Tried veganism, felt dreadful—anyone else?

[stopgap]

So I was vegetarian for eight years (age 12-20) and vegan for a year (age 29). I’m now 42, and with the climate crisis raging, I’m wondering if I should try again.

BUT

I felt so hopelessly ill as a vegetarian and even more so as a vegan, with constant colds, hair loss etc. I struggle with iron and B12 absorption, and my current regimen of eating meat twice a week plus supplementation does zilch for increasing my ferritin levels, as my periods are extremely heavy, and I’m also autoimmune. Since my brief vegan phase I’ve also been diagnosed celiac, making a vegan diet even trickier.

Anyone conquered similar issues to become a healthy vegan? Or are some people just not suited to eating this way?

Some people are unable to absorb non haem iron or B12.

I have never heard of this, sorry. Can you link to a source as I kind of think it's bullshit. Thanks.

You might enjoy The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith. She had a similar experience.

Have you had a pelvic ultrasound for the periods as I had this and it was fibroids?

I gave up cereal grains some time ago - don’t think I was coeliac but certainly they made me unwell. Never felt better (or thinner 😂)

It doesn’t sound suited to you and honestly sounds horrific so no I wouldn’t try again.

Hello,

Thriving vegan here.

Have you been to a doctor about the iron issue? I was anaemic years ago as a veggie and the GP said it was an absorption issue not a diet issue and we managed to solve it with loads of ferrous iron tablets.

On veganism as a whole, just do the best you can within the bounds of keeping yourself healthy. Have you tried tracking your nutrients using cronometer just to check you’re getting enough of everything? There’s also a Facebook group called Ask A Vegan Dietician where a qualified dietician answers questions (for free! And he’s very nice too).

I must say I think I’d struggle with vegan + being a coeliac. The above suggestions aren’t meant to berate you for not trying hard enough as it sounds like you’ve got a lot going on with your health, but just checking you have explored all avenues and you’re not missing something that’s nothing to do with animal products, or lack of, at all.

My boss is an environmentalist but can’t cope with the veganism thing in it’s entirety so she eats plant based before 5pm every day (which allows flexibility at dinner) and it works for her.

Just look after yourself!

I don't think posts slamming people for not being vegan are particularly helpful, to be honest.

Yes, you can eat a poor vegan diet just as you can eat a poor omnivorous diet, but that doesn't mean everyone who's struggled to be vegan is "doing it wrong".

We're all different - we all have different likes, dislikes, tolerances, allergies and coping levels. Some people thrive on a vegan diet, others feel healthier and more energetic on one that contains dairy or fish. Enjoying meat or fish doesn't make you wrong or a bad person - we are omnivores, after all. The concept of a vegan lifestyle is relatively modern - throughout history most people have eaten meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. People lived off the land and that included eating the food their animals provided them with.

I personally wouldn't enjoy a vegan lifestyle but that doesn't make me a bed person. There are plenty of arguments that actually vegan options and substitutes are incredibly bad for the planet because they involve flying food and ingredients over from the other side of the world (avocados and almond milk are just two examples).

@GirlRaisedInTheSouth it's called pernicious anaemia and it's far from "bullshit". People with this anaemia cannot absorb B12 and iron.

Seriously, it would have taken less than 5 seconds to Google and avoid coming across as ignorant.

Lockheart that's because they're a vegan fundamentalist.
"You're doing it wrong" is the standard response to anyone who struggled health wise with a vegan diet.
It's a horrible diet for many people. You can't do it without B12 supplementation. No heme iron. No omega3 or barely any. Many people don't do well with the phytic acid, oxalates etc in a high- pulse diet.
Also the vegans I know seem to need to eat about every two hours!
The fact is that nutrients are in a far more bio-available form in animal products.

totally vegan isn’t actually needed environmentally. Reduce what you can, but keep what your body needs. Your body, not someone else’s.

Pity there have not been more vegan tips on iron here other than take tablets ?

Environmentally It’s your whole life package that matters, ie your food, your transport, your home ( heating and what you fill it with).

I did a vegan diet for 6 months for health reasons and I had never been so healthy! I can't absorb vitb12 anyway (gut issues) so I take an under the tongue supplement. My cholesterol plummeted from 7 to 5 and I lost loads of weight.

Unfortunately I like eggs and meat too much to continue it but I know it works. It was bloody hard work though. Every meal I cooked from scratch and I deliberately avoided processed vegan food (which there is a lot of!). Not sure I could do it permanently anyway!

@Lockheart Your post doesn't really make sense. You say people with pernicious anaemia can only absorb B12 from animals, however I have spent a few minutes reading up on this and it doesn't differentiate between B12 from animal products and non-animal products.

Either way, there are plenty of non-animal sources of B12 and iron. For B6 and B12, I have two slices of gluten-free toast in the morning with fortified Vegemite. My B6 and B12 levels are perfect.

As for iron, it can be found in all of these (non-animal) foods:

Tofu, legumes (lentils, dried peas and beans), wholegrain cereals (including iron-fortified breakfast cereals), green vegetables such as broccoli or Asian greens, nuts, especially cashews, dried fruits such as apricots.

