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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Worried for friend that has gone raw vegan and just sat there during a lunch out

157 replies

Worflyied · 09/11/2015 09:49

I've got a friend who has been doing this raw vegan diet for almost 10 months. She sticks to it religiously. She is looking good and is not underweight. But she has cut out virtually every food group apart from nuts, fruit and veg. Long term this doesn't seem like a good idea.

We went out yesterday to an nt place, and for lunch she just had a peppermint tea and ate nothing, then after lunch nibbled on some seeds as we were walking around. Doesn't sound healthy right?

OP posts:

GreenPetal94 · 09/11/2015 15:23

Sounds ok to me. The restaurant would not have wanted her to bring her own food so what other option does she have.

You can't judge someone else's eating habits unless you eat with them all the time really.

cabbageleaf · 09/11/2015 16:11

AyeAmarok, I agree - the OP sounds jealous. I will never get why some people can't accept that we are all free to eat what we want.

formerbabe · 09/11/2015 16:20

I know someone who follows a raw, vegan diet...They are completely joyless to be around.

I've heard it said by some that such a diet is much healthier than others but I'd rather eat steak and cake and drink wine and die a few years earlier if that is the case!

LaContessaDiPlump · 09/11/2015 16:24

I think the op was indeed hoping the thread would go another way, as she hasn't been back! We weren't sufficiently critical of Miss Vegan's life choices

formerbabe they sound dull. We're not all that grim!

MumOnTheRunAgain · 09/11/2015 16:24

AyeAmorak totally agree with you!!!

There's nothing wrong with eating this way. I'm sure the cafe sold bottled water and fresh fruit.... If not, why not? It's proper food whereas cake is not

And lol at the op not knowing a thing about food groups

SoupDragon · 09/11/2015 16:31

Howl earth do you get jealousy from the OP?

HaydeeofMonteCristo · 09/11/2015 16:33

I did think you meant a neurologically typical cafe at first. I was thinking that cafes all bloody well are nt, with confusing food descriptions using ridiculous metaphors, long waits for food and waiters interrupting you to ask how the meal is or pouring the wine unevenly.

CoteDAzur · 09/11/2015 16:43

"loads of people, who statistically are likely to be more unhealthy than this lady"

I love it Care to explain how exactly you collected statistically relevant information from these few posts from unnamed strangers whose health you know absolutely nothing about?

CoteDAzur · 09/11/2015 16:47

Oh yes, OP sounds positively green with envy. She was clearly jealous of her friend's self-imposed starvation. Showing up at a lunch between friends to drink tea - clearly something to aspire to

shovetheholly · 09/11/2015 16:47

I assumed she was referring to the studies that have compared the health of the general population and that of vegetarians and vegans? I believe there is quite a bit of literature to suggest that vegetarians are healthier on average, e.g. the EPIC-Oxford study? Not my area, though, so not an expert!

Bunbaker · 09/11/2015 16:52

"I suspect most people who make the decision to eat raw vegan have done some research into what they are doing"

I would have thought so as well. However, you cannot get vitamin B12 from a vegan diet, raw or otherwise. There has to be a supplement of some kind.

I love all types of food and would happily eat several raw vegan meals. However I would hate to never have anything hot. I live in a cold part of the country and enjoy a warming bowl of soup on cold days.

DD and I ate a vegan diet for an entire week, and I admit that I struggled with drinking tea. I tried it without milk - yuck, and with every milk supplement around, but none of them hit the spot like tea with cow's milk.

I notice that the OP's friend had a peppermint tea so, clearly, boiling a kettle is allowed on a raw vegan diet.

MumOnTheRunAgain · 09/11/2015 16:53

cote since when has not eating lunch in a group been 'starvation'?

Also, 'showing up at a lunch'? They were at a NT place, presumably that was the attraction, wherever it was, NOT the cafe they ended up in? Not everyone's life revolves around food

CoteDAzur · 09/11/2015 16:54

This thread isn't about a vegetarian or even a vegan, though.

LovelyFriend · 09/11/2015 16:54

Really OP if you are so concerned next time you go out to lunch with for raw vegan friend, pick a restaurant that caters for raw vegan diets.

It sounds like she was wanting to see you, didn't want a fuss over what she was eating/choice of restaurant and so came along for the company. Perhaps she will simply pass next time - certainly if she knew of all the fuss being caused in her name she would.

Will you then come back and claim "my Raw Vegan friend is isolating herself from her friends - she used to come to lunch but now she doesn't. AIBU to Section her?"

LovelyFriend · 09/11/2015 16:56

And shall we discuss how unhealthy it would be to force or pressure someone to eat something they neither wanted or needed, simply to pacify her friends anxiety?

LaContessaDiPlump · 09/11/2015 16:58

you cannot get vitamin B12 from a vegan diet, raw or otherwise

Marmite! Not raw, obvs. And fortified cereals. Also, I add nutritional yeast to things for flavour and it's full of B12.

Must admit it would be a lot harder if you were going raw.

LaContessaDiPlump · 09/11/2015 16:59

You could take your friend to somewhere like Tossed next time, op - a salad place in London (not sure about other places). Or anywhere that lets you customise a salad, really. This excludes every NT place I've ever been to......

Bunbaker · 09/11/2015 16:59

OK, you cannot get vitamin B12 unless you eat fortified, processed food then.

LovelyFriend · 09/11/2015 17:00

BunBaker do you think the millions of vegans in India are taking B12 supplements or suffering from B12 deficiency?

CoteDAzur · 09/11/2015 17:00

What is a NT place? I'm reading that as Neuro Typical place and it makes no sense.

Presumably, they spent several hours together which was around lunch time. This friend didn't eat with her friends, then pecked at some seeds. Sorry but this level of fussy eating is not normal adult behavior.

LovelyFriend · 09/11/2015 17:01

National Trust
ie sausage rolls and scones

LaContessaDiPlump · 09/11/2015 17:04

NT = National Trust in this instance (op said NT).

There are plenty of people who just don't eat that much at lunch time, whether it's because they:

are not hungry
don't wish to eat what's available (people like cote call this 'fussy')
have an eating disorder (may encompass the option above)
may be eating later and are saving their appetite

or some other reason I haven't thought of.

It is really not that unusual.

CoteDAzur · 09/11/2015 17:04

Yes, actually, B12 deficiency is very high in India. Life expectancy in India is 66 years.

lordStrange · 09/11/2015 17:06

I sometimes go to NT cafes as part of an outing and not bother much with lunch. I wouldn't worry about it.

shovetheholly · 09/11/2015 17:11

Sadly, India has high levels of malnutrition, though, so all kinds of deficiencies are rife. Simply not getting enough food (of whatever kind) is not good for health, particularly in very young children.

web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/0,,contentMDK:20916955~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:223547,00.html

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