. ... It is my belief that the vegan diet, without supplementation, is insufficient to sustain a healthy body. Without supplementation of these lacking elements we would be leading unhealthy, cancer-ridden lives. ... Do you want to know the key to eating healthy? Here it is: Everything in moderation!

Am No Longer Vegan

  • http://thegreenspork.com/why-i-am-no-longer-vegan/
    At the time of starting this blog I labeled myself as a vegan for about 3 years. I chose to brand this blog as plant-based vs. vegan because of it's broader appeal, and inclusive nature. I also believed, and still do, that any healthy diet should be based on plants. But over the years of studying nutrition and a variety of diets I have had to reach the understanding that there is no one diet for everyone. In fact, each person would be best served to go on aself exploration journey to discover their own ideal and intolerant foods. So these days I am no longer vegan. ... My new purpose for The Green Spork is to broaden my audience and distill the wisdom I have learned about nutrition.

Life Update - Why I'm No Longer Vegan

  • https://eachandeverypeace.com/2017/08/17/life-update-why-im-no-longer-vegan/
    I have been vegan for almost two years. And yes, I still considered myself to be vegan even though I still consumed honey and bought wool socks. ... I originally went vegan mostly for health reasons. ... I was sure that being vegan or plant-based was the only way to live healthfully. Also during this time, I was dealing with many negative thoughts about my body in eating disorder recovery. Going vegan seemed like it would solve all my body image issues. ... I was excited about my diet change and very passionate about it. I felt that I was doing what was healthiest for my body. ... After a little over a year, being a vegan was losing it’s luster and fulfillment for me because I was beginning to not feel like I had when I originally went vegan. ... I started craving dairy. I was feeling run down and weak. ... I was always eating and got hardcore hangry very easily. ... I found myself in situations on trips where non-vegan food was the only option, or times when I was just CRAVING greek yogurt. (Like seriously, I didn’t even like greek yogurt before I went vegan.) ... I had become and how for all this time I was letting food dictate my body image. ... I knew my only option to battling the constant hunger, judgement, cravings, and feelings of weakness was to give veganism up. ... I then had my final epiphany before giving up being vegan forever: no matter what I do and how hardcore vegan I try to be, my health is only in my hands to a certain extent. God is in total control and could have me die of cancer someday regardless of whether or not I was vegan all my life. ... Once I got past the mental issue of the whole situation, eating all of my former favorite foods came very easily. I now feel so much better. ... I am so happy to be back to being a normal human. ... At the end of the day, I am just eating what I crave and forgetting about the rest.

Why I Am No Longer Vegan

  • https://apriljoyburrow.com/2017/04/26/why-i-am-no-longer-vegan/
    I went vegan for about 80% ethical/environmental reasons and 20% health. Morally throughout the last year I have felt fantastic, living a life free of harming animals. However, physically things have not been so great. ... Unless I am consciously eating protein powders and products like quorn vegan ‘chicken’ pieces and soy products like tofu every day, I feel noticeably more tired and weak ... soy products do not really agree with me, but without them I really struggle to hit the amount of protein I would like to each day. ... I’m aware of all the other foods that contain protein, and believe me I’ve tried loading up my dishes with beans and lentils, peas and broccoli ... I really wasn’t enjoying eating in this way nor was it making my body feel good. ... over the last year I’ve begun to feel less confident in my body, and noticeably more lethargic which is the biggest worry for me. ... I’ve also spent the last year constantly injured! ... I’ve been very careful with my diet, making sure I get all the macro and micronutrients in. ... Before I went vegan I never took any supplements and always felt great. ... I can’t imagine living the rest of my life taking supplements and drinking protein powder every day in order to have enough energy to partake in the exercise that I love so much. ... where possible I will make sure that any animal products I do eat are from responsible sources, and will still enjoy eating lots of vegan meals of course. ... There’s nothing I actually miss at all, I’ve never felt tempted to eat animal products or craved anything. I just know that this is the right decision, albeit an incredibly hard one.

Why I Am No Longer A Raw Vegan After 7 Years

  • http://www.extremehealthradio.com/why-i-am-no-longer-a-raw-vegan-after-7-years/
    I originally started on the raw food diet when I read a book called Fit for Life by Harvey Diamond ... That eventually led me to Jay Kordich the father of Juicing, and that led me to David Wolfe and raw foods which I did from 2003 to 2010. ... I was always learning and in search of new and alternative information. ... it wasn’t cool NOT be 100% raw. ... I was noticing a lot arguing and bad blood in the raw food world for a little while. ... If I have to put a percentage on it, I’d say I’m still about 80% raw vegan. The other 20% happens to include cooked (and raw) animal products. ... The reason for the shift was learning about a lot of fat soluble vitamins that are good for proper bone and teeth mineralization. ... I was getting more candida issues. I started to notice some flaking on my scalp, itchiness and redness under my eyes, some bloating a little tiredness etc. ... I was eating lots of sugar and didn’t really know it. Looking back that was probably fine as I was really overhauling and transforming my eating habits. I basically allowed myself to eat anything as long as it was raw. ... I started to think of how man probably ate thousands of years ago. They probably consumed a high percentage of leafy greens (that they could either cultivate or pick wild), some fruit if they could find any, and the occasional wild game that they were able to hunt, kill and eat. ... I don’t think anybody really knows what we were designed to eat. ... has their been enough time that has gone by to warrant genetic changes where we are now adapted to completely new foods, foods we weren’t originally designed to eat? Let’s suppose the earth is 10 million years old and there is a God, which I believe there is. If God designed us to eat only plants, and my ancestors ate primarily meat for the last 500,000 years that only takes into account 1/20th of the total amount of time we’ve been on earth. On top of that the first 19/20ths of time we ate plants. So even though my ancestors ate meat for the last 500,000 years, we might have been designed originally to eat plants. Or it could be the other way around. My point is I think we can digest meats just fine as well as plants just fine. ... Cutting out a major food group for many years is a big deal. Imagine when you’re 70 and you realized that for the past 40 years you ate a diet you just found out was wrong? The raw vegan diet is extreme. ... I’m learning that animal products not only are not harmful for us, but can be essential in some people for optimum health. ... If I am wrong about the meat issue at least I’m only wrong with 20% of my diet. ... I’m relying on the fact that the 80% raw vegan I do eat, will offset any of the harmful substances in the cooked and raw animal products (if there are any – which I do not believe to be the case). ... Your body and health are a reflection of what you eat, but who you are has nothing at all to do with food or what you eat. ... I’ve read The China Study and don’t agree with all of it ... I’m free to eat whatever I want and feel great about that.

I Used To Be A Fascist Vegan But Now I Have To Eat Meat

  • https://www.xojane.com/issues/i-used-to-be-a-fascist-vegan-but-now-i-have-to-eat-meat
    The choice to not eat meat is a gentle choice -- gentle on our bodies, our minds and the planet. That's why I am truly envious of people who can be vegan. ... When I was eighteen and my boyfriend took me to hear KRS-1 speak to a group of college kids in New York, his words convinced me to stop eating flesh all together. ... When I was 22, I fell in love with a vegan. ... There were a lot of facts and statistics thrown in there too, but it was his emotional plea that convinced me. I had never looked at food in that way. ... Within a month of being vegan, I felt like a new person, like I was floating on a cloud -- lighter, brighter and increasingly attuned to my body and what it was telling me. ... Admittedly, my veganism was fanatical. ... I denied any meal where the ingredients were uncertain, no matter how hungry I was. When I dined out, I struggled to find restaurant food I could eat. ... I was always defending myself against people who considered vegans extreme. One of the most difficult things about being vegan for me was how defensive it made people about their own food choices. I dreaded the holidays with my family. ... When they asked me why, my response always seemed to come out as accusatory, no matter how ambivalent I attempted to be. ... After a few months of being a vegan, I began to refrain from telling people. Instead of, “No thanks, I'm vegan,” I would say, “No thanks, I'm not hungry.” After six months of subsisting on a purely vegan diet, I began to have seemingly unrelated health issues. ... I refused to take vitamin supplements due to an aversion toward pills. My doctor introduced me to some great nutritional food supplements and gave me a series of B-12 shots to get me started. Yet as more test results came back, I found out that I had dangerously low cholesterol that no plant could cure. ... I broke up with veganism a year later when I broke up with Abe. Maybe this proved that my heart wasn't really in it. I was miserable. In my misery, what did I crave more than anything? Black tea with cream, not soy milk; thick milky cream. ... I started eating subsistence meat, fresh caught salmon and road kill moose (seriously). ... Since then, I have experimented with a variety of cleanses and diets trying to figure out what works best for my body. Through trial and error, I soon discovered that I am unable to digest beans, sprouted or otherwise, and that the only way I can digest eggs or dairy is to eat meat. ... Animals eat animals. That's nature, the food chain. Humans are omnivores and our bodies have adapted over centuries to eat both meat and vegetables. ... I am truly envious of people who can be vegan.

The Real Diet Story Of A Happy Ex-Vegan

  • https://willfrolicforfood.com/2016/09/the-real-diet-story-of-a-happy-ex-vegan-blogger.html
    So this sharing, the sharing of my diet story, it just tumbled out of me. ... Plant based lifestyle changed my life. Well, that… and yoga… and psychedelics. ... As a teenager I used to struggle with anxiety and depression. ... In college, it worsened. ... I often had episodes of anxiety that left me in tears. I felt listless and terribly alone. I hated my body. ... As a result, I did some pretty stupid things. ... I drank loads of coffee and barely slept for six months. ... I developed an eating disorder. I was falling apart. ... All of my new friends were vegetarian. ... I had stopped eating any meat but chicken and fish, anyway. ... I was pleasantly surprised to find out I could survive on plants alone! ... I ate loads of yogurt, pasta, bread, cheese and pale salads. ... almost immediately, something shifted for me. It was as if a fog lifted. I felt more awake, more aware, more sentient. ... after going veg for three weeks I seemed to wake up from a dream. ... I recall being very self conscious about my weight, constantly. As you can imagine, the new diet only aggravated my desire to control my eating. ... I started going to counseling. I started taking slightly better care of my mental health. ... I’ve done psychedelics. ... In college I went through a very intense experimentation period ... I regret nothing. At the same time I discovered yogic philosophy and asana practice. All of this combined to blow my mind open and change my path forever. ... I have not obsessed about my food intake ever since my first psychedelic experience. ... But every vegan person I knew was highly intelligent, energetic and creative. ... If I went vegan, would I become a genius bohemian goddess? ... I tried high fat low carb and high carb low fat. ... But it wasn’t until I read The China Study in my senior year that I decided to try out veganism. ... a fog was lifting. I lost that extra weight. I stopped getting sinus infections. In fact, I also stopped getting colds, influenza and every other run of the mill illness. ... Cue two years of zealous veganism. Which culminated in… you guessed it. A total meltdown. Not a mental one this time. Emotional? Very. ... I had started experiencing IBS symptoms. ... Eventually I gave up hard core veganism out of necessity. At the time I was traveling a lot and the food intolerances on top of the self imposed restriction were causing me a lot of unnecessary suffering. I was surviving on protein bars, rice, tempeh and cereal. Not ideal, to say the least. I was losing weight simply because I didn’t know what the hell to eat anymore. ... I started eating eggs and goat cheese again. ... No guilt, just bliss. ... I still maintain a diet comprised of 99% plant foods ... I was really attached to being “vegan” and my fear of relinquishing that label was hurting more than helping. ... I’m completely recovered from my disordered eating these days, and have been for many years. ... This is me. I’m just doing my thing. You do yours!

