Going OFF the Vegetarian Diet

Question

In the past years I've come across vegetarians and vegans who sad they "had to get off the vegetarian diet for health reasons."  Has any one of you out there heard of this?

Personally, I do believe that you have to listen to your body and feel what it wants. Although I advocate a vegetarian diet (for compassion towards the animals, for the sake of the environment, and for health reasons), I do also feel that not everyone can thrive on a vegetarian or vegan diet.  But then again, there are MANY who thrive on a veggie diet.

What do you guys think?

Chia · Answer

Yeah, I've heard of this from a few people before. You gotta do what you gotta do, eh?

Interesting story - A friend had experimented with the various diets for many years, from first being vegetarian to all vegan then to all raw then to raw including raw meats then to now eating everything except for grains.

JohnnySensible · Answer

Mark 12:28b-33 - (One of the scribes to Jesus ....) "What are we to consider the greatest commandment of all?" "The first and most important one is this," Jesus replied - 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' 

The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these." 

"I am well answered," replied the scribe. "You are absolutely right when you say that there is one God and no other God exists but him; and to love him with the whole of our hearts, the whole of our intelligence and the whole of our energy, and to love our neighbours as ourselves is infinitely more important than all these burnt-offerings and sacrifices."

.............................................

Until you "love yourself" going Nazarene / Essene / Vegan (mostly raw) seems to be such a chore! Once you start to love yourself life / existence starts to be fun!

vesalius123 · Answer

Many of the people who feel they suffer healthwise from their diet are either not balancing out their diet and exercise or it is a psychological state brought on by omnivores who make them believe they are weak due to their diet, then they begin to suffer physically due to mental strain and total belief that the other person is right.

Chia · Answer

I've met Christians that advocate vegetarian diets (Christian Vegetarians and Seventh Day Adventists). They interpert, "dominion over the animals," as having to take care or watch over them.

But most Christians I've encountered eat flesh meat. "Dominion" to them means having superiority and the rights to do as they like with the animals.

Different interpretations.

JohnnySensible · Answer

Silly people - they are going to get sick!

“See, I give you every
seed-bearing plant
that is upon all the
earth, and every tree
that has seed-bearing
fruit; they shall be
yours for food”
(GENESIS 1:29).

Only mistranslations / criminal edits of the Biblical books encourage meat consumption in our times.

His "Dad" was extremely clear - Jesus Christ was extremely sensible. Putting meat in your mouth is like putting sand in your car engine - it blocks it up & causes all kinds of problems / eventual breakdown.

toxiegirll · Answer

I have been vegan for almost a year and feel great, I think as long as you are eating a healthy vegan diet and not a bunch of junk foods you will thrive. and my friend has been vegan for almost 7 years and has never had a problem, those ppl are either not eating a balanced diet, or just really don't want to be vegan. Everyone I have ever known that was vegan and then went back to eating meat vomitted a lot. NOw how healthy does that sound!

SynthVegan · Answer

That is a ridiculous excuse.  No offense, but I feel that people who use that excuse are weak and need an excuse to give people to justify their actions.  Take some vitamins, don't kill animals!

Meat is murder, who wants to justify that?!?!?

Tatiana · Answer

"going off vegetarian diet for health reasons".....

I have heard people being told this by family, friends, strangers, and even doctors and other health professionals.  I have heard people say they were told because they are anemic or underweight or other things that they should just eat meat or in order to get better.  If a well rounded vegan/vegetarian diet wasn't good for you, people couldn't thrive on it.  Yes, it may look easier for many people to just say "hey, eat a burger, add some cheese", but what about some lentil stew or some nuts, those have tons of protein and calories!  If they'd go see a dietitian they could VERY likely make changes without having to go off the diet.  I have yet to have told any patient of mine they needed to stop being veg.

SynthVegan · Answer

Well said Tatiana!  I was a little emotional in my initial response, as I'm annoyed with people giving me that excuse.  Anyone can thrive off of Vegan diet, it all lies within the choices [food wise] that you make.  If anything, vitamins are a good route if you don't have time to eat right or are in the process of replacing meat choices with Vegan choices.  

You can obtain a Vegetarian/Vegan multivitamin at almost any natural food store.  I use "Vegetarian Support" made by Country Life.

Stig · Answer

If I ever go off my veggy diet I will die quickly - beacuse I ain't ever going to eat animal's bottoms again!

Healthy · Answer

I can't see that happening. I've only been vegan two months and I feel so much better. I look forward to a lifetime of being a healthy vegan. 

I do take vegan supplements and I make a conscious effort to eat good food (only occasional vegan junkfoods)

gr8vegan · Answer

view drmcdougall.com for fools who think they need to "get off"

SynthVegan · Answer

Stig:  You've got me laughing over here!  I love that comment...never eat animals' bottoms again!!!  I was just talking with a friend a couple of days ago and we were discussing milk.  We both haven't had milk in so long that we came to the conclusion that we'd die if we drank a glass of milk *yuck* if we didn't first die of the act of drinking it.

I would die if I ate meat again, mainly from gagging on it on the way down [and severe guilt and heartache]…because that stuff isn't going in my tummy!

Gr8Vegan:  Thanks for the Dr. McDougall link, I'm going to check it out and put it on my personal website.  Thanks for being the great-vegan that you are…

Stig · Answer

Hey SynthEBM - I am trying to work out what your name means!

I was a "bottle fed" baby - what a start in life! 

