I wanted to thank everyone here for being such an interesting and caring group of people. However, that being said, I have gone back to eating meat, and, as such, cannot continue to participate. I know that being omni is not a part of this board.

I will let you know why:

My mother went to see a Dr. a little while ago about some health issues. She recommended trying the Eat Right 4 Your Type (aka the blood type diet) to see if this changed the way that she felt. My Mom had instant positive results.

I have not felt particularly well this past year. My biggest problems are feeling completely fatigued nearly all of the time, gaining weight at a steady rate, and battling depression. I decided to look further into the Eat Right 4 Your Type theory and recommendations. To me, a lot of the science makes sense. I have gone back and forth about this for a while, as many of you know, however, what Dr. D'Adamo puts forth DOES make sense to me on a scientific level.

As a type O, it is recommended that I eat a diet high in meat and veggies and very low in carbs. I decided that, since I was commited to Veganism, I would simply eliminate as many of the "avoid" food items as I could, and increase as many of the non-meat "beneficial" food items as I could. The first thing that I did was to eliminate wheat, corn and potatos.

To make a long story short, I found out that I have a severe allergie to nearly all grains. This, in and of itself, is a good portion of what was causing me to feel ill. As I tried to add some grain alternatives back in, I realized that it is impossible for me to do so. I have severe itch reactions as well as asthmatic symptoms occur.

I have realized that, as much as I don't want it to be the truth, I am an individual that needs to eat meat in order to be healthy. I have added meat back into my diet, eliminated all starches except for rice (I can't eat nutritional yeast, soy sauce, tamari, miso and a score of other items because I have reactions to them. Soy is also questionable for me.). I eat veggies, meat, some fruits and some rice. I have lost 15 pounds in 2 weeks, I am no longer feeling sick and tired anymore, and I feel good enough to start eliminating my anti-depressants. Even my sex drive has improved.

I believe without any doubt that Dr. D'Adamo's Eat Right 4 Your Type is responsible for me feeling this good. I am going to continue to follow his recommendations and see how it all plays out.

I really value the people on this board, and I still believe in the rights of animals to a healthy, free life. Perhaps this goes against eating meat, but I must simply find another way to support animal rights. It is a contradiction, but as I get older, I find that contradictions seem to be the rule of life, not the exception.

I wish the best to all of you. I do not intend to post here again, as I believe that you all have the right to pursue your beliefs without input from those who participate in things that go against beliefs that are important to you.

Sincerely,

Rachel

Well, I'm sorry to see you go, Rachel, but you need to do what's best for yourself. Hey, if you don't treat yourself well noone else will! I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better and wish you a happy life. :)

Wow...really sorry to hear you're leaving, I always enjoyed your posts. Are you sure you just don't need an iron suppement or something??
You will be missed! :(

I'm really sorry to see you go Rachel :( I thought that you always had good advice. If you feel healthier and better eating meat, then I'm glad you're doing it :) And you can still support animal welfare and eat meat, IMHO.

I wish you all the best :hug:

Rachel, sorry you are leaving :( Are you sure even lacto-veg or ovo-lacto vegetarianism won't do? Anyway, I respect your desicion.

I hate to hear that you're leaving. I always enjoyed reading your posts; you seem insightful, thoughtful and very funny.

Lots of people I love and respect eat meat. It doesn't lessen my opinion of you at all (not that my opinion of you is so important, of course.) I certainly understand searching for a way to be healthy and to feel good, and I hope that things work out well for you.

Rachel,

I will miss your stories about your daughter, your opinions and your life experiences.

If you ever feel lonely, drop back or email me at kristadb@shaw.ca.

If I never talk to you again, all the best in your life.

Krista

How sad. I hope you do well and some day can do better without needing animals. Good luck and it was nice to have met you.

bye!

so long.