A Former Vegan Confesses How Veganism Was Destroying Her Health

  • http://www.truthaboutabs.com/vegan-confesses-health-problems.html
    [This is a reprint. The original blog this appeared on has been removed, but you can see it here on the internet archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20120120033821/http://voraciouseats.com/2010/11/19/a-vegan-no-more/]
    I was almost anemic, and my B12 was so low [the doctor] wanted to give me an injection immediately, I refused to believe her. ... When I could I slept till noon, I felt lightheaded when I stood up, I couldn’t remember simple words or the names of my friends, and I was freezing cold even in the midst of a sweltering Saudi summer. ... the absolute worst of all was my depression. ... Along with the minor dietary suggestions, [the doctor] also recommended a variety of supplements in addition to the ones I already took everyday, including iron tablets. ... I didn’t tell anyone for days, not even Cody. I had failed and it would be my dirty little secret. ... I would rather feel weak, dizzy, and depressed, than this violently ill. After 2 weeks I threw the pills in the trash and returned to the doctor again. ... She explained how the health problems we are plagued with in the Western world are not caused by animal products, far from it. Humans have been consuming animals (in much greater quantities than we do now) for millions of years without ill effect, and historically there has never been a single vegan culture. ... I wanted desperately for it to be right, for my ethics to outweigh my physiology. Of course, I never questioned why I was constantly hungry. Why 2 veggie burgers, a giant raw vegetable salad, and a bowl of nuts, couldn’t keep me full longer than 2 hours. ... I’m still not sure why I accepted for so long that fatigue, exhaustion, and growing depression were a normal part of life that was to be expected as one grew older. ... I lied to myself, to my readers, to the world saying I felt healthy and fine, when in reality I felt worse than ever. ... As a feminist, this body-hating rhetoric infuriated me. The willing participation in the denial and degradation of my bodily needs smacked of misogyny, patriarchal control and violence against the female body, and everything that I fight against. ... My first bite of meat after 3.5 years of veganism was both the hardest and easiest thing I’ve ever done. Tears ran down my face as saliva pooled in my mouth. ... I just ate, and ate, and ate. I cried in grief and anger, while moaning with pleasure and joy. ... I had just devoured a hunk of dead animal, the most evil thing I could conceive of, surely my body would reject this debasement and I would feel vindicated that I truly was meant to be a vegan. I felt profoundly joyful in finally listening to the wisdom of my body. ... I realized that for the first time in months I felt satiated without the accompaniment of stomach pain. ... I noticed something else odd: my heart was beating slowly, steadily. Normally, after a typical meal of veggies, rice and beans, or other starchy fare, my heart would race and skip for an hour or so afterward. ... these animal foods won’t hurt me or cause me ill health in anyway, in fact, the vitamins and minerals they provide, along with the nutritious cholesterol and wholesome saturated fat, will restore my health. ... After 2 months every single deficiency and out of whack number was completely restored to the healthy, normal range. Not one problem. Not one.

Ex-Vegans of Reddit: Why Did You Become And Stop Being A Vegan?

  • https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/51gpe8/exvegans_of_reddit_why_did_you_become_and_stop/
    [Answer 1] BECAUSE MEAT IS DELICIOUS
    [Answer 2] I thought it would help my IBS. It didn't.
    [Answer 3] What stopped me was the cost. Im 6'5" and about 280 pounds so getting 4k cal in a vegan diet was rough. Also all the pooping.
    [Answer 4] I've always experimented with diets, in an effort to see if eating/eliminating certain food items would alleviate certain mental health issues (anxiety, panic, etc). ... I ate vegan for about 3 years, occasionally eating farm fresh eggs. I found that all of my issues got worse over time and I just wasn't feeling my best. ... I realized taking supplements shouldn't replace food. I slowly started incorporating chicken back into my diet and eventually (as of April) switched over to trying The Whole 30 diet and haven't looked back. ... I never was vegan for the sake of animals.
    [Answer 5] I realized that "if you love the lion and the antelope and want nothing to die you're gonna have a problem" and that it was about my mom dying I ate nothing but meat to get all that denial-fueled stuff out of my system and godDAMN that felt great. It was like I was starving myself all that time.
    [Answer 6] I became vegan for health reasons. Stuck with it for quite a while. Then started eating eggs again, then fish. Did that for a long time. Recently started eating chicken again. Fuck it's good. I think I had chicken 5 days in a row. The main reason for stopping veganism was convenience.
    [Answer 7] Did it to try it, stopped because I realized that eating animals is more ethical and better for the environment than not eat animals. Circle of life and whatnot
    [Answer 8] Started because I really cared about living in a more humane way. Stopped because I was a broke college student that really cared about my protein intake.
    [Answer 9] my sister stopped being vegan because she got a new boyfriend who wasn't a vegan.
    [Answer 10] As a direct result of becoming a vegan, I became too rich, too powerful, and too sexually attractive to others.
    [Answer 11] I had to stop as I ended up hospitalizing myself. I suffer from chronic anaemia, and I wasn't careful with my diet at all. Turns up substituting beer and Red Vines for actual nutrition is dangerous.

Confession Of A Former Vegan - Kevin Gianni

  • https://well.org/healthy-body/confessions-former-vegan-kevin-gianni/
    Kevin moved from a Standard American Diet to a vegan lifestyle after listening to an MP3 recording of raw foodist celebrity, David Wolfe. ... not in a desire to achieve optimal health but out of a desire to achieve optimal performance for activities like running. ... He immediately noticed benefits such as more energy and significant weight loss. The good feelings and wellness lasted for almost three years. As quickly as the benefits appeared, the adverse effects began showing up. ... His running was the first thing that was negatively affected. Then increased irritability, fatigue, and cramps. ... They showed a variety of nutritional deficiencies and hormonal disruption. Part of the doctor’s prescription was for Kevin to begin eating meat. ... Kevin points out that a vegan diet can help most people who are suffering from a range of complaints. But it’s not a long-term solution, and you need to become your own n=1 experiment. ... [From the interview with Kevin Gianni] I wasn’t a PETA supporter or anything like that. I started to buy into this do we have to do this? Do we have to kill another creature in order to thrive and survive? That was probably the hardest part. ... I’m not killing anything. I mean, who knows what’s happening on the farms. ... we could go do a hunting trip on camera or something, just to show what it takes. It’s gross and it’s hectic, and it’s emotional. Anyone who eats meat should have that experience because it is serious, right? You’re taking a life. ... Definitely fat is a contributing factor to probably what happened. Including some fat soluble vitamins that I might not have been getting from some of the plant food that I was eating. ... I said, “I’m just going to eat whatever the heck I want as long as it’s organic.” ... That piece of steak, I think that’s one of the reasons why we’re so addicted to meat as a culture. We just don’t see it. Like you said, when you go to the market in Peru, or wherever else, you see the flies buzzing around that pig carcass. You’re like, “Wow. I think that I’m just going to grab the mango.”

Washington Lineman Trent Williams Is No Longer Vegan: His Excuse Will Infurate You

Why I'm No Longer The Girl With The Vegan Tattoo

  • http://partyinmyplants.com/vegan-tattoo/
    Four years ago, I stumbled upon a vegan milkshake that changed my life. ... That old joke: “How do you know if someone is vegan? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you,” was the story of my life. ... Four years on plants changed my body, my mind, my spirit, my mood, my energy, my weight, my digestion, my eating habits…my LIFE. ... I started eyeballing my boyfriend’s eggs at breakfast and fish at dinners, I didn’t know what to do. ... So I went to my doctor and got tested to see if my animal craving was due to my being deficient in something ... But I wasn’t deficient in anything. ... I was so ashamed of the cravings ... I did the seemingly impossible – I ate a delicious gnocchi dish that was made with (GASP) egg whites. ... And finally I’ve learned that it’s not about the label, it’s not about rules, it’s about listening to your body. It’s about doing what’s best for your body. It’s about experimenting with your body. But mostly, it’s about loving your body.
    [Originally published on http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-13202/i-stopped-being-vegan-the-world-kept-spinning.html]

Why I No Longer Identify As Vegan Or Vegetarian

  • http://sequoyadakota.com/blog/why-i-no-longer-identify-as-vegan-or-vegetarian
    Making my health and wellness a priority has always naturally been apart of my life’s path, so making the hard or not so hard decisions of what to stop eating or even start eating has been pretty simple. Most recently though, I’ve decided to stop eating meat, then dairy… and so on. ... I introduced chicken and some turkey back into my diet ... I no longer like to commit to a label for my diet because it is a lot to wrap my mind around. ... From “self-diagnosing” myself with an eating disorder which caused me to feel ashamed to post a donut on snapchat fearful that someone will call me out on not eating healthy... to being elated about the new variety of veggies I have finally added to my diet… I have been through it all. ... My personal diet choice as of right now, is to eat mindfully and with intention. I am listening to my body and responding by eating or not eating the foods it requests and rejects.

