Why I Became Vegan for One Year (and Why I Went Back to Eating Meat)

in #nutrition7 years ago (edited)

Is veganism healthy or is it dangerous?

I want to tell the story of why I became a vegan and why I decided to go back to eating meat.

This is an on going journey in which I do not have all the facts, so bear with me. However, this does not only concern my well being, but yours as well, as the trend to go “plant based” will affect the population at large.

Continue reading to find out more.

Our food is being systematically poisoned and that is a fact.

The public at large has grown weary of this for the past several years.

Riots and protests against Monsanto have hit the streets all over the world yet genetically modified foods still fill our supermarkets.

The percentage of people dying from preventable diseases such as heart attacks and cancer has only risen and there appears to be no end in sight.

Violence fills our TV screens as the terror attacks reign unstoppable and warmongering continues in the Middle East.

What does this have to do with veganism?

Whether you’d like to admit it or not, there is a general uneasiness in the world right now.

Tension is high, corruption is high, fear is through the roof.

Everyone is looking to save themselves, in some way or another.

The latest trend that has hit the United States and others such as Germany, France, etc. is adopting a plant-based diet and removing animal products.

There are large nutrition institutions that push for plant-based diets.

Doctors are prescribing it.

Hollywood actors are promoting it.

It seems like every day there is a new youtuber or blogger peddling their vegan recipes online.

But why the big push towards eating less meat?

There are a few, but I’ll list the big three:

Health
There are large bodies of evidence coming out of mainstream scientific circles that claim diets high in animal products such as meat and dairy lead to higher rates of disease.

Also, you don’t have to be scientifically literate to understand that diet is linked to well being.

With the growing understanding that our food supply is being tampered with (GMO’s, pesticides), many people are turning towards healthier alternatives.

Also, people just want to lose weight and feel good about their bodies. One success story turns into two, and more and more
people see the positive effects of switching their diet up.

Environmentalism
With the rise of threat of global warming, many people have looked to lower their carbon footprint in a last ditch effort to save the polar bears.

They claim that the raising of beef, poultry and fish is harmful to the environment for various reason, from the large amount of land it takes to raise cattle to the methane gas they produce which supposedly leads to global warming.

Morality
Everyone and their mother has a Netflix account these days, and documentaries such as Cowspiracy and Forks over Knives and recently, What the Health, have entered the kitchens and the consciousness of just about every American family.

The blindfolds have been taken off the eyes of meat eaters everywhere, and there hasn’t been outrage this loud since Uptown Sinclair ventured off into the deep Jungle and told everyone about it.

What happens to our meat supply before it hits the freezers is extremely abusive and disgusting.

It really is no wonder why people turn away from eating meat.

New Age Trends
– this is the tail end of the ethical reasoning, but it deserves its own category because of it’s importance.

With all the so called “conspiracies” coming to light, many people are beginning to see the cracks in the matrix.

They’re developing their own consciousness, so to speak.

They’re raising their vibrations.

And they see the harm and death of animals as being detrimental to their ascension.

If this sounds like voodoo to you, please bear with me.

To many spiritual teachers, plants have the highest vibrations due to the fact that they are lifeless, or do not have a spirit and therefore do not need to be killed/harmed.

In other words, there is no karma being exchanged when eating them.

When eating animals, there is a karmic exchange from having to kill the animal.

This idea arises from many vegetarian societies that have practiced Buddhism and Hinduism over the past several centuries.

WHY I BECAME A VEGAN

There was only one reason I became a vegan: my health.

I saw it as a sure way to increase my longevity, avoid the hospital, and age well into my later years.

One of my fears, having witnessed two of my grandparents pass away, was to end up in a hospice or confined to a wheel chair. If adopting a vegan diet could prevent this, then I was gung-ho to try!

Of course, the moral/ethical and environmental reasons did play a part, but a much lower one. I suppose I am one self-centered prick.

And also a cheapskate.

You can get beans and lentils for pennies on the dollar. I do live in an expensive city, after all.

There was one Youtube channel that was instrumental to my conversion from omnivore to herbivore: The Vegan Health Society of Hawaii.

I devoured many of their videos with lectures from MDs and scientists alike.

It was like propaganda, I ate it up willingly.

I became a parrot, repeating whatever factoid I could to whoever would listen. I loved every minute of it. It was like the reinforcement I needed whenever I was feeling burned out or fiending for a juicy steak.

The Fallout (my personal experience, yours may differ)

I was vegan for about twelve months.

I slipped up a few times during my experimental phase.

The occasional milk and butter in the chocolate chip cookie.

The occasional three day weekend binge at my aunt’s house while hungover.

But for the most part, I was a committed to the cause.

But then I started to notice changes.