It never ceases to amaze me that people call vegan diets unhealthy yet will eat processed meat which is a WHO classified Class 1 carciogen, in the same group as tobacco and asbestos.

@MeganTheVegan I said no such thing. I said people with pernicious anaemia cannot absorb B12. I made absolutely no differentiation between the sources of B12.

My post was purely in response to another poster saying not being able to absorb B12 sounded like rubbish. I make no comment on the health of a vegan diet vs an omnivorous one.

@Lockheart, apologies, I think my brain is amalgamating posts .

I know this is just an anecdote, but there are vegan pulse based lunches available in my canteen at work. By the calorie content they are equal to the meat based meals. But whenever I try one, I'm ravenously hungry well before home time. Like feel like I'm going to faint hungry. Doesn't happen if I have a ham sandwich despite the calorie content being lower. Dunno whats going on there.

@Missillusioned I think that's because vegan food tends to move quicker through your system. I quite like that aspect, I feel clean insdie and not clogged up with rotting flesh.

I don't see how a vegan diet is beneficial to the environment if you live in the UK. The air miles of food you are eating must negate any benefit of eating a plant based diet. I have a large allotment and 6 hens. A family of 4. There is no way I could grow enough fruit and veg to feed us all year round. We are probably self sufficient for a few things for a few months a year. I won't be buying cucumbers or French beans for a while, or chillis or tomatoes and haven't bought soft fruit since june.

The only thing the allotment produces constantly is eggs.

My dd is vegetarian, I was myself for many years but I just don't see how a vegan diet with all its almond milk and pulses and processed food is any better for the environment than eating animal products. We only buy free range chicken, I buy lamb and beef from Aldi, M and S, Morrisons but I very rarely buy pork. Mainly because pigs tend to be intensively farmed.

I have a friend who is a sheep farmer up in Cumbria. You couldn't grow anything on the land her sheep graze. If it wasn't for her sheep it would be wasted.

And would think a leg of lamb from up the road, from grassland unsuitable for anything else has less environmental impact than a litre of almond milk, or quinoa or even a tin of chickpeas.

@MeganTheVegan that might be true, but I can't live with having to eat every 2 hours. And if I did that I'd be eating loads more calories per day and put on weight.
I dislike dairy, but I feel good on a meat based diet - I can keep going for much longer on fewer meals. If you eat fruit and vegetables your system shouldn't be clogged just because you eat meat.

I think it's the protein @Missillusioned. It's far more efficient to get protein through meat than vegetables so you tend to feel fuller (on a diet with meat in it) I find.

Having said that my green lentil shepherds pie I actually prefer to the meat version!

@Frouby i think a lot of the environmental claims are based on the US. There are a lot more grain fed animals used for meat there and a lot of the land used could also be used for crops.

In the UK we have large parts of the land that is useless for crops and can only be used for animal grazing. A lot of vegan food is imported with the environmental cost of that. As long as the meat you buy is British it should be environmentally ok.

I was veggie for 30 years and have been vegan for six months.

I'm rarely ill and have not noticed any difference health wise since swapping. I'm lucky and I try to eat well and take B12 supplements.

I'm not too far off your age (I'm 46) and if for any reason my body hadn't adapted then I may have reverted back to veggie.

At the moment I feel good. I know it's important to eat well as I could well feel knackered as I enter the menopause.

If everyone did three meat free days a week we could help save the planet!

People needlessly eat new every day of the week, it’s just not necessary!

If everybody took that approach it would make a huge difference without anyone giving anything up.

Jesus, the hair loss was phenomenal. And I was on a plant based diet, mindful of eating as many beans as I could tolerate and more fruit and veg than you could shake a stick at not some kind of crisps-and-chips vegan attempt.

I was vegan too for a few years. I developed a serious B12 deficiency and iron deficiency and didn't feel well. I researched everything and ate well but it didn't work. I am still vegetarian and recently tried becoming vegan again as I feel that ethically it is the right thing to do. I started feeling tired and ill again and was diagnosed with a vit d deficiency. I suppose with supplements I could continue being vegan but it obviously does not work for me.

I was vegetarian for a couple of years before my children were born and was very ill. After some quite frequent fainting episodes, I went back to meat. I had very heavy periods and was iron and B12 deficient. My periods became much lighter after having children so I'm trying again. I don't think it does suit everyone and you need to supplement regularly and with a decent vitamin.

For reference. Some helpful information. As stated earlier, I take B12 supplements so that may be an option.

www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/nutrients/vitamin-b12/what-every-vegan-should-know-about-vitamin-b12

Mainly because pigs tend to be intensively farmed.
I live in the main pig farming area of the country. The pigs are always outside. Loads of them! It's part of the reason my kids went veggie, because we kept driving past the pig farms and they then couldn't eat bacon and sausages! Having said that, I'm not a farmer, so I don't know what happens to them when I don't see them!

Eating meat raised in the UK is arguably much better for the environment than eating avocados and other fruits imported from overseas.

Unless all the fruit and veg you're eating is locally grown (extremely unlikely as lot of it can't be grown in this country) your diet is probably just as bad for the environment as a meat eaters diet is.