Why I Am Not Vegan

  • http://bloomforlife.org/vegan/
    I got into vegetarian and ‘raw foodism’ at an early age. When just 15 – almost 16 – years of age in the Mid-West lands of South Dakota, I determined that in order to live with myself (recovering from a ghastly eating disorder) I would need to learn how to take care of myself and eat properly. ... I eliminated dairy, cheese, all meat, processed junk, and vowed to only eat ‘vegan’ from then on out… it was to my great elation that very soon my physical problems began to remedy, and I started to actually like myself. However, the benefits were short-lived (6 months or so), as inevitably some of my symptoms returned. ... In total, I have been predominantly ‘vegan’ for over 5 years now. ... I tried so hard to make raw and vegan diets work. Yet was constantly faced with issues (with myself) and clients who were hitting plateaus with their health. ... Hence, why I began to waver from my ‘vegan pedestal’ ... My own health problems were easy to ignore in my plight to ‘save the animals’: Being bloated – pretty much all the time. Still having an extra 10+ pounds to lose. Super sensitive and weak teeth ... Mild pimple formation – not cystic acne, but tiny bumps that are still noticeable. Puffy face (adrenal fatigue)… and none of that is attractive, huh? ... I’m not saying that one doesn’t benefit immensely from eating predominantly plant-based, I’m making a point to state that being very rigid with the exclusion of certain high-quality animal products may inevitably result in deficiencies of some sort. ... The plant-based community is a very dogmatic, close-minded group. Few are the exception. ... I realize that no amount of criticism could ever diminish what I have learned through self study and experience ... What do I eat Now? I have always been inspired by Greek culture and living, and so somehow have gravitated to a diet similar to that. So, Mediterranean-Ketogenic-Pant-Based-and-Raw… ?

No Longer Vegan After 2 Years

  • http://www.mixedfitness.com/no-longer-vegan-after-2-years
    I’ve been vegan since July 1, 2011, but as of February 4th, 2014, I’ve started including animal products back into my diet. This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. I went vegan for ethical reasons, not health, which makes my decision all the more difficult. ... A healthy paleo diet can help the body fortify its defenses. It can correct hormonal issues (thyroid, testosterone, estrogen, cortisol, etc.), it can prevent/correct gut damage/leaky gut syndrome, repair damaged metabolism and give your body what it needs to perform optimally. This is why we chose to move towards a paleo diet. ... Being healthy is totally doable on a vegan diet, although I don’t believe vegans are as healthy as what is possible. ... Ethically-farmed animals are killed “humanely,” according to current standards, but their deaths are still not very humane. Or at least not as humane as I think it should be. ... Based on everything that I’ve read, I’ve decided that the right choice for me is to no longer be vegan. I believe that it’s the healthiest choice and that I can do it in a way that will result in less animal death than any other diet. ... I know that there is no real humane way to farm animals, but when I say “ethical” or “humane,” I mean in the MOST humane or ethical way currently available.

Why I'm No Longer Vegetarian Or Vegan

  • http://starbrandbeef.com/why-im-not-vegetarian-or-vegan/ [originally posted on:] http://honeyrockdawn.com/2012/05/why-im-not-vegetarian-or-vegan/
    It’s certainly not for lack of caring about animals. ... I was really naive about food until I turned 26. I didn’t particularly care about food ~ it was not a priority in my life and I just ate whatever. ... Then I became devastatingly ill, to the point where I had to sit on the bathroom floor to brush my teeth because I didn’t have the energy to stand at the sink, and was battling an unyielding depression. ... I cut gluten out of my diet, all the horrible symptoms and effects disappeared. ... I went vegan for a bit, but soon realized my body functions best with animal protein. It’s just the way it is with me. ... These choices regarding animal products, however, were not rooted in altruism; they were totally self-centered.

So Long Vegan Part 1: Why I'm Making The Switch

  • http://sailingthroughfitness.com/so-long-vegan-part-1-why-im-making-the-switch/
    A few months ago, I celebrated 2 years of being vegan. Flash forward a few weeks after that, and I was at the Kawana Organic Farmer’s Market buying a bag of beef bones to make myself some homemade bone broth. ... What the F happened to that whole “omg best decision of my life, I love veganism, save the animals, I feel so great, my energy is limitless, this is the diet of the gods” crap. Well you know what, I don’t take back anything I’ve ever said about following a vegan diet. ... But as much as veganism was so right for me 2 years ago, it no longer is, and here is why. ... A year ago I published a post on my blog all about my struggles with amenorrhea. ... That makes it almost 2 full years now that I have been completely infertile ... I found a common liver problem called “liver-blood deficiency”. This complication is characterized by a lack of period, itchy/dry eyes, skin issues such as eczema, easy bruising etc. all of which I experience. ... Some are “ethical vegans” who decide to omit all animal products from their diet as a stand against animal cruelty, and others do it for the environment. I was neither of those as I initially became vegan for my own health. ... This is also the reason why I never intended on being vegan for the rest of my life. I always vowed to myself that I would stay vegan for as long as it made sense for me. ... Real strength does not lie in the ability to be stubborn and stick to what we know, but in the ability to take a step back, reconsider and ask ourselves if we are doing something out of habit or if it’s really what we need. ... My plan is to have animal products maybe 4-5 times a week, but making sure that they are of upmost quality: organic, free-range, grass-fed, local etc ... I’m not saying veganism will never be for me, but right now my body needs iron, protein, B-vitamins and healthy fats, and I love my body way too much to keep it deprived.

I Ditchd The Vegan Label and I Feel Free

  • https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9384/i-ditched-the-vegan-label-and-i-feel-free.html
    I once labeled myself a "vegan" and almost instantly felt a sense of purpose, community and even—dare I say—superiority over those who ate meat. ... Sometimes, during a moment of weakness, I occasionally incorporate dairy back into my diet or have a piece of fish for dinner. (What can I say? I'm human.) ... But rather than focus on the label, as I had been (and see so many others) doing, I began to focus on the activism behind it: actually saving animals and preserving lives, promoting wellness, creating a more eco-friendly environment, etc. ... I went from sharing status updates on Facebook about why veganism is "the best & only way to eat" to actually taking action: volunteering, meeting, and speaking with wellness experts who promote plant-based eating and learning about eco-friendly lifestyles. ... I stopped listening to the naysayers' judgement and rigid approach. The label of veganism lost its allure. I am no longer a vegan. Yes, others label me that way, but I don't. Of course, I still support the cause! I eat primarily plant-based while focusing on living a balanced life, promoting wellness and trying to save as many factory farm animals that I can!

