Three years vegan. I feel about the same as I did when I wasn't a vegan

[dcs]

@dawn16 Yeah you can eat just as shitty as a vegan as vegetarian or carnivore. Meat might increase heart disease and cancer but that’s over the long term.

 

[alexandrium]

@flyingforjesus Thanks for this. It's a very good thing to hear.

Pretty much the same experience for me. My reason for plant based is that if I don't need animal protein to survive then why eat it? There's not enough benefit to meat to make the negative aspects (environmental, physical, ethical etc) worth it. Logically I know it's healthier for me and the planet and overall I think I feel better without meat, but going plant based hasn't made a major difference to my health and weight. Mind you I was eating a healthy diet before too, just with chicken a couple of times a week and red meat a few times a year.

 

[uxr100]

@flyingforjesus On a daily basis i feel you. My health and regular energy levels etc. haven't changed at all (vegan for 9 years). I never really ate unhealthy before and was always active fitness/sportswise. BUT i do feel extraordinarily fit, awake and clearminded when i really focus on fruit and veggies (when it even feels like i'm overdoing it, but in reality i'm not) and slow down on "heavier" carbs like pasta, rice, bread etc. So i guess it's more of a where do i get my carbs from thing. That is definitely something i noticed. But yeah, being vegan in general hasn't made me a superhuman either. I do admit though that i still consume too many processed foods even if it is the organic stuff...

Sooo maybe if i live completely whole-foods-plant-based it might change? We'll see...

 

[kidkaos2]

@flyingforjesus I feel mostly the same but i cant rememebr what I felt like beforehand. My digestion is much better though in general, I have like maybe 10% more energy in the gym than in the past, that's it. But I never did this for me anyway so those are still massive bonuses

 

[flyingforjesus]

@kidkaos2

I feel mostly the same but i cant rememebr what I felt like beforehand.

I salute that statement. I feel many people on Reddit make these strong, unhesitant statements about how they felt years before and I can't see how it is possible do know that with much certainty without a fairly heroic effort (like using some standardized system of scoring and logging one's feelings in a systematic way and then doing stats analysis on it). Well, I suppose if there were some obvious changes (such as a person before and after an obvious allergy in which they had a clear "attack" due to the allergan).

 

[theophilus555]

@flyingforjesus I thought that the first time I went vegan, until I fell off the wagon and realized how good plant based foods made me feel.

 

[dmwalker24]

@flyingforjesus 8.5 years vegan here, for a long time I felt about the same as you. I've always had relatively low energy levels, but I feel like that was more to do with my mental health issues than my diet (mental health & sleep issues run strong in my family). Recently I modified my diet so that I'm eating less processed foods and more nutritionally balanced meals, and it's done wonders for my overall energy -- I still struggle, but it's been a lot easier.

 

[angelofsuffering]

@flyingforjesus In my case everything is about the same, but with less inflammation, I suffered from herniated disk, and I couldn't sit for more than 10 mins without pain, now I can sit the whole day without pain

 

[dawn16]

@flyingforjesus I had pretty much the same reaction. I get really weirded out when people tell me that going vegan changed their life - I feel much the same as I did two years ago when I started.

If anything, I notice that I’m more tired now than I used to be. Probably low iron, which is annoying. Other than that, it’s just a diet.

 

[pinkrose12121]

@dawn16 Maybe if you go from eating exclusively meat 3 times a day 7 days a week to lots of veg and fruits it transforms your life but if you ate somewhat healthy before I don't think you would notice a dramatic difference.

 

[dawn16]

@pinkrose12121 This is what I always tell people who ask - if you are eating like shit, ANY diet is going to make you feel great. There’s nothing particularly special about going vegan compared to any other strict diet (IMO)

 

[dcs]

@dawn16 You should be taking quality iron supplements and B12 too.

 

[dawn16]

@dcs Yea I do take them. I still feel lower energy than I did before

 

[dcs]

@dawn16 I would consult a good vegan dietician then. That shouldn’t be the case.

 

[sally77]

@dawn16

nergy than I did before

Same here, I feel sluggish moreso than before a vegan diet. I'm not sure what other factors it could be (maybe overexercise or lack of rest). Have you figured out what might be the cause for you?

