Ex Vegan in Recovery- what it did to my body after 5 years

5 years of being a primarily healthy vegan did some serious damage to my body. I talk about the on going health issues that I am recovering from, the culture of veganism and how it’s problematic and my mindset shifts throughout the whole process.

[teganwarrior]

I can absolutely relate hun x. I was vegan for 7 years and I absolutely destroyed my life. Both physical and mentally. Took all the right supplement, ate whole food. I sped up my Hashimotos, develop Raynaud's disease, developed SIBO and my anxiety spiralled into depression. Don't regret being vegan and cherish what I learnt as it means I can make more ethical choices in life. But yeah it's not for everyone.

[najlatribalfusion]

Totally. Vegan for nine years. Last summer I started with pastured eggs first. Then, in October, fish. Then, like one month ago, poultry. I am lucky because I moved to the countryside and I can have fresh and quality products. What's most incredible is that I thought that I felt good. But the pain I was feeling in my muscles - that I thought was due to the heavy work in our farm - is now gone.

[remcovisser]

If vegan were healthier, we would all have become herbivores through evolution. We must take our health seriously.

[swanseawales]

Quit veganism last week. I’m enjoying consuming animal products but will still consume a lot of the vegan products I’ve been eating over the past 7 years as I’ve recently discovered that I don’t like pork or lamb since trying them again.

[fahrenheigh]

You mention the bible. A counter example I could give is that before the fall, Adam and Eve didn't eat meat, and Isaiah 65:17-25 says that in a perfect world, we'd not eat meat.

[alinalbelieber]

i can relate so much. i study nutrition and i am so happy i am getting my health back!!!

[v.a.n.e.]

I was particularly curious in how you would tackle your ex-veganism from an ethical perspective. if I understood you correctly, the maternal instinct prevailed, as did the realization that you do not have the luxury of entirely free choice over your future and lifestyle since it is conditioned and geared toward the needs of your kids. I'm inclined to believe those are sound grounds and the right decision. thank you for sharing your story with us.

[cgortz]

I've been vegan for about 10 years. I tried once to switch it completly. Changed to a diet based on organic meat and eggs, with a limited amount of vegetables, no pasta, no beans, etc. I was never as sick and weak as when I had that diet. I had to stop working out because I got so dizzy and weak. After two months I gave up and took on my normal vegan diet. Within two weeks I was strong and healthy again. There's a reason to why I have been vegan for about 10 years now. It works!

[skoy]

Funny thing about the "cultist" vegans, I think they are primarily cultists, that have the need to feel they know something you don't, feel superior and be preachy about it. Veganism is one way to express this need. Similarly, conspiracy theorists do the same, just on a different path. That's why I think there are so many "cultist" vegans. I have 5 friends that used to be vegetarians, then vegans, then went back to eating meat, 4 of them where the cultist type and when they reverted back to eating meat, they did it in the most silent way...

[georgecarlin]

6:46 you're honest but not fully. It's not just about your babies at home, but about the fact that it's easy to say you're willing to die rather than eat animals until you're ACTUALLY put in that position that you're going to die, at which point 99% of those vegans who said they'd rather die SUDDENLY change their minds, because talk is cheap. People love to BS themselves and think they're extremely moral. In reality almost everyone changes their minds once the sheet really hits the fan. (I'm not vegan btw)

[foebelboo]

nthx ill keep being vegan as long as my bloodwork is fine

[JérQcNomadSovereign]

I'm interested to hear more about tour inflammation. Could you see it or it was inside the joints? Can you explain how inflammation builds up because of the diet you had? 🤗

[AlexMinor]

Are you still battling any chronic health issues or be they all gone away?

[kirsty]

Do you live in Teton Valley? It looks like it

Very good. God (mother nature) provided humanity with an abundance of animals for our sustainability. Some animals can help us with their work and loyalty, and others help us with their healthy nutrients. This was God's plan for his creation of Humanity on Earth. Humans thrive on God's plan.

[KorinneJameyColt]

What kind of deficiencies you had on a vegan diet?