Hmmm...I'm not sure why you have to go. There are meat eaters here. Maybe you just feel a little uncomfortable? How about a just a few days off? :)

I don't get here often, but find your posts interesting. (Besides, you and Robert are the only ones who know the songs I post in the "Name that Tune" thread :D)

Good luck.

:cry:

I was going to leave out of respect to the community. I would like to stay, but I will only do so if it is not an offense to those here. I like the community a lot, and I intend to further the animal rights cause. I believe that I will be making a lot of money in the next few years, and my biggest goal is to use it to make the world a better place. Amnesty International is one of the places that I want to support very strongly. I also want to support animal rights.

None of this has anything to do with veggieboards. I would like to stay, but will not do so if it offend the members here. It is your decision. I just want to respect the feelings of the members here, and what they are supporting.

Please let me know what you would like for me to do. I will go with the majority that post here. Again, I like you all very much.

Well, I would like you to stay. It's not as if you are a negative force.
Omni or veg, you have expressed more compassion for animals here than most any other I've read.

:)

Staaayyy..................

I for one would like you to stay - I agree with Strix. Plus, you have spoken intelligently about so many subjects here.

To be frank, I don't buy the blood type diet. Science is not subjective. If may make sense to you, but it still is completely baseless (http://www.veg.ca/lifelines/janfeb/blood.htm) scientifically. The author is practicing pseudo science at best, as shown in the article I linked. The principles and workings of science as a tool are simple, and the blood type diet is clearly NOT science.

IMO you should not give up but continue to learn and research. I'm sure a vegan diet can be adequate for you. The author of the article I linked, Dr. Klaper, is the driving force behind the largest Vegan Health Study (http://www.veganhealthstudy.org/), one of the goals of which is to find out the reason for the FTT (failure to thrive) symptom encountered in some vegans despite a seemingly healthy diet and lifestyle. For a few hundred bucks, Dr. Klaper offers a complete and detailed health checkup incl. a one hour phone consultation. You might want to do this, since he is the authority on FTT in vegans, which seems to be your problem. (I'm not affiliated with him in any way, I'm just participating in the study myself)

Also, did you ever consider that this may be a psychological problem? You wrote several times that you love meat. Maybe all this time you felt (psychologically) deprived of something. This would also explain why you feel better now that you eat meat again.

I don't have a problem with you staying, why would I want you to leave? I disagree with what you wrote, "I believe that you all have the right to pursue your beliefs without input from those who participate in things that go against beliefs that are important to you." I certainly welcome input and discussion from ALL sides. (I just prefer firm scientific data. ;))

Also, I'm quite sure that if you stick around, you will go veggie again. :)

Personally, I have no problem with you staying. I never got to know you very well, but you always had good advice and whenever I saw a post of your's it was always worth reading. I respect your decision, though I may not agree with it, however if you're feeling healthier and happier, then that is what's important and I support that. Don't feel like you have to leave just because your diet is different- it doesn't mean your feelings towards animals or animal rights has changed, and you can still provide the same great advice! If, in the end, you do decide to go, you will be missed but it's your choice. :/

PLEASE...stttayyyy

I don't buy the blood type diet either. One of the recent books I read was a fan of that book though, and it almost convinced me to check it out, but then I researched more and realized not to bother. This author that follows the blood type diet also trains people and places things in their hands to see whether their body will be receptive to eating it or not.

Anyway, according to my "blood type", I'm supposed to be a dairy-lovin meat eater. No thank you, I feel much better without dairy and meat. And how does one cook for their family following that diet? Cook 4 different meals? Most of those diet books are unscientifically sound and just looking to make a buck at the expense of the health of their readers.

Here's some articles I quickly whipped up on a Google search, most agreeing there's no scientific basis for this diet:
http://www.acu-cell.com/btd.html
http://www.dieting-review.com/bloodtype.htm
http://www.vegsource.com/articles/blood_hype.htm
http://www.earthsave.org/news/bloodtyp.htm
http://www.no-diet.com/blood-type-diet.htm

I believe you that you might feel better, but I also believe there is another reason.