Ex-Vegan Interviews On Tumblr

  • http://letthemeatmeat.com/tagged/ExVegan_Interviews [this tumblr blog is an epic collection of ex-vegan interviews]
  • [Interview 1 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/88942394362/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-erim-bilgin-three the two latest posts are different interviews with same dude, http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/3484206816/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-erim-bilgin]
    Unhappy with being overweight at 14, he developed an eating disorder. He fought anorexia for a year before deciding to learn more about health and optimal nutrition, which led him to raw veganism ... I still believe, objectively, that nihilism is the way the universe operates. There is no such thing as inherent meaning; it’s our primate brains that brand things good and bad. So when you’re going for ultimate truth; yeah, you can always argue that there’s nothing “wrong”, or rather, “false”, about eating meat. From an objective standpoint, all you can say is — it’s possible to eat meat, so it’s possible. We can do it. It’s doable. But that’s about all you can get from an objective viewpoint like nihilism. You can’t really use it in human discussions. ... Nihilism is the truth, but it’s not our truth. It’s the truth of galaxies, solar systems, elements and energies. But it doesn’t apply to a system of neurons and hormones. The discussion needs to happen within the human parameters. Which is exactly where everything gets murky. But we have to go there. Otherwise it’s just ivory tower philosophizing. ... I still support hunting, but only because most of the time it provides the least painful death for the animals. I’m still going to kill them and eat their meat, but I want them to suffer as little as possible. ... I still want to eat meat, I still value individual freedoms over anything else, but I want as little pain caused as possible getting there.
  • [Interview 2 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/3141542244/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-tasha is the author of this blog http://web.archive.org/web/20120120033821/http://voraciouseats.com/2010/11/19/a-vegan-no-more/ which was detailed above - search the url on this page to find it]
  • [Interview 3 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/1537494472/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-royce-drake-aka-the is the author of https://postvegan.wordpress.com/2010/11/08/this-is-why-im-not-1-now-and-again/ which is summarised below - search this page for the url to find it]
  • [Interview 4 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/1438446275/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-denise-minger is the author of this blog https://deniseminger.com/]
    It wasn’t a matter of deliberately revising my ethical stance. It was more like ethics vs. biology jumped into a boxing ring together, and biology clobbered my vegan tunnel vision into smithereens. I know there are vegans who’ll read that and think I was just weak/evil/etc., but when you spend a long time feeling crummy and then find a missing piece that makes the crummy go away – well, that’s a persuasive moment.
  • [Interview 5 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/863965328/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-tovar-cerulli from the vegan-turned-hunter blog: https://tovarcerulli.com/blog/]
    If I felt that continuing to be a vegan (as I was for 10 years) could (1) give me full bodily health and (2) truly avoid causing harm to animals or their habitats, I don’t think I’d be eating animals or hunting today. In a sense, my hunting is underpinned by the same values that made me a vegetarian. ... When I was twenty, I had an experience with a trout I caught. In the moment of killing it, I realized its death hadn’t been necessary. I could have eaten something else. That was the end of my flesh-eating. ... I couldn’t think of any reason for me or other humans to eat eggs or dairy products, let alone flesh of any kind. ... My wife wondered if we, and especially I, might do better if we starting eating yogurt and eggs again. I wasn’t ill, but my energy wasn’t great and I had some allergic sensitivities. Once we started eating dairy and eggs, things improved for me. They improved more when we started eating chicken, and occasionally fish.
  • [Interview 6 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/758847247/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-heather-w-rud%C3%BAlph is author of the defunct womens website sirensmag.com now only available on the internet archive, her post on that site is detailed below, search the following url on this page to find it: https://web.archive.org/web/20100329002401/http://sirensmag.com:80/2010/03/lessons-learned-from-a-vegan-diet/]
  • [Interview 7 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/698054451/interview-with-an-ex-adventist-sondra the author of this religious blog https://8thday4life.wordpress.com/sda-health-message/ and her story is detailed below so wont be repeated here, search for the url on this page to find it]
  • [Interview 8 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/622113606/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-devon-crosby-helms is author of the now defunct running blog obviously still available on the internet archive, ie. http://web.archive.org/web/20150922011314/http://devoncrosbyhelms.com/2008/03/peanut-butter-as-metaphor_07.html]
    I never set out to become vegan. ... I hadn’t been eating animal products for a whole month and I felt really good, so I decided that my body was responding to a vegan diet, and therefore I would make it into my lifestyle. Was there an ethical component to your vegetarianism and veganism? Not at all. I don’t mix food and morals – my favorite post-vegan read is The Shameless Carnivore. I became vegan for my health and said I would listen to my body if being vegan no longer supported that. Ultimately it didn’t. ... A vegan diet stopped supporting my health and when I stayed on it anyway, I ended up with a whole host of problems that I still have to deal with now. I was rundown, anemic, had developed hypothyroid and had severe adrenal fatigue. And on top of that, being vegan made me neurotic about my food. ... Before I went vegan, I had a healthy balanced relationship with food. ... I started eating meat about four months after my first bite of dairy and eggs. I was craving it seriously after long runs. My body was demanding it. ... After learning about all the things that are nutritionally “bad,” I tried to give my body the best fuel, and I just took it too far. ... pretty much every food choice made me anxious. ... I am not afraid of a lot of foods anymore. Being anxious and neurotic about food is more detrimental to your health than “bad” food is.
  • [Interview 9 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/587725323/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-jessica-pelkey]
    In high school, I became very aware of what I ate and tried dearly to be anorexic or bulimic. I didn’t accomplish either and instead felt guilty about everything I ate. ... I became vegan literally overnight when I was 18 years old. ... I commonly used to say that veganism was my religion. I do see lots of similarities. It’s hyper-moralized and the members try to outdo each other. ... I judged everyone who wasn’t vegan. The only way someone could be okay by me was if they were vegan. ... we would trash the fuck out of anyone we knew that had stopped being vegan. ... I lived with a vegan friend and looked through her cosmetics and found stuff that had trace animal products in them. I thought she was phony from then on and told friends of ours about her offending shampoo. ... I ate honey for a good three out of my five and a half years of veganism. ... I felt good and healthy for a solid five years and never thought twice about my choice to be vegan. I thought that I was going to be vegan until I died, since obviously the vegan diet is nutritionally and morally superior. Things changed for me last summer. ... I could not feel satisfied no matter what I ate. I became mildly obsessed with eating eggs. ... I felt I had to choose between being vegan and being athletic. I love fitness too much to scale back in that area. Veganism had to go. ... When I think about the animals who are living in awful conditions, I still feel upset about their shitty lives. What has changed is that I don’t feel like I am going to fix their situation with my diet.
  • [Interview 10 - is just this http://huntgatherlove.com/content/let-them-eat-meat which is detailed below, search this page for the url to find it]
  • [Interview 11 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/514591582/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-melissa-mcewen]
    I’ve always had terrible health problems: stomach issues, migraines and allergies were the worst ones. I assumed it was because of my picky eating habits. ... Then when I got to college I was diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease and irritable bowel syndrome. ... . I lived in a dormitory that had a vegetarian cafeteria and started eating there. A few things got better, but I still was on many medications. At one point I think I was on 13 different ones! I was involved in several environmental groups and met many vegans that I admired. They convinced me that veganism was more logical than vegetarianism, since milk and eggs involve plenty of dead animals, so I cut those out too. But I still didn’t feel great. ... I did grain-free veganism for several months, but I struggled with chronic hunger. ... I was never a true animal rights vegan, but I did believe that it was wrong to eat environmentally destructive food. ... I want to feel my best and I believe that while I could still be alive and functioning on a vegan diet, I would not have the quality of life I have on the paleo diet.
  • [Interview 12 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/508745601/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-pamela her post on her own blog is summarised below, search http://thisfieldisrequired.com/2009/10/15/why-being-vegan-can-be-bad-for-you/ on this page to find it - but she includes some good info here that is not on that post, so I doubled up for this one]
    I didn’t just wake up one day, decide to quit being vegan, and start force feeding myself foie gras. Rather, I had spent a while struggling with some very strong cravings for animal foods, particularly eggs. Some people interpret cravings as our bodies telling us what they need. That sounds plausible, but I don’t know that there’s any evidence for it. The cravings could also have just been related to the fact that animal foods had become forbidden fruits, so to speak. I merely gave myself permission to eat animal foods when and if I felt that doing so was right for me, all things considered. ... Another important factor was my growing disillusionment with sources of vegan nutritional information. ... I became concerned that there was some truth to the suggestion that people aren’t fully evolved to eat a whole lot of grains, or processed foods in general. Much of my vegan diet consisted of these items ... Most of all I was disturbed by some of the attitudes that being vegan caused me to develop. I have what you might call an obsessive personality. ... Over the nine months I spent vegan, I experienced emotional ups and downs, between feeling proud and good about my lifestyle to feeling despair at the plight of animals and disgust toward everyone around me for their failure to see the light. ... Quitting veganism turned out to be essential on my own journey in fighting obsessive tendencies. ... I don’t think there is anything wrong with causing animals’ deaths, per se, because I don’t believe animals have rights. However, I do continue to believe that animals have a morally significant interest in not suffering. The arguments for veganism – the good ones, anyway – make legitimate trouble for the omnivorous habits in which most people uncritically engage. ... Although it matters that animals suffer, and we should do a lot to alleviate that, they cannot experience the social and personal distress that being vegan tends to incite. ... I eat meat, on average, maybe once or twice per week, which is really very little as compared to the standard American diet. I try to choose animal foods from reputable sources and am very happy to shop at Whole Foods, whose moral and political stances I respect.
  • [Interview 13 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/503156609/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-lindsay-starbuck]
    I was vegan for 5 years and vegetarian for about 8 years. Now I’m a full-blown meat eater. I never had any serious health problems from veganism. For me, the vegan diet was a natural progression from an ultra-low fat eating disorder. Moving away from veganism/vegetarian was about slowly accepting my body and not feeling the need to deny myself anything anymore. ... Even though I’m pretty sure staying super-thin was a major motivation for going vegan, I told myself and other people that it was to further my belief in animal rights. ... Very soon after going vegan though, I flirted with a raw-food diet, claiming the health argument as my motivation. But thinness was the obvious goal. ... I can certainly only speak from my personal experience but it was very much a way to amp up my eating disorder. Veganism helped to further it because it was even easier to refuse food and not have to eat dinner with other people. It required less will power to deny myself food because so many things were now off limits for supposedly ethical reasons. ... this purity applied strictly to what I would put in my body. I still wore leather and wool.
  • [Interview 14 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/502176225/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-zooey-deschanel just one copy and pasted interview question with actor Zooey Deschanel]
    “You used to be vegan right?” ... Not anymore. My older sister [Bones star Emily Deschanel] has been a very, very committed vegan since high school. I wish I could be like that, but I’m not. I have a lot of food sensitivities—I can’t eat wheat or soy—and it was very difficult to eat and get enough calories. It was even impossible to eat at a vegan restaurant.
  • [Interview 15 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/448973503/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-laurel-long]
    I have always cared deeply about non-human animals. As a child, when I found out the Chicken McNugget I was eating was made out of a former living being, I was horrified. So when I started exploring factory farming online, I was outraged. I was already vegetarian because I didn’t want any animal to have to die for my food; being vegan was the next logical step ... I fully committed myself to animal rights (AR) and went 100 percent vegan. I was vegan for six years. ... As a vegan, I was very, very involved in the (AR) [Animal Rights] community. ... The essay I wrote for my college application was about how I planned to work to bring about a vegan world. ... I liked to ask people if they would eat their favorite cat or dog. I also would describe in vivid detail the horrendous factory farm operations ... my ethics haven’t changed, I’ve just learned what I have to eat to function. I don’t know why the world was designed so we have to eat animals, but we do. Factory farming, however, needs to be abolished. ... I was experiencing major depression that did not improve no matter what I did. Someone I deeply cared about refused to talk to me anymore because of how negative I was. I couldn’t even go to school or hold down a job. I became more and more depressed and had to drop out of college. ... For the first several months I was vegan, I really did feel good. However, I soon became severely depressed. When I started eating meat, the depression vanished. ... I still have the same commitment to justice, liberation, and compassion as when I was vegan. I’ve just learned that the human body was never designed to be vegan, and I’ve learned that the hard way. ... Though there may be some small segment of the population that can function on a purely plant-based diet, some of us will die on one – my mind was trying to kill me while I was on one.
  • [Interview 16 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/478074589/vegan-police-brutality subject matter is not really relevant enough to be here, plus the subject is already covered in another post, search this page for the url http://huntgatherlove.com/content/let-them-eat-meat to see the summary - or you can read the second interview on the wayback machine if you want: https://web.archive.org/web/20100418083150/http://www.theveganpolice.com/main/?p=327]
  • [Interview 17 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/441289060/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-kaleigh-mason]
    Did you feel better or worse as a vegan? I felt better for the first four months and then progressively worse for the next seven years. ... My main reason for starting veganism was for health reasons. I had been anorexic since I was 15 years old, so when I was 18 years old and I found Harvey Diamond’s book, I thought, “Well this makes a lot of sense." ... The vegan diet is essentially a starvation diet, even if you eat loads of nuts, seeds, lentils, beans, fruits and vegetables. So in a way it wasn’t from a health perspective, it was from a desperation and obsession to be thin. I also gravitated toward veganism because it’s not a balanced diet and I was not a balanced person. As an anorexic young girl, the foods that I ate were usually foods low in fat, low in calories and high in carbohydrates. Clinical studies have been done since the ‘40s demonstrating that a high carbohydrate diet overstimulates the glands, causing depression, violence, apathy, hyper-sensitivity, hypoglycemia, hypothyroidism, etc. ... I thought I would be vegan for life. I thought my kids would be vegan. ... I was so depressed I couldn’t laugh at funny things or smile anymore. I had always been depressed, but always able to at least smile. This was a new low. ... I discovered I was deficient in a multitude of different nutrients that are readily available in animal products. ... So the zinc in the egg was really good for me and has helped to balance my nervous system and reduce my anxiety to the point where the only time I feel anxious or depressed is when I’ve gone too long without eating eggs. But I generally now eat 14 eggs a week. ... My great aunt gave me her old nursing textbook from 1920 and it recommended cod liver oil and organ meats on a daily basis, and plenty of eggs and bone-broth-based soups and stews. My friend is taking nursing right now and all of this valuable information has been replaced with “avoid liver and eggs as they are high in cholesterol." ... I miss believing in the blanket vegan solution for all of our health and ecological problems. Just kidding. I don’t miss one fucking thing.
  • [Interview 18 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/435116457/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-elise-kendall]
    Honestly I don’t think I often thought (when I was growing up) about not hurting animals. It was just the food that my family ate. As I grew older I felt proud that I was vegetarian and that I always had been, although I never felt like it made me better than people who weren’t. ... I just started off vegetarian and was convinced that I hated meat. I didn’t feel alienated at all because, going to the school I did in the town I did, being vegetarian was pretty normal. ... I think that I am not a very committed person. I don’t have that… fervency. I am someone who seeks comfort in familiarity and routine, but I am not a believer in anything and I don’t think I’m the sort of person who becomes one. ... Well I’d been thinking for a long time that introducing a bit of meat into my diet might be a good idea for health reasons. ... I just couldn’t get enough protein for my needs and had to go back to eggs and dairy. ... I made a conscious effort to try to learn to like meat. I ate small amounts at a time. ... But after a few months of practice, meat started to taste like food and I was able to cut down on the beans. My stomach is still causing problems, but I really notice it if I eat beans and lentils (which is a shame, because they are delicious!). ... I have difficulty believing in absolutely right and wrong things for everyone. ... Maybe other people find that ethical discomfort is more painful to them than physical discomfort. ... Even though every doctor I ever saw wanted to blame all of my problems on my diet, after the blood tests came back, they overwhelmingly told me that my diet was NOT the problem and that I ought to be perfectly healthy. Even when I told them that I was open to the possibility of introducing meat into my diet, I was always told that it was not necessary. But for the first time in my life, now that I eat red meat about 3 times a week, I have low iron. Like really low. I have had to take iron supplements which I’d never had to take before. So I am pretty sure that our bodies are super complicated and we really don’t know everything. ... we enjoy eating vegetarian food pretty regularly. We generally eat meat 2-3 times per week at home.