 

[dawn16]

@sally77 I couldn’t say what the cause was, but I’ve just sort of adapted to it now. I think I’m at about the level I was before going vegan, it just took a while I suppose.

I think it mayyy have been because of a poor workout schedule and diet brought on by a stressful Uni degree. My energy is better now that I’m taking care of myself again.

 

[pinkrose12121]

@flyingforjesus I had it periodical. I had a period like some months into being vegan when if I drank coffee after 3 pm I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Now (almost 2 years in) it's back to normal. About same time I started exercising and I would never get sore no matter how hard (to my ability) I trained. It also lasted 3-4 months and then was back to normal.

I see no issues in feeling "normal". I also think feeling tired depends on what you eat (rice makes me sleepy), how well you sleep, possibly your hormones and and and. I find it much harder to have food comas tho.

 

[karlen]

@flyingforjesus the pitfalls of a vegan diet by dr klaper Is a good short video to watch, I’m sure everyone here knows him. You might be missing some nutrients, who knows

podcast with dr khan and rich roll towards the end they talk about longevity studies and how some fasting mimicking practices (I think he talks about eating 800 calories 5 days a month?) is what moves the needle for some people on a plant based diet.

Best of luck!

 

[dawn16]

@flyingforjesus 5 years vegan. No difference here, either. Cheers

 

[catherine_of_the_faith]

@flyingforjesus My health has improved considerably since I started, around 4 months ago, but before that my diet was horrible, mostly meat, some dairy and little of anything else for the first 35 years of my life.

I feel great now, both physically and mentally, but like someone else said literally any kind of diet would make me feel better, I just had no idea how badly my diet was affecting me.

I dived into the vegan diet for health reasons. About 2 years ago my digestive system just changed on me and I started needing the toilet with increased regularity and suddenly no stools were ever solid anymore. My guts were killing me so I went to the doctors, got an ultrasound and a sigmoidoscopy, but neither showed anything.

I was given imodium by the gastroenterologist on repeat prescription and pretty much sent on my way. While I questioned why I should have to take tablets the rest of my life and it wouldn't fix the root cause that was the end of my 'treatment'.

I could only draw my own conclusions as to why I kept getting inflammation. I thought it was dairy related, as I had always got a dodgy stomach after things like eggs, as well as milk and cheeses in large quantities, so I cut down on dairy. The problem was though, I loved everything dairy so I never cut it out completely. Over time things got progressively worse in spite of this cutting down and I kept getting diarrhoea almost every day, going to the toilet anywhere between 5 and 10 times a day, but things were worse the more dairy I consumed in a day. I experimented cutting specific things out as I carried on eating almost exclusively processed meats and other crappy food like crisps. At no point did I think that meat could be doing it to me, although I had a health check at work and my cholesterol was through the roof, so I knew in that way I had to cut down the amount of meat I was shovelling down.

The turning point came when I watched The Game Changers and it totally blew my mind and changed the way I thought about food. I bit the bullet and done a weekly shop with no meat or dairy. It wasnt the healthiest of vegan food, a lot of it was still crisps and processed stuff, but after one week I felt a million times better. To celebrate the effort I put in I went to McDonalds and got a double sausage mcmuffin breakfast (with no egg), I thought it was the greasiest shit ever and I got diarrhoea again. I was starting to realise that meat was also causing my digestive problems.

I decided to carry on with the vegan diet and had a couple of 'cheat days' here and there, but they always made me feel ill. A month in and I didnt even want to eat meat or dairy anymore. I didnt miss it at all.

I stopped taking the imodium, the inflammation was no more, I didnt get heartburn or acid reflux anymore. I feel less lethargic, mentally stronger and don't get that food coma sleepy stuffed feeling no matter how much I eat.

My case is very extreme, but I firmly believe that it shows that neither meat nor dairy are good for the human body in the long run, that the effects of meat and dairy are cumulative and that my condition getting progressively worse shows that eating them will take its toll on your body eventually, even if your diet is balanced. I have only how I FEEL and my own experience to back this theory though. I think if your diet was good before you switched I'm really not surprised you wouldn't really notice a difference, I think it would be too subtle. There are arguments against the vegan diet and some of the science presented in documentaries like the Game Changers, but the overriding aspect for me, is again, how I FEEL.