From 1 day old ingesting a "cows milk & other trash" cocktail brewed up by Nestle - then weaned onto a 60's English style diet of burned animals body parts & over-cooked vegetables. My family especially loved "scabs" / dried blood AKA "Black Pudding".

 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pudding

Sometimes I used to worry brain must not have developed fully!

At age 16 George Harrison turned me vegetarian. 

Kate Bush, John Peel, The Monty Python team & a few other "greats" helped me to "stay on track"!

I am laughing too today!

Alive & relatively sane (not yet caught by the men in white coats).

JohnnySensible · Answer

George & Ringo - joking about eggs & beans & trains in 1988 - enjoy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SQS9c8ppZw - members of the "mainly vegetarian" Beatles. . . (What are Beatles? - US readers can look this up on Wikipedia).

SynthVegan · Answer

Hi Stig!  My name is a shortened version of two words.  Synthetic [because I'm Vegan – i.e. I use synthetic alternatives…non-leather, etc.] and EBM stands for a genre of music I listen to called "Electronic Body Music".  Coming up with an original name is a pain [and I have to be original, I can't have a name that's similar to everyone else ;)], so I often combine two words and shorten them – this one isn't the best, but it works for now.  I didn't want to do something like VeganGirl, as I'm sure there are plenty of names that are similar to that.  If my red hair doesn't make me stand out, I have a name on here that does, LOL!

Yeah, I was feed milk when I was a kid and in fact, my family used to try to force me to eat meat.  I'd face "the belt" or sitting at the table all night…ughhh!  I've been Vegetarian since I was four [time my mom told me I refused to eat it after I found meat came from dead animals].

My family is German and they eat some pretty sick things [i.e. Liverwurst], but Black Pudding [aka Blood Sausage or Blutwurst]?!?!?!  Yuck!!!  How can anyone eat blood?!?!  I couldn't read that whole article on it; it almost made me vomit in my mouth…yuck!

I understand about worrying about your brain not fully developing.  I often wonder how things would be had I not been forced to drink milk or anything else related to animals.  It's funny when you think of how much control your parents have over you physically and mentally, which in turn dictates your future [e.g. my mom smoked when she was pregnant with me and while I was growing up – I have asthma].

Glad to talk with you on here, keep laughing, keep making me laugh ;), and keep those men in the clean white coats away! 

P.S.  What does Stig mean?  Are you referring to a race car driver?

AlmostVeggie · Answer

I was vegetarian for a while and then I moved back in with my parents and somehow became a meat eater.  I had my gallbladder removed this past September and I'm wondering if eating meat had anything to do with it.  Now, I'm slowly but surely making the transition back to vegetarianism.

Stig · Answer

AlmostVeggie - "all power to you"!

johnnysensible - that Youtube clip is so refreshing to watch, I have played the whole program now, quite remarkable.

SynthEBM - great name. "Stig" comes from the 60's childrens book "Stig of the Dump" - non-verbal comunication - cave men - mavericks - recyclers etc.

Tatiana · Answer

Almostveggie - Our gallbladder's are a holding tank for enzymes from our pancreas, mostly to break down fats.  So eating a higher fat meat diet could defnitely contribute to a gallbladder problem.

JohnnySensible · Answer

This was a fun Forum thread - does anyone have any recent thoughts to add?

I sometimes miss my "multiple personality disorder"!

Tatiana · Answer

Well Johnny, I'm sitting here, munching on my multigrain hot cereal with flax seeds, goji berries, golden berries, and bananas for breakfast, think I need some greasy pork sausage on the side?

h2jin2008 · Answer

Hi all,

Love the forum.

I have a question for the newly converted vegetarians.  Right now, I guess I'm considered a pescatarian, since I still eat sushi and a little bit of other fish from time to time (once a week).  I will also eat some cheese when having wine, but otherwise have replaced all other dairy with soy based products.

I've been on a fairly regimented vegetarian/vegan diet (my wife went vegan)for about 6 months now, and have lost about 30 needed pounds to bring me back down to my proper weight index.

I've been taking few supplements, as I feel I get most of my nutrition from good organic vegetables, legumes, nuts, and grains.

My question revolves around feeling weak.  Months at a time, I seem to be able to do yoga, hold a busy work week, etc. and be fine and then I'll have a week that I'm beat down.  Not sure if this is diet related, or just not getting the proper amount of rest?

I've also noticed that I'm far more effected by both alcohol and caffeine, which I hope is a result of running a fairly pure diet through my system with less toxins.

Anybody else experience these up and down engery peaks, and what kinds of foods or other factors do you think helped you balance it out?

Just tired of yo-yo-ing.

JohnnySensible · Answer

Hiya h2jin2008, gr8vegan's advice could be of benefit to you - "view drmcdougall.com". This audio is worth listening to - http://www.globaltalkradio.com/ondemand/shows/wakeupamerica/2007Jan08/index.asx - Go easy with soy based products which are highly processed / modified.

JohnnySensible · Answer

"Hey look Howard's being eaten"! The fish tank - from "Meaning of Life" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1kftCx5-tA Pescatarian means that Howard's friends will be eaten one by one also! Perhaps by Mr Creosote (only watch this next clip on an empty stomach)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlK62rjQWLk

Tom · Answer

I've heard the "listening to our body" phrase before, and it seems sensible in some ways. But, when someone has been raised on animal products their whole life, and then transitions away from them, there are bound to be times when they think their body craves & needs them, when the fact is that their body just didn't know anything else and there are definitely better plant-based options out there to fill any need that may arise.

alex2009 · Answer

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