Having said that, I'd encourage you to stay here. We all have omni friends and family, we have to all learn to live together. Best of luck in whatever you decide!

Trust me, I have read the pros and cons of the ER4YT, and I went in as someone who did not think that it could make that much of a difference. That being said, I AM an adult, and I am a person who is very aware of their body. In fact, it amazes me that I could have missed this grain issue as a problem for so many years. I cannot and will not argue with Dr. D'Adamo's research and subsequent health advise, only because it has been nothing short of a miracle for me.

I have craved meat, and I am still very uncomfortable with the whole issue of eating meat vs. animal rights. I am not sure that I will ever be able to resolve this dichotomy within myself.

I am happy to stay. I really am. Again, I just don't want to offend the veg*ns here as this really is YOUR space. That being said, I really don't want to debate the validity of ER4YT, as I am unable to debate it in any supported form except to say that I know how I feel.

Oatmeal, you are one of the people that I respect the most. You represent to me people that I don't want to disrespect or violate. I have come to see some of who you are, and I will not offend that.

I know that the ER4YT is pseudo science to many. As most of you know who have read my posts, I believe in, if nothing else, the concept of living in the relative. What is put down as science one day is false the next, and an idea that is so offending that it results in the lynching of the person who puts for the idea, becomes a theory that is set in stone later. (Very interesting article on gravity that touches upon this in this months Discovery magazine).

I do not believe that my deductions and reactions are psychosomatic. I can feel the itching starting and work backwards to figure out what grain might have been in the food that I just consumed. Nothing could be more clear than eating a cup of spelt pasta and being unable to breath when I ran the next day. These reactions are very clear, and I can see that this is what must be for me.

Perhaps if I was a younger and more idealist person, I would just go raw, and that would take care of it. However, I have a lot of stuff going on in my life, including a business on the verge of explosion, a 5 year old who has a very full schedule, and a husband upon whom I cannot rely to pick up the slack. I have to do what benefits my health in the best way that I can, and this seems to be it. I wish that it wasn't so, but then again, if wishes were horses, then beggers would ride. ;)

I was going to completely go away, but I guess that I will stick around a while. If anyone takes objection to that, please let me know. Again, I feel that, in many ways, the veggieboards are YOUR place. And that is important to me.

I read was a fan of that book though, and it almost convinced me to check it out, but then I researched more and realized not to bother. This author that follows the blood type diet also trains people and places things in their hands to see whether their body will be receptive to eating it or not.

I know that that sounds bizarre, but I have had 3 people come into my life who have had very successful results from that exact type of treatment. It's very strange, but I do think that there is much more to our bodies than meets the eye. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't known someone who experienced this ANDsome even stranger things using just that type of "asking your body" approach to healing. Very amazing.

Anyway, according to my "blood type", I'm supposed to be a dairy-lovin meat eater. No thank you, I feel much better without dairy and meat. And how does one cook for their family following that diet? Cook 4 different meals?

Most bloodtypes are a common link in families. My Mom is type A. My husband is type O, so my daughter must also be type O. The most complicated would be a family where one of the parents was AO and one was BO. In that case, there would be a lot of different meals going on. However, that is very uncommon.

In my families case, I don't prepare meals, so it's no problem at all!!!! ;)

I am glad you decided to stick around. I enjoy your posts. One of my good friends was a vegetarian for 6 years and recently went onto that sort of diet you have. She does feel better, and she is also still open to vegetarianism and animals. Good luck!

I have found the resident (long-term) omnis to be far more open-minded and tolerant than some of the extremist vegans. As such, they make for better conversation. Even as a vegan you were open-minded and well-written, never offensive and I doubt that you will change now that you're omni again. Please stay. It's nice to have differing perspectives...

Stay stay stay!
I love reading your posts! They are always (long) and informative!!!
They rock!!!!
Stay stay stay!!!!