  • [Interview 19 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/424323373/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-stella author of the now-defunct blog, The Vegan Tree House]
    I’d been vegetarian off and on for about seven years, including one stint of near-veganism during college (totally vegan at home, pretty strict vegetarian elsewhere). My first and main motivation was, as for most vegans, to reduce animal suffering. ... I began to seriously consider vegetarianism as a way to both remove my own guilt and as a boycott mechanism against industrial agriculture, particularly factory farming. I felt that becoming vegetarian, or ultimately vegan, would shut down the guilty voice of my conscience. I could remove myself from the cycle and have no part in the death of any animals. ... I felt for a long time that I would eventually transition to veganism. It was a diet/lifestyle I viewed with a mixture of admiration and curiosity, and one that seemed to align perfectly with my anti-capitalist, anti-exploitation views. ... In February of 2008, I decided to give up dairy for Lent. ... I decided to give up eggs. For the first few weeks I craved cheese, but then it became surprisingly easy (especially when I started mainlining avocados and olive oil); so, after Lent, I decided to keep being vegan. ... I also read more and more vegan literature, and became increasingly drawn to abolitionist arguments ... How long were you vegan? About six weeks shy of two years. ... All along throughout my vegan journey, I was willing to admit that, yeah, in an ideal world, it might be preferable to eat animals ... and concluded that, as long as there were factory farms, it was better to be vegan. ... It wasn’t any health issues (though looking back I think there were some), and I wasn’t having any uncontrollable cravings for butter or bacon. ... I was continually exploring it, and increasingly being open to ideas and facts that were taboo to vegans. ... I nevertheless had virtually zero knowledge of agriculture or hunting. ... I had no idea about the realities of human subsistence or ecosystem balance. I would never have admitted this as a vegan, and I would’ve probably looked down upon anyone who considered these fields of knowledge worthwhile. ... I really believed we could survive as a species eating only plant-based foods and using only plant-based materials. ... I realized then that I’d been fooling myself regarding the magic of vegan consumer choices, and that I cannot escape the system of exploitation. ... I realized that no matter how much I wanted it to be true, veganism was not and could never really be sustainable. ... Then I finally read, among other titles on the vegan shitlist bibliography, Lierre Keith’s book The Vegetarian Myth. ... I am not at all ashamed to admit that it did push me over the edge. ... I wasn’t a perfect, macrobiotic, healthy vegan but I didn’t subsist on junk food, either. ... I never got sick or had any upset stomach issues upon returning to meat, milk, or any other animal product, but this may be because I was only vegan for about two years. ... I didn’t realize how profoundly carb-driven my diet was until I started eating meat again. ... A symbiotic relationship in a whole, healthy ecosystem is what I think we should be working toward, not an unattainable vegan heaven on earth. ... [Her boyfriend] is still vegetarian. Of course, he may not have the same deep, internalized desire to eat meat that I do. ... Of course, we should all do what we can, and try to embody our ethics as much as possible – but, unfortunately, that isn’t very far in an industrialized, capitalist, declining society. Neither my nor your consumer choices are going to save the planet. And 7 billion improved consumer choices won’t save the planet either. ... I think that vegans are working with incomplete or incorrect information insofar as they believe veganism is sustainable and is, therefore, ultimately the most compassionate way of life. ... Is eating an industrially-produced, factory farmed burger at McDonald’s necessary? Of course not. But are animals a necessary part of the human food chain and of human agriculture? I’m afraid so. ... I, too, wish we could survive and thrive without using any animal products, but I no longer believe that’s possible, certainly not in a long-term, healthy and sustainable manner.
  • [Interview 20 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/272763498/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-tommy-tepper]
    I learned all this stuff on veganism and I just thought to myself, “I have to stop eating all animal products right now.” And so I did. ... Eight years being vegan, twelve years overall as a vegetarian. ... At first it was solely for the animals and the environment. Later, health became an additional factor. ... I thought I would be vegan for the rest of my life. ... It all started when I was planning on hiking the Appalachian Trail (which I still have not done yet) from Georgia to Maine, and I realized that it would be really hard to be vegan on the trail and possibly very unhealthy to hike for six months without eating animal products. So I decided to start eating dairy and eggs in preparation for the hike. And although I ended up not going on the adventure, I stuck with just being vegetarian because I felt good eating that way. Actually, I feel better and have more energy since adding dairy back into my diet. ... I came to believe (as I still feel currently) that just thinking about the food you eat and where it comes from is what’s important. For example, I started feeling that people becoming more aware of their food choices and understanding that they don’t have to eat meat every day or with every meal is more critical than being strictly vegan. ... I started with just cheese and yogurt at first and then eggs a few months later. The first thing I ate was a slice of NY Pizza at this amazing pizza place near Yonkers, and it was so good! ... I actually have no desire to eat meat and especially since I cannot (at least at this time in life) kill an animal for food, I choose not to eat them.
  • [Interview 21 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/242254979/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-billy-thogersen]
    I knew what a vegetarian was in theory, but for me the concept had no basis in reality. A really cute girl named Jacqueline, who turned out to be vegan, lived there at the time and a crush ensued. My fascination with her piqued my interest in the diet. ... I moved into the House of Commons vegetarian student housing cooperative in 1996. It didn’t take long before I’d fully accepted the superiority of veganism. Just for kicks I’d occasionally eat some meat, just so I could say I wasn’t really a vegetarian. That’s the kind of person I am. ... Now it’s 2009, almost 2010 ... Confused about what to eat and hungry, Christa [Billy’s wife, an ex-vegan turned vegetarian] had broken down and bought a chicken that was now roasting in the oven. We have been eating a meat-and-fresh-vegetable-based diet since then. ... it was time to try something else because the veg thing was not working, despite trying just about every permutation of a vegetarian or vegan diet. ... I felt fantastic after eating the chicken on the first night. The first thing to go away was the constant soreness of my bloated gut. ... I’ve also noticed that my allergies have disappeared almost overnight (after 10 years of debilitating problems) and my eyesight is improving. I’ve lost all cravings for sweet foods. ... Giving into the never-ending sugar cravings wrecked havoc on my system, but I was a slave to impulses. ... I can now stay awake all day. ... All of a sudden I can ride my bike up the hill to get to work. And most importantly, my brain seems to be working again. ... for so long I thought I was just a smug, irritable, depressed person. ... I said to myself, “I’m getting old. My brain just doesn’t work as well anymore,” over and over again. The thought of this now almost brings a tear to my eye. ... After reading David Holmgren’s Permaculture, Joel Salatin’s You Can Farm, and of course the even more fringy Nourishing Traditions and The Vegetarian Myth, I’m certain enough that it is not immoral to consume meat that I’m willing to do it. ... Since it’s often a struggle for a vegan to eat at all when out in the real world, you get used to taking what you can get. Over time, your bar gets lower and lower. ... The low-fat approach simply did not work for me. ... I was disillusioned by the McDougall diet failure and was thoroughly in a vegan rut for years. After years of careful study and constant fighting, I simply assumed that veganism was right for every reason. My actual eating criteria became "anything vegan goes,” which in some ways is a very strange diet. Beginning a few years ago, in response to feeling like crap all the time, Christa [his wife] and I began a more systematic approach to eating. The culmination is a renunciation of vegetarianism. ... I’d say that The Vegetarian Myth was the breaking point. ... I’m also humbled by the experience of so fully believing in something and then letting it go. It’s true though that I’m not up for the challenge anymore; the challenge of always feeling like an irritable stuffed sack, crapping six times a day and constantly wishing I were eating a donut. ... As a vegan, I felt I wasn’t directly responsible for the death of animals, or at the very least, that I was doing the least harm. I miss that enlightened feeling.
  • [Interview 22] - author of this now defunct blog http://curvycatholic.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/vegan]
    I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s encountered the ugly realities of today’s factory farms and decided that the only way a caring person can respond is simply to stop eating meat altogether. And since I’d also read that dairy animals eventually wind up being slaughtered in those same places, I decided to go “whole hog” (sorry!) into veganism. ... One of the main reasons I switched, besides the animal welfare aspects, is because I fell for the Skinny Bitch assertion that dropping all animal products would result in a significant weight loss. ... Since I was in Weight Watchers and my weight had stalled for several months, I thought that sounded great. Unfortunately, it didn’t work in reality. ... To be fair to the vegans, though, I have to say I don’t think I stayed on it long enough to experience any long-term effects, either good or bad. ... I started noticing that most of the food specifically marketed to vegans seems to be a lot more unhealthy than the food it’s supposed to replace! Specifically, check the sodium levels on some of those meat substitutes out there. It’s kind of scary! ... I could never really agree that it was intrinsically wrong to eat animals or use animal products. I thought, and still think, it’s possible for animals and humans to help each other. ... I HATE saying “I’m a vegan”. I don’t know why, but I just do. I hate ANY way of eating that requires you to adopt a whole philosophy to go with it. ... Vegans will probably say that shows I was never really committed to veganism, and they’re probably right. Because I really, really hate “isms” of all kinds! ... Even though I’m no longer limiting myself ONLY to those types of foods, I still plan to continue incorporating more non-animal foods into my daily diet.
  • [Interview 23 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/205464014/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-tristan-jones]
    I spent my years in college concerned with eating a really healthy diet – only whole grains, mostly vegetables. After I graduated, I decided to be vegetarian again for environmental reasons ... After about a year of running the vegetarian gamut – from pescetarian to strict vegetarian – I decided to become vegan. ... I stopped eating eggs and cheese and honey. It was fun, being part of the vegan community. ... I was vegan for a little over seven months. ... Dairy kicks up your mucous production, so quitting dairy made me feel cleaner. Getting my protein from nuts and beans felt great. The worst feeling about being vegan was being so limited in what I could eat outside of my home ... There are serious economic and cultural realities that veganism likes to gloss over. Not everyone has access to earth balance or nutritional yeast. ... I thought I’d be vegan forever (though admittedly, I still had openness to the idea of eating meat I’d raised myself, someday, when I’d moved back onto a farm). ... I couldn’t have been a healthy vegan without nutritional yeast or supplements ... I think I was healthier back then than I am now. The foundation for my diet was always maintaining all aspects of nutrition – iron, B-vitamins, folic acid, etc – so I was never an unhealthy vegan. ... I started dating a girl who was omni and she ate a lot of sausage and cheese. Being vegetarian seemed like a good compromise – it was a small compromise, but not a complete sell-out. ... It was a convenient way to leave the diet. Still, most of the cooking I would do for her would still be vegan – actually, a lot of the food I cook for myself today is still vegan, just supplemented by eggs and cheese. ... But remember, my main ethic has never been an animal-rights ethic, but rather an environmentalist one ... I don’t think the ideal of an entirely vegan society is realistic, so local/organic/grass-fed alternatives are always going to exist, even as vegans decry those practices.
  • [Interview 24 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/201590784/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-colin-fuller]
    I became a vegetarian to lose weight. ... And for fun I just wanted to see if I could do it, if I had the discipline to completely eradicate a common thing from my life. ... The big tipping point for me becoming vegan was the book Skinny Bitch in the Kitch or whatever it’s called. ... The ironic part about me losing weight from veganism (I did lose a fair amount of weight) was that although I was physically more attractive, I was now incompatible with 99 percent of the female population. ... Now I eat meat and I’m still single. Heh. ... Strict veganism for about 10 months. ... After about seven or eight months of being vegan I started getting this powerful inclination to view the website “thisiswhyyourefat.com”. It is all pictures of like a hot dog wrapped with bacon and then cooked with ground beef in a casserole that is topped with cheese. I couldn’t understand why but I had this serious compulsion to view the site while I was at work. ... At some point one day I just decided to eat some meat. The plan was just to eat it once. ... Just a few minutes ago I felt sleepy and got some coffee. Not like that other sleepy though, the vegan sleepy. That was some narcolepsy shit. Like being unable to control my body, I-have-to-rest-now type shit. ... I went out for lunch and instead of getting a salad or falafel I went to a street meat cart and got chicken and rice with white sauce and hot sauce. It was pretty gross ... Veganism was a big part of my self-identity at the time. Then I just said “fuck it” to myself and went about my biz. ... I will eat anything, I really do not care any more. I couldn’t care less about ideals. Abstaining from eating animals changes nothing. I think that the world is a very stupid place filled with mostly worthless, foolish, proud people, and it is just not worth the effort.
  • [Interview 25 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/181722402/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-cory-kilduff]
    I think I was at a point where I didn’t want to be so black and white in my life anymore. ... it wasn’t the animal products that I disapproved of, it was the method. ... Maybe I just didn’t have the energy or passion for it anymore. It had been almost 10 years. I remember getting a cheese pizza with friends, and I never looked back. It’s a lame answer, but more than anything, I think I just ran out of steam on it. ... I still very much care about animal rights. ... I was not feeling well for a while, and I didn’t think I was giving my body what it needed to heal, so I decided to experiment and start eating white meat. I think I got a couple turkey sandwiches, then graduated to a chicken breast sandwich, which was way weird at the time. ... There’s nothing like a great fillet Mignon. ... With enough time you can get used to the idea of anything. If you start losing the passion for something, and that little crack is allowed time to grow, eventually you wake up every day a little closer to changing your mind. It’s one of those things that I didn’t want to keep doing just because it was a habit. ... I won’t eat veal, but that’s pretty normal, even for people who were never vegan. ... [I was] vegan for six years, vegetarian for ten. ... The human body certainly doesn’t need meat, but as a society we are set up that way for now, and it’s obviously more convenient to eat meat. ... It’s like my life is convenient again. ... As a general broadcast to vegans, I would just offer that being vegan isn’t a personality trait that defines who you are, it’s a lifestyle choice, and if you aren’t careful, it can become just as extreme and isolating as something such as right-wing evangelicalism. ... It’s also good to realize that anytime you have an extreme point of view, you’ve got to have the extreme sense of humor to match it. Taking yourself too seriously is a sure-fire way to set yourself up for some massive fail.
  • [Interview 26 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/170420636/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-nicholas-stevens]
    You seemed to base your food choices on factual information. I was also inspired by the idea of living a life in harmony with animals. Or basically found the idea of not having to kill animals to survive and be healthy interesting philosophically. ... I had a lot of cravings at first. I felt hungry a lot in the beginning. But at the same time, I felt good about myself conceptually. ... I have to say that I felt quite okay, but my physique didn’t seem to look any better than before. ... I was pure vegan for about three to three and a half months, and then I was a pure vegetarian for about six months. After that, I lasted three more months as a “vegetarian” who also ate fish and seafood. ... I would say that I tried it and ultimately decided it wasn’t the right choice for me. ... I started with milk and cheese. Then I went to eggs. And finally introduced fish. ... death is something that happens for all living things eventually. I would sooner adhere to a philosophy of living without hurting any other living thing. I am sure you can find plenty of gray terrain in there. ... I do think that if society in general gave more respect to nature and life, we would live in a different and better world. ... I don’t think that the quality of the animals’ lives that go into making ready-fried chicken fried steak patties is a very natural reality.
  • [Interview 27 - http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/164638170/interview-with-an-ex-vegan-cyrena]
    I started being vegetarian when I was at gymnastics camp, at the young impressionable age of 11. Veganism followed after, for health reasons, along with some eating issues. Then the ideals followed. ... But I started feeling less healthy as the years passed, and became more concerned for my health. ... I wouldn’t say I consciously think eating meat is great. I think subconsciously, I think it’s great - but consciously, at times I do feel bad about the detrimental environmental impacts. ... How long were you vegan? I think around 5-6 years. ... when you think about it – vegans are just people subsisting on fake food. ... I loved being a vegan when I was, I didn’t cheat, and I thought it would be forever. But it wasn’t meant to be, and people change. It happens. ... I would say I’m healthier now. My hair is a lot thicker, I don’t feel tired all the time, and I eat less junk food. I bake less. ... a year or so into my veganism, I used to get (fairly frequently) pretty heavy nosebleeds. And I caught colds with more ease. I haven’t been sick once since I stopped being vegan. ... I could easily be vegan again. It really isn’t hard, but it really isn’t that great. I just wouldn’t. I guess it was an interesting time of my life.

