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.
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.
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.
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:
(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:
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 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.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 basis. Blood 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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.Health ... Convenience ... Annoyance.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.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.they were really, really tempting. Then I said I could eat animal products.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.my body needed the nutrients in meat, fish, and fowl that cannot be found in a vegetarian diet.the chinese food place has a great barbecued pork.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.If we are Krishna conscious, we should think more of the spiritual future than the material present. It only makes sense.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.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 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.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.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.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.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."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.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.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.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.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!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.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.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.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.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.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!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.MEAT IS DELICIOUSI thought it would help my IBS. It didn't.the cost. Im 6'5" and about 280 pounds so getting 4k cal in a vegan diet was rough. Also all the pooping.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.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.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.eating animals is more ethical and better for the environment than not eat animals. Circle of life and whatnotStopped because I was a broke college student that really cared about my protein intake.she got a new boyfriend who wasn't a vegan.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.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.”losing too much weight. "I know in regular people life, that’s a good thing. But playing offensive line, you have to have some type of girth to you. ... However, the sportsman is still avoiding red meat.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.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.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… ?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.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.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.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!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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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’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.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.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.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.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.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.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.Recommended Related Resources: