#b/c of foods I’ll have learnt I need to eliminate

[thesquireofcheddar]

Even when I finish my elimination diet, my eating will never be the same :(

[nourish--to-flourish]

My Thoughts on Veganism + Vegetarianism

Surprisingly not, I will not be hating on this lifestyle choice in this post. In fact, I commend anyone who can live well and healthily as a vegan or vegetarian. I wanna talk a little about my experience, as well as things I’ve learnt through countless research of my own.

I’ve seen alot of people that I follow and even know personally express how they went vegan/vego as a gateway to lowering their calorie intake and ultimately to lose weight. It is used quite often as a coverup to eliminate a large food group. If you’re someone that genuinely doesn’t eat animals or by-products because of philosophical reasons then disregard this post because this is a bit different. 

So to be honest, I’ve always been skeptical of the whole vegan thing and obviously due to how social media sort of portrays those “left wingers”, I never really took it all that seriously. Vegetarianism however I did; my uncle and aunt had been vego’s their whole life and I always thought it was pretty cool. And I 100% understand the concept of not eating it because of animal cruelty. That’s why I thought veganism was taking things a bit too far, in some regards. Don’t get me wrong - I think the industries that do awful things are well, awful. Who wouldn’t? I myself am lactose intolerant so I don’t even drink straight up milk anyways, but I do think the consumption of milk is cruel. I could drop some facts but I really don’t want vegan’s jumping in my ask and abusing me so I’ll move past that. Let’s talk about ME ;-)

My Experience

I went vegetarian in October of last year after watching one too many Netflix documentaries. I actually went pescatarian (I spoke about it in a previous post) which meant I still ate fish. Mostly because my mum wouldn’t let me go without meat unless I had fish at least twice a week, due to my preexisting eating problems. I also would kill a man for a can of tuna any day. It started off really good, I managed quite well because my mum made the most INCREDIBLY vegetarian meals. But we got lazy pretty quickly and soon dinner’s were just what mum and dad were having - but no meat. So basically roasted vegetables. The occasional bean/legume or sometimes seeds/nuts but calorifically speaking? Not a great deal. The veggies filled me up and I was content so I never felt starved, but my body took effect in about 2 weeks to a month.

The job I was working at the time had me on my feet, without breaks and honestly without food for up to 5 hours so sometimes all I’d eat was a protein bar in the bathroom as well as an ocean of lemon water. All I could eat at work (IF I had a break) was avocado toast. I started becoming so cold, lethargic and even stopped getting a period (TMI LMAO!). Being someone who was usually up and ready to begin the day and full of energy meant that I fell hard. Every time I stood up I got so lightheaded. In addition to my (at the time) walking craze - I’d be coming home from a walk around the block feeling like I needed a fluid drip, my hands numb almost blue and wanting to cry. Before you say anything, yes I ate enough! But getting rid of meat in any meal is removing a large calorific value of that meal as a whole. Long story short - my doctor told me to start eating meat again because my health was getting worse and worse. That night i went home and mum made me a chicken burger (it was also the night I took my fitbit off to this day) and started putting meat back in my diet. Things started to shift back into place immediately! I definitely regained my energy and colour back in my cheeks. I was super hesitant at first, and still struggle even now with certain types of meat as well as amount. When you go a certain amount of time without something (for me it was just over 2 months) you really have to get used to it again. I felt quite ill after eating meat until I got more adjusted to having it in my body again. Red meats are still a bit touch and go unless its something easy to stomach like mince. Chicken, turkey and fish remain my favourite meats which is great because they’re also super lean and healthy. 

What was I missing out on?

Despite the fact I was taking a vitamin B complex vitamin, vitamin C tab and caltrate daily; I still lacked a lot of vitamins. People always jump into thinking protein is something vegos’ miss out on. NOT the case. It was iron, calcium, vitamin B and all those vitamins that you really get from a lot of things but not enough from a cup of spinach and some chickpeas - sorry. Because at that point I refused to eat copious amounts of beans, grains and rice etc. I obviously started to become more and more deficient in those vitamins. Because I didn’t have a lot of dairy - my calcium lacked. Iron = meat, vitamins = meat, beans, grains. If I was someone that could eat those things without the fear and all that, I’d be a L I T vegetarian. I say that and not vegan because eggs are my favourite food. I have chickens of my own who are treated well so no cage abuse here lass!

My current stance

In a perfect world, humans and animals can live happily together and humans that can manage incorporating enough food to suffice for what a small amount of meat can do, can live healthily. I remember my doctor just blatantly saying to me something like this is just the world we live in, meat in the right amount does have what our bodies need, it’s just the circle of life. And I’ve always been one to preach that exact saying when faced with the concept of a meat free lifestyle - its just the circle of life. Yeah its shitty and unfair and whatever, but you know what else is? Natural disasters, poverty, bitcoin, the fact that some people kill other people. You can’t live in an incredibly flawed world but demand one aspect to be perfect if you’re comfortable with everything else remaining. Doesn’t mean its a case of “all or nothing”, more just that I think people leading those lifestyles should do it for that exact reason. Because they want to, not because they feel so painfully guilty that they should surrender something that seem’s to be a cherished trait in today’s society. I truly to this day can’t believe there are vegans that I KNOW PERSONALLY that tell people they can’t love their cat or dog if they’re still a meat murderer. My mind is BLOWN. It reminds me of white guilt, but like, meat guilt. If you feel bad, do your thing, on your own and for God sake don’t make other people feel bad about their choices because they differ from your own.