
What I Discovered When I Went Vegan for 30 Days - drey
http://www.raptitude.com/2011/03/what-i-discovered-when-i-went-vegan-for-30-days/
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jodrellblank
That's annoyingly normal - he went vegan, feels great and thinks everyone
should try it for a week, now drinking milk and eating meat makes him feel
ill.

He doesn't explore though; could he be feeling better simply from eating less?
Or more? Or more greens, or more of a particular nutrient? Or less of one
specific thing he doesn't digest well? Or does the change in diet make him
sleep differently and that's why he feels better? Is it just the act of change
itself that does it?

And does he now feel bad about eating animal products and that makes him
respond badly? In the comments he refuses to test it and isn't interested in
finding out. Does raw animal produce do the same? Unpasteurised milk, raw meat
or fish? What about goat or sheep milk? Or byproducts?

I am of course interested in the mysterious weight which lifted from him such
as the "annoyance of getting out of a chair", but all sorts of strange
practices practitioners claim unverifiable things like that.

Does anybody like this measure anything quantitatively?

~~~
tzs
I suspect most of his effects were psychological. He expected going vegan to
have wonderful effects, so it did.

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mattm
Might want to read this for counter-balance:
<http://voraciouseats.com/2010/11/19/a-vegan-no-more/>

I did try going vegan for a while - nearly two months. It made me feel cold,
sick, miserable and lethargic. I have met some vegans and a lot of them do not
look very healthy.

If you want to eat healthier, meat is not the problem. It's sugar.

~~~
reddot
Both are a problem. There is increasing evidence that eating meat causes many
long term problems. (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_meat#Health_risks>)
Additionally, see the news in the US in the past few days that supposedly ~50%
of meat being currently sold in the US is contaminated
([http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2011/04/gross-.htm...](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2011/04/gross-.html?cid=6a00d8341c630a53ef014e87d4e330970d)).
And don't forget that raising animals for meat consumption is just terrible
for the environment. I still eat meat, but I'm cutting way back and I feel
really bad about it when I still do.

Perhaps you were just not getting enough protein in your vegan attempt? Or
eating the right iron rich foods? One of my friends is a vegetarian, but he
just eats pizza, pasta, and cheese and looks like a piece of giant dough. He's
not doing it right and I wouldn't advocate anyone to follow his example.
However, now is the best time to become a vegetarian or vegan. There are so
many more non-animal protein sources available, it's unbelievable. It's not
the 1960s anymore where you had to eat soy gruel.

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vlod
I'm normally a vegetarian but I've actually gone vegan for lent, not
religious, just a suitable date range.

I'm doing it for the perspective you get. It's real interesting to see much
how dairy is in the products you buy.

Also you generally expose yourself to different products, which tend to carry
over to once you stop.

I'd recommend trying it.

~~~
dazzawazza
One of my kids is lactose intolerant.... then I discovered that milk powder is
in SO many products as it's a cheap way to add a rich flavour to foods.

The net result is that through a genetic accident (the kid is half chinese
half european and it's likely the intolerance comes from the chinese side) we
all eat more healthily.

Referring to the article: When you have to be more careful about what you eat
you tend to have to make more of your own food and, for me at least, the act
of making food suppresses my appetite resulting in me eating less. I think
this is because it effectively lengthens the time my brain is in 'eating' mode
and it feels satiated after less food. I basically made that up though but I'm
happy to live with that.

I wouldn't say I am any healthier but I have maintained my current level of
unhealthiness with less food :)

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zdw
Would be MUCH more useful if he detailed what he ate, even if it was just one
or two days worth of meals.

I mean, there's a ton of good food out there, especially if you look in vegan
friendly ethnic cuisine (Indian especially), but I'd rather get a menu than a
"I felt ill after meat" diatribe.