So Long VoC

  • https://vegansofcolor.wordpress.com/2010/11/05/so-long-voc/
    I have no interest in explaining my reasons for no longer being vegan here, as I’m withdrawing myself from this forum, but if anyone is interested in reading my future thoughts, or just engaging me conversation/debate about animals/food themselves or with politics or culture, I’m now over at The Non-Practicing Vegan.
    [see below for his post on the site that is now more appropriately called postvegan.wordpess.com]

This Is Why I'm Not #1: Now and Again

  • https://postvegan.wordpress.com/2010/11/08/this-is-why-im-not-1-now-and-again/
    People do what they will, and everything else is rationalizing. ... I’m trying to avoid rationalizing my consumption of animal bodies as anything other than a desire that may originate in the body, but is also mental. ... my rationalization is that I desire it. ... Are there situations where following the tenets of veganism (not consuming animals) could result in more net suffering? A question I keep circling around. ... I, personally, feel fine with the idea of eating animals that lived free. ... Now and Again I consume flesh. Not all of that flesh came from wild, or even pastoral animals. Some of them lived and died in a box. Now and Again I consume, but always these animals are produced. ... If all the vegans were serious about how absolutely horrible they consider animal exploitation they could make it impossible [by physically freeing animals]. But they don’t. ... Every time I eat meat from a factory farm I consume the by/product of animal exploitation, it isn’t the same as producing the exploitation.

Lessons Learned From A Vegan Diet

  • https://web.archive.org/web/20100329002401/http://sirensmag.com:80/2010/03/lessons-learned-from-a-vegan-diet/
    I was hankering to go on a slimming detox diet after New Year’s. ... Mission: Eat exclusively vegan for a month. ... I was raised vegan—yes, really—and have followed some version of a vegetarian diet for most of my life. But I had been a happy fish-and-poultry eater for a few years ... Beginning was easy, the midway point was a little boring, and by the time I finally consumed my first much-missed tuna sandwich, I knew eating this way all the time wasn’t for me—at least not right now. ... It’s OK to eat dairy and meat—if you do it responsibly.

SDA Health Message

  • https://8thday4life.wordpress.com/sda-health-message/
    This is a discussion explaining why I personally don’t believe this lifestyle is ordained by God as taught by the SDA [Seventh Day Adventist] denomination. ... I cannot find any scriptural foundation for teaching that your choice of diet and level of health will affect your ability to be holy. ... I had constant guilt and fear that I was damaging my health by eating animal products. ... We tried for a second time to follow a vegan diet, but this time it called for 80% raw food. We soon discovered what many people find on this diet. We were hungry!! We were in a constant war with our bodies which were screaming for more substantial meals. I found an article by a former teacher of this diet who did the math on the calorie intake and concluded it was far below a normal person’s nutritional needs, and deficient in some important areas. The same research shows that cheating is a common way to cope with such a diet, and we certainly did our share of that! ... Soon after this failed attempt, I began to notice passages in Scripture which contradicted my indoctrination about food. ... When I weighed all the evidence from the Bible, my own (albeit limited) common sense, and other research – I came to agree with the findings supporting a diet that includes animal products.

Let Them Eat Meat

  • http://huntgatherlove.com/content/let-them-eat-meat
    About six months out of high school, I decided that meat was murder. Since I didn't like seeing myself as a serial killer, I began eating less meat. ... I became vegan a year later to resolve the contradictions of ethical vegetarianism, since dairy and eggs lead to animal deaths even if you aren't eating animal flesh. ... the main reason I left is that after nine years of not eating animal products, I felt physically awful. I was constantly tired and low on energy, my thinking had dulled and I was chronically depressed. ... Knowing about paleo made it a lot easier to leave veganism. I was glad I wasn't abandoning all food philosophy. ... I instantly felt better after going paleo (ie, adding meat and eggs to my paleo-ish vegan diet). ... With my energy back, I got into weightlifting and quickly regained the muscle mass I'd lost by the end of my veganism. My nearly lifelong eczema, which had its worst breakouts during my veganism, hasn't been a problem since I've been paleo. ... I think the best way to eat is a locavore paleo with a focus on offal, insects and hunted meat for protein. ... I'm not sure how much philosophy is behind my inconsistent attempts to reduce animal suffering while still eating them. Maybe I could say that instead of the vegan idea of "least harm," my philosophy is "somewhat less harm." ... I still eat factory farmed foods. I don't believe this is immoral, because if I thought that, I wouldn't do it. ... I don't think "I'm a terrible person." I just think, "Yum." ... Most of the bugs I have are raw. I just pop them in my mouth when I find them outside. ... These bugs were either incredibly naive or suicidal -- they kept landing on me and didn't fly away when I reached for them. I enjoyed the experience of eating them, but I don't remember much of a taste. They were mainly texture. ... I liked caterpillars a lot, but I can't place the taste.