[ArJeSsTeR]

Is vegan and whole food plants base the same ? I going vegan now for my health but as more of a whole food plants base, but as I do know eating meat give more energy

[charlenewilley]

Rubbish, I was a vegan back in 2001 when nobody liked vegans so that's not people pleasing.

[shnydtayne]

First of all, congrats to Woods in Wildflowers for doing what's good for her!! 🥳🥳 Welcome back to the Health Realm!

However, I do have to say something. One thing these ex-vegans (including this lady) still don't get is that it's NOT that "you had to start eating meat BECAUSE of health issues". When you say it like that, it sounds like deep inside you still believe that "vegetables are healthy, if you are healthy yourself", which is simply not true. All plant matter is harmful for humans, always. Instead of "I had to start eating meat because I had health issues" (which means, "meat is a temporary treatment I was forced to use; if I were healthy, I'd still be vegan"), you should say, "I had health problems BECAUSE (1) I didn't eat any meat and (2) I ate plant material" (which means, "meat is health and vegetables are death": the absolute truth). See the huge difference in meaning and mentality? If your thoughts are more in line with the latter idea, congratulations, you've started to see reality as is.

I don't have a problem with vegans in the same way I don't have a problem with, say, pot-smokers: they are doing all the harm to themselves, and it's their life and their choices. The problem is when they try to convince other people to become vegan, because it's exactly the same as trying to convince people to use drugs. They are trying to influence people into severely damaging their own health. It's been turning into a public health issue, honestly.

Now, let me help Woods of Wildflowers and all the vegans who are thinking of quitting their horrible diet, but haven't sorted out the "ethical" side of it. When you start truly seeing reality, you'll realize that these people who constantly say that they "love animals" are accidentally (and very ironically) harming them the most. For example, people who "love animals" and are vegans because of it, almost always have pets, right? Well, the thing is that "they love them so much" that they "treat them as their own kids", literally. But it turns out that cats and dogs are NOT humans, but they are (wrongly) treated as humans by these people: for example, they are fed a vegan diet, so that they are also "cruelty-free". The problem is that dogs and cats are CARNIVORES, just like us humans, and you ARE committing animal cruelty when you feed vegetables to a carnivore, regardless of it being a human or any other carnivore. Feeding a vegan diet to a cat or a dog IS ANIMAL ABUSE (just like feeding it to humans), because you are malnourishing them and creating lots of health issues for them.

Compare that to a normal human being who has a dog. This person still loves their dog, and they feed it meat, PRECISELY because they know it's what's best for its species. In turn, you have a pet owner who loves their pet as much as any vegan, but also a pet that is happier and healthier than any animal that's had the misfortune of becoming a vegan's pet.

Another example: When vegans "care" about cows, they try to give them the same "loving" treatment they'd give a person they love, and that's a MISTAKE, because NONE of those things are either natural for the animal nor appreciated by it. In summary, this vegan would simply be hindering and negatively affecting the cows' lives by doing all sorts of nonsensical things humans tend to do in civilization.

Compare that to a meat-eater. A meat-eater loves the animals too, because he or she KNOWS that these animals are their SUSTENANCE. An unhappy animal who's suffered a lot, has not had the chance to live it's natural life and hasn't been able to eat its proper diet will produce very low-quality meat that's not gonna be as nutritious or tasty. So, in turn, meat-eaters would treat the animal with the utmost care for two reasons: (1) because they love the animal for being sustenance, nutrition, health and life for them, (2) because a healthy animal will have very high-quality meat. If you don't believe me, talk to the small, non-industrialized cattle farmers in the US. They all absolutely adore their animals. When eating an animal makes you feel SO GOOD, you inevitably end up adoring it. It's common sense.

Heck, since I started eating only animal products, COWS have become my favorite animals. Never before had I loved cows as much as I love them now, honestly.

[iansomerville]

Curious to know which nutrients you were lacking as a vegan. In other words, what nutrients were in the animal products you ate that you couldn't have got elsewhere? Also, what foods did you start to eat less of when you reverted?