For one, I had joint pain
Whenever I would stand up from sitting down at my work chair, I’d feel extremely stiff in my hips. I also developed pain in my index finger just from using my mouse at work. Clicking too much? Or lack of lubrication?

I developed general weakness and low strength
I had a gym membership and I would go regularly. Maybe fifteen days out of a month, which roughly equates to every other day. However, I found that I could never increase the amount of weight I was lifting, nor would I see any gains. I was just skinnier than usual. I lost about ten pounds but hovered at that weight for the entire year.

I developed an irregular heartbeat
As I lay in bed, I could feel my heart skip beats. There would be lulls in between the pumping of my heart, which was slightly alarming. Glad to say that this phenomena is slowly decreasing. I should probably see a specialist anyway.

I started to slightly hallucinate
As I would lay in my bed and read at night (with the lights on), I would see dark shapes move in the corner of my eyes. At first, I thought it could be mice, but I realized that I was simply having vision problems. B-12 deficiency?

I began to have dizzy spells
This one was extremely weird. At random points during the day, whether I was sitting or standing, I’d get hit with a feeling of dizziness that would last for up to ten seconds. I had never experienced it before in my life.

I noticed an increase in gray hairs, skin tags, and moles
I’ve seen an increase in moles on my arms and body which I’ve always attributed to the sunlight for some reason. However, where I’ve been living the past year, there are only occasional sunny days. I’ve heard it said that the reason the Irish were known to have freckles was due to their high diet of potatoes (carbohydrates).

Gray hairs seem to be much more common, which I’ve heard can be contributed to a diet high in iron (probably the beans I was eating) or protein deficiency. The skin tags were minimal but known to develop when on a high carb diet as well.

I simply was not happy
There was a general discontent in my everyday life, an irritability I could not shake and feeling of depression. While outside factors did play their part, I blame my diet which lacked fundamental nutrients such as Vitamin B and cholesterol.

There, I’ve said it. The secret is out! I felt miserable on a vegan diet.

Related Health Issues experienced by others
The following is a link to documented incidents of babies dying from a vegan diet. It is extremely sad and unfortunate for this to happen, and it only supports the evidence that a diet deficient of natural fats is unsustainable, especially for children:
http://www.i-nhs.com/inhs/diet3.html

Can veganism be healthy? What about all the success stories?

Yes, veganism can be successful in the short term.

When becoming vegan, many people adopt much healthier eating habits such as removing junk foods and other carcinogens from their lives.

They also may exercise more consistently, which in turn leads them to feel even better.

But I do believe it’s short lived.

Being vegan, by definition, means you are literally eating yourself alive.

Since you are no longer taking in essential fatty nutrients to survive, your body will start to take them from itself to maintain homeostasis.

When you are obesely overweight, starvation may be the right pathway to normal BMI. But after your body takes all the unnecessary nutrients, it will begin to gnaw away at your frame, turning you into a wrinkly old vegan.

If there are long term vegans that look and feel healthy, it is because they have dialed in their food intake with supplementation.

There is a low chance that they could survive without artificially adding additional supplements to their
diets.

A government plot to make us weak?

This is a crazy idea which I reserved for the end.

If you believe in small groups of people who control large institutions such as banks, etc. you can see the benefit of pushing a vegan agenda to the population.

The outcome will be a population that is too weak to think and too weak to fight back. They will then be able to roll out any military force or program that they deem necessary.

It is such a shame that veganism is taking over the youth of America, as they have the mental strength and faculty to come up with innovative ideas and new ways of thinking.

I leave you with one example: India.

A country rich in cultural traditions, spirituality and religion.

They have been practicing vegetarianism for the longest time yet still live within the confines of the caste system.

Is there a connection between their insufficient diet and the continuation of a slave-type mentality? Perhaps.

This UN report details the importance of a diet free of animal products. And many can agree that the UN is international organization owned by the elite. Why are they pushing this diet if it's not healthy for us?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet

Conclusion/Shout out

All and all, do more research on the harmful effects of veganism. Do not get caught up in the latest health trend. It can detrimentally affect your health and your life.

I want to thank sv3rige and his youtube channel for keeping me woke and showing me the dangers of my vegan ways.

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Thank you for sharing your experience. I believe this dialogue is important. I believe meat is a feast food for when we gather with others, but we don't necessarily need it every meal.

Also herbivores (like beef cattle) are an important component in the ecosystem when they are raised correctly.

In the West we should generally eat less meat, but better quality more humanly raised meat.

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Interesting subject.

(IMO) My friend sort of had the same story. Didn't feel the benefits of vegan eating. And is back to meat again.

However,

Look at the brother Diaz in m.m.a. they are weed smoking vegan monsters. Personally I eat meat but not that much. Plus i try to eat raw vegetables every day.

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