Why Being Vegan Can Be Bad For You

  • http://thisfieldisrequired.com/2009/10/15/why-being-vegan-can-be-bad-for-you/
    I was going to write about why the vegan diet is not nutritionally adequate. That actually isn’t the main reason why I think being vegan can be bad for you, although I do have my doubts about its nutritional optimality. ... I am concerned that being vegan can be bad for you for social reasons, in three ways. First, it can keep you from enjoying social situations as much as you should. ... Second, being vegan can affect how other people treat you. ... Third and, I think, most importantly, being vegan can easily cause you to view others in a negative light to the extent that it harms your valuable relationships with them. ... I don’t have excellent reason to believe that my experience has been either typical or atypical for a vegan apostate. But, personally, I found the vegan lifestyle, with its emphasis on purity from animal products, emotionally and socially taxing in a way that was incompatible with my maximal well-being in the long term. Combined with some lingering nutritional doubts, I arrived at the all things considered judgment to move back towards a vegetarian/”flexitarian” diet. Now, I firmly believe that it is possible to eat in good conscience without the vegan label and baggage.

The Ex-Vegan Debacle

  • http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/132179529272/alicengrey [is the original post by the same author as this post on her own blog https://unminding.wordpress.com/2015/12/28/the-ex-vegan-debacle/]Today’s my “veganniversary,” and I’m eating an egg right now. Before this moment, I was a vegan for five years. ... The major role of cults in my life, from birth to age 18, deeply affected my psyche, my behavior, and my perception of the world. ... Without having some extreme belief system around which to build myself, I feel pointless and empty and lost. ... So I don’t think it’s mere coincidence that I converted to veganism just as I was leaving one cult at age 16 (the Pentecostal church) for another at age 17 (the one-on-one cult) ... I eat-sleep-breathed veganism ... To be a vegan, you have to pledge absolute adherence to this one rule: No consuming or using animal products. The reasoning seems sensible: To reduce harm. But in practice, veganism becomes more about purity-policing and less about harm reduction ... the way ex-vegans are treated closely resembles the way any ex-cult member is treated. We are punished for leaving the cult, whether with guilt-induction tactics, social excommunication, harassment, or straight-up assault. Our reasons for leaving are null. Our explanations fall on deaf ears. When it comes to cults, you’re either with them, or against them. ... this restrictive lifestyle triggers my eating disorder, and that I have a laundry list of health issues that ~\*~mysteriously~*~ started after I went vegan ... many sound, reasonable arguments in defense of ex-veganism have already been made. And they’re all a simple Google-search away. ... the same way some people leave veganism for the sake of their physical health, I’m leaving it for the sake of my mental health. ... Vegans expend remarkable amounts of energy arguing that veganism is physically healthy. But is it psychologically healthy? ... Be honest: do you find yourself ignoring your hunger or health issues for the sake of your cause?

I Am No Longer Vegan

  • http://karol.gajda.com/novegan/
    I was vegetarian or vegan for the past 7 or 8 years (militantly vegan for probably 5 years) ... Last year I began relaxing my veganism (meaning I moved to vegetarianism) and adding eggs, butter, and cheese into my diet on occasion (mostly when traveling). Now I eat animal flesh 2 or 3 times per week. My wife doesn’t often like or eat meat except fish and I’ll likely never go back to my pre-veganism diet which was very meat heavy. ... As someone who regularly gets blood tests I know I wasn’t getting enough iron from my diet without taking supplements. ... B12 is impossible to get without supplements or eating fortified foods that I don’t eat. Again, I’m not going to continue taking supplements. ... I strongly support food technology like GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and lab grown meat. ... If nothing else I think my years of veganism have given me a better understanding of a different, and tasty, lifestyle while no longer being bound to a flawed ideology. ... I never felt part of the vegan community.

Coming Out - I'm No Longer Vegan

  • http://sweetlyraw.com/coming-out-my-world-upside-down-to-right-side-up/
    For the past 5 months or so I've been having a really rough time - mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, I've felt depleted. ... I went downhill even more, to the point where I would wake up in the morning and feel fine for up to an hour before hitting a low point which sent me into a crying, depressed spell, and back to bed. It was pretty awful. ... I was tired all the time, like I couldn't get going properly. Headaches - they started slowly, around April and appeared more and more frequently (to a few times a week). ... Constipation - I've tried all the natural herbal laxatives/teas on the market, and while I've found some good ones, they never got to the root of the problem. I got into enemas and for a while was doing them multiple times a week because it was the only thing to give me relief. Acne - My skin broke out in little bumps all over my forehead at one point in August (right before having to be part of my friend's wedding party!), but for a while I've had acne my shoulders. Extreme irritability - Mood swings, and outbursts of anger that I never knew I was capable of. Depression - I was crying every day, not seeing any point to my life, and had no motivation. Anxiety - I felt overwhelmed and jittery. Abdominal pains - My stomach often felt bloated with a lot of intestinal cramping - both before and after eating. I found that the enemas actually made this worse. Weak muscles - I'm normally quite strong but I became so weak that even a short walk was a challenge. I did an exercise class with a friend - a weight class I used to do regularly but I couldn't even make it through the class. Major brain fog - I felt spacey and really ungrounded. ... I was showing signs of low thyroid and adrenal fatigue. She put me on homeopathic remedies immediately, and strongly suggested I make some dietary changes. ... Soon after that I got some blood tests done. ... The tests came back indicating that my thyroid is on the low end of normal, I have low levels of iron, B6, and B12, in addition to some adrenal fatigue. ... I am confident that what I am doing will heal me. Not just because I've been told to, but I feel in my heart that some major changes are essential for this period ... In addition, I believe that the divine powers of the universe have supplied me with many confirmations along this particular path. ... My body digested it so easily. ... After 13 years of vegetarianism I'm eating meat. ... For days I cried and cried at the thought of eating meat - I think that was more challenging than not being allowed to eat chocolate and dessert! ... Never in a million years did I think that I would be eating meat, dairy, or eggs again - and for years I didn't think it was necessary for anyone else to be eating these foods either. ... I don't know what the future holds for me... will I ever go back to raw vegan? Maybe - who knows. ... I'm still eating a high raw diet - greens and veggies 3-4 times a day. I've started cooking my kale/chard, and find I digest them far easier this way. ... 10 days ago I ate cacao and felt HORRIBLE for the rest of the day and the entire following day. Good lesson for me to stick with this plan until my body heals.

What I learned From Going Vegan For Two Years

  • https://www.elitedaily.com/wellness/going-vegan-two-years-quit/1835435
    I was surprised to discover that going vegan wasn't so hard, at all. Here are some of the thoughts and discoveries I had over my two years of being vegan, plus why I eventually quit. ... I didn't realize there are so many food options when you're vegan. ... there are a lot of foods I hadn't explored before being vegan, and I grew to love them. ... I didn't think I would ever be full enough, but I was beyond full. ... My body started craving animal products again, after two years. ... I started to crave animal products again. And for several months, I was scared to death to touch animal products, mainly because I had spent so much time reading about the benefits of veganism that I was convinced animal products were horrible for our bodies. But the thing is, all diets can be argued positively or negatively. And our bodies are constantly going through changes, which means what serves you now might not serve you in years to come, and that's OK. ... So, little by little, I started to eat animal products again, and I felt really good about it. ... Veganism is a great way to reset the body (you don't have to do it, forever). ... I follow what my body needs, and sometimes that's a juicy steak, but other times it's a vegan day. ... if you're main motivation to be vegan has nothing to do with saving animals, then I don't think you have to do it all the time if your body is telling you otherwise. Use it as a tool to find what works best for your body, and adjust accordingly.

Vegan Diet and Why I had to Quit

  • http://www.heartsoulandwholefood.com/vegan-diet-quit/
    The transition to vegetarian was tough. I craved chicken more than anything. I didn’t miss bacon like everyone said I would. Of course, I had done my research to make sure I was supplementing my diet correctly to ensure I wasn’t lacking iron, protein or zinc. ... I started experiencing a lot of different stomach pains, tiredness, dizziness and acne. My hair started getting brittle and was getting more noticeable wrinkles. I was also far more irritable and was majorly lacking sex drive. ... I felt much better after going gluten free. Although it wasn’t easy. ... I decided to quit the cheese too. ... I always took recommended supplements and continued to tweak my diet to be as healthy as possible. I really wanted to stick with this type of diet. Morally, it felt wrong to eat animals. ... One of the most prevalent testimonials was from The Balanced Blonde. I had never heard of her before, but apparently she was a big-wig in the vegan community and faced a giant backlash when she decided to step away from it. ... I would give this meat thing one month and if it didn’t work, then at least I would know for sure. ... I was annoyed, frustrated and felt like I had failed myself, my beliefs and my morals. ... Heck, if the whole vegan thing was wrong, who’s to say the gluten thing wasn’t too? ... I bought a rotisserie chicken. I sat on the couch just eating and eating. Not because I missed the taste, not because I was hungry. I didn’t enjoy any of the bites I took. I just sat there, irritated and rolling my eyes. ... My beliefs hadn’t changed. I wasn’t just going to forget all the things that lead me to veganism in the first place. ... No cheese, no dairy, just one egg and one serving of chicken or fish. ... Within 3 days, my acne had almost completely cleared up. Within a week, so had my girl stash [moustache] ... My energy levels were back. Like crazy back and in every area of my life. I couldn’t believe it. All my problems that I had searched for the answers to were gone just like that. ... While I was eating a vegan diet, all my bloodworm showed that I was in excellent health. My LDL cholesterol (the bad stuff) literally was undetectable. The doctors kept pricking me because they couldn’t find any. How was it that I had through the roof numbers yet was experiencing so many health setbacks? Vitamins. It has to be the vitamins. Even though I was taking them all. I supplemented and even tried tanning booths again to get a little more vitamin D. Whatever the exact formula was, the proof was obvious. I came to terms with the idea that maybe some people can thrive on a vegan diet. We are all different after all. No one person works the same. Just like some people are allergic to peanuts, others just may require animal proteins to sustain themselves and live a healthy lifestyle. ... I started wanting to transition back to more of a vegetarian heavy diet. Maybe I could do it right this time. Well, the first thing to show up was that super cute 5 o’clock shadow. I put meat back into my diet more and almost instantly it was gone. If pain, aches and acne wasn’t enough to give me pause, a female mustache sure did the trick.

Why I Am Not A Vegan 

  • https://www.oursmallhours.com/why-imnot-a-vegan/
    Last year, after nearly a decade of declining health, which was already being manifested in symptoms such as IBS, anxiety, headaches, heart palpitations, chest pains, hair loss, weight gain, fatigue and irritability, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 hypertension. ... I knew that changing my diet was the only way I would ever be able to stop taking medication. I knew the drill, too. Low-fat, lots of fruits and veggies, exercise, etc. ... I immediately began a vegan diet. ... I wore my veganism like a badge. I was proud and noble. But, I wasn’t getting any healthier. I was stuck with a deep, gnawing hunger, yet achieved minimal weight loss. ... I googled Denise’s name and found a couple of new articles/blog posts written by her, detailing the flaws of The China Study. One of those articles was on the Weston A. Price website and after reading it, I hung around and read several other articles. And that’s when it clicked for me. ... By April of 2012, my family was drinking raw milk and I was apologizing to my kiddos for passing on bad information and setting the record straight about animal products, much to their delight. ... Don’t get me wrong, our diet has changed drastically over the last year and many of the changes we’ve made are similar to the changes that vegans make. ... the fewer plants I eat, the better my stomach feels. ... I think that most vegans have their hearts in the right place. All of the vegans I know are loving, caring individuals who believe that they are on the right path when it comes to health. In fact, I admire their against-the-grain way of thinking. Anyone who challenges the status quo, has my respect, even if they are wrong. ... It is unnecessary to stop eating animal products altogether, but instead to choose animal products from sources who use ethical animal husbandry practices. ... I understand that the killing of peaceful animals for meat seems, well, cruel. I don’t share that belief, but I understand and respect it.

The Real Reasons I'm Not A Vegan

  • http://skepchick.org/2013/12/the-real-reasons-im-not-a-vegan/
    A guy in my class at school grabbed a hunk of the pubescent jiggle on my hips and laughed, “Still got that baby fat!” I was furious, and decided it was time to take action and lose some weight. I became a vegan. It wasn’t hard. I knew that veganism was, for a select few, a natural progression from vegetarianism, and I’ve never been one to half-ass things. ... While my family and friends might challenge me if I announced I was going on a “diet,” they wouldn’t be able to argue with the ethical reasons for veganism. ... I could make case after case for a plant-based diet. And I had to, all the time, and with every argument I uttered I became more and more convinced of the importance of what I was doing. ... I lost weight. First, ten pounds, My then-boyfriend said I looked amazing. I got to buy smaller clothes. I was doing karate and running every day, too, and I was excited to get in better shape for both sports. Fifteen pounds. Twenty. I couldn’t believe how easy it was. ... Despite being hungry all the time, I took a little personal pride in being able to say no to things they couldn’t. ... I was getting away with what could have ended up being my own murder. ... Forty pounds later, in outpatient treatment from three different doctors for anorexia, I was told that veganism wasn’t good for me. ... I spent the next several years trying to reward myself for the two years of hell I’d been through. I started eating lots of meat and drinking a lot. ... The message I heard from my social circles was clear: I was a lot more fun than I used to be. ... But here’s the thing I need to get off my chest: it’s all bullshit. My eating disorder was an eating disorder, not a failing of veganism. My stress fractures were a failure on my part to get adequate nutrition during marathon training, not a failing of veganism. Veganism didn’t force me to have a bottle of wine and some crackers for dinner many nights, or restrict my calories, or even become calcium deficient. ... I’m not a vegan because I’m scared. I don’t know how to do it in a healthy way––I fall into my old patterns of restriction and deliberate lack of self-care immediately. ... I’m scared of being “less fun,” causing “drama,” and, ultimately, losing their love. And I’ve never admitted that to anyone before.

Why I Quit Veganism

  • https://www.govegr.com/blogtoo/2017/5/25/why-i-quit-veganism
    Most vegans will never forget the day they successfully transitioned into veganism. ... My vegan catalysis began in 2009. A weakening relationship with my vegetarian ex came to a halt and I was left on my own. ... I then, en route to my inquisitive spiritual journey, encountered a Hindu guru whom I used to seek guidance from. ... He was impressed that I’m vegetarian and suggested I cut ALL animal products out of my diet. ... I felt like I was doing the right thing and veganism would be my vehicle to spiritual ascendance. ... I was going to ascend to greater spiritual heights. My energy levels were going to soar and I was going to feel healthier than ever. ... Fast forward 6 months: I was now 8 kilos lighter, 4 times weaker, 3 times poorer and twice as frustrated. ... I was eating a lot of bread because I was incompetent and lazy, and well, not very motivated. ... I kept eating the same things daily: cereal and rice milk for breakfast, boiled sweet potatoes or pasta for lunch, either a soup or can of chickpeas, or carrots dipped in hummus for dinner. That’s it, really. The same sh*t every day. ... I wasn’t happy. I was bored. I wasn’t seeing the results the guru had promised and truth is, I hardly understood why I was REALLY doing it. ... A few weeks later, I was walking down a famous shopping strip with my brother and he asked if we could stop by the butcher on the way to the car. ... I retreated and slithered back into eating meat. And now, when I think of it, I can see why ‘old me’ gave up so easily. A mere 6 months of being vegan. That’s nothing. You can’t even have a baby in that time. But I know why. It all makes sense now. I had no purpose. I didn’t fully understand and appreciate the WHY. I just jumped straight into it without understanding veganism. It’s the equivalent of going to war without understanding who you’re fighting. Just grab a sword and jump into the battlefield. Of course, you’re going to die; you’re fighting with no purpose.

Appendix

Recommended Related Resources:

Failing on a Vegan Diet with Dr Michael Greger

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_89PoCecWuY
    In this video Michael Greger MD, of NutritionFacts.org, tells us 3 things we can do if we fail on a vegan diet. What do we do if our health starts failing on a vegan diet? Do we have to start eating animal products again? What about Carnitine? Why do some people fail on a vegan diet? Keep listening as Dr Greger answers these questions.

Why Vegans Fail

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQLXWLzFHjY
    Why Vegans Fail: 84% of vegetarians and 75% of vegans fail, but 1/3 want to get back on the wagon. This video explores why they fail and why people can't seem to return to veganism easily regardless of the desire.

Vegetarianism and Eating Disorders

  • https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/real-healing/201211/vegetarianism-and-eating-disorders
    A 2012 study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that women suffering from eating disorders are four times more likely to be vegetarian than women without eating disorders. More than half (52 percent) of women with a history of eating disorders had been vegetarians at one point in their lives. ... Let’s be clear: Vegetarianism does not cause eating disorders. In fact, done properly, it can be a healthy choice at any stage of life. Vegetarians tend to consume an overall healthier diet and have a lower risk of obesity and related health problems like heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. But it has to be done right. Cutting out meat and replacing it with processed junk food does not promote good health but rather fatigue and malnourishment. Healthy vegetarians find substitutes for the nutrients they’re missing ... When their diet contains a wide variety of nutritious foods, it tends to be higher in fruits, vegetables, fiber and complex carbohydrates and lower in saturated fat and cholesterol than a non-vegetarian diet. .... The purpose of pointing out the link between eating disorders and vegetarianism is not to discourage meatless eating, but to emphasize the importance of doing so healthfully. ... If the primary goal is to lose weight, this may be a red flag for disordered eating.

Mic The Vegan: 'The Vegetarian Myth' Debunked

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMuxgAbHgJA
    A look at Lierre Keith's claims against veganism and the validity of her anti-vegan bible 'The Vegetarian Myth.' [links and sources in the description] [this book is mentioned at least a couple times above as reasoning to eat animals, but when inspected closer is not what it appears to be]

Vitamin K

  • https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/nutrients/vitamin-k
    [Quite a few of the blogs above mention Vitamin K2 as a reason to eat animals] The process of blood clotting requires vitamin K. This nutrient is also thought to play a role in bone health and the functioning of our kidneys. There are different types of vitamin K. Our gut bacteria can make vitamin K1 into vitamin K2. Where do vegans get vitamin K? Vitamin K1 is made by plants. It is found in Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, broccoli, spinach, spring greens and kiwi fruit. Make sure that your daily diet contains good sources of this nutrient. It’s a great reason to eat your greens!

Beyond "I'm Not Vegan Anymore"

  • http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/beyond-im-not-vegan-anymore/
    Vegan living, like love, is not about getting something for myself; it’s about giving: giving mercy and kindness to others who are vulnerable in our hands. Going vegan to get health is like getting married to get wealth: it’s typically not a lasting motivation and it corrodes the integrity of our commitment. If we don’t deepen our motivation beyond personal health, it’s easy to fall prey to the “cravings” for an adverse affair of some kind—the bacon smells so enticing; the neighbor is so attractive. Motivation is at the heart of both love and veganism, as well as of our spiritual evolution.

Preventing Ex Vegans: Why Feeling Normal Matters

  • http://www.theveganrd.com/2015/07/preventing-ex-vegans-why-feeling-normal-matters/
    People sometimes leave veganism (or vegetarianism) because they no longer believe in its benefits—so overhyping the benefits of veganism, promoting unrealistic expectations (like the idea that you could age like a supermodel) can definitely backfire when it comes to encouraging long-term veganism. Likewise, ignoring the issue of ethics can be a mistake. It seems like sometimes we are afraid to talk about it—afraid, in fact, to say that animals matter. The truth is that ethics is a more honest approach to vegan activism and probably one that is more effective in the long run. Finally, while we want to present veganism as easy, we really do fail vegans, new vegans in particular, if we don’t talk about the important details of nutrition. Vegans can and do get sick if they don’t have access to reliable nutrition information.

84% of Vegetarians and Vegans Return to Meat. Why?

  • https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animals-and-us/201412/84-vegetarians-and-vegans-return-meat-why
    The fact that five out of six vegetarians go back to eating meat suggests that an all-veggie diet is very hard for most people to maintain over the long haul. Hence, the authors of the report argue that animal protectionists would be better off concentrating their efforts to persuade “the many” to reduce their consumption of flesh than trying to convince “the few” to take the absolutist route and give up meat completely.

What the Blonde Vegan & Carrie On Vegan Can Teach Us About Eating Healthfully

LOL

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