For about 4 months now I've been eating an almost-vegan diet. I eat healthy, or at least I thought I did. I swear, though, every month I get sick enough to miss at least a day of work. I don't want to go back to eating eggs and dairy, and I won't go back to eating meat, but I am at a losss as to why I keep getting sick. Anyone have a similar experience?

Is it possible you are not getting enough b-12? For me, this is something I always seem to forget about supplementing (and I do eat eggs and dairy) and I find myself sick, irritable...sometimes I even get dizzy and have anxiety attacks. I start taking b-12 again for about two weeks, and I start to notice I feel better. Its not that a vegan diet can't be healthy- but I think that you do have to watch what you eat, eat the right things, and take some supplements if you don't eat everything you need. :)

There are many reasons why someone eating a typical vegan diet could get sick often. One of course is the possibility that your not getting enough nutrients "aka" enough food. You may need to eat more because most foods would have alot of healthful vitamins and minerals but be very low calorie. Prolonged calorie depravation can have disastarous consequences. Your body utilizes the vitamins, nutrients, minerals and calories to support various funtions in the body, including the immune sytem. Other possible reasons are food allergies that you accumulated during your time as a "regular" food eater. Harsh chemicals and toxins are in aprox. 90% of non organic foods, ex. sodium benzoate, titanium dioxide, propylene glycol, sodium nitrate, disodium EDTA, monosodium glutamate and around 4,000 other dangerous chemicals. Get into the habit of looking up all ingredients you are not familiar with by putting them into a search engine and researching them from there. But be warned you may not like the results. Believe me I was truly shocked. What about environment? Is the air clean were you live? Highly doubtful. Air pollutants are a major cause of sickness. Another factor may be handed down genes. I'm sure there may be many who disagree but just think about generations of families who were set in there ways on how they ate. Would you disagree that decades of eating habits by your mother and fathers decendents would have some type of effect on DNA and molecular structure of future offspring? Does anyone start (a new) anymore? Another case is that you may be too acidic. Your Ph level should be close to neutral. In any case here are some key words you should thoroughly research if you really want to know whats going on in your body. "dangers of food additives and preservatives" "food allergies" "air pollutants" "pesticides" "acid-alkaline balance" "drinking water safety" "dangers of diet sodas" among others. Go organic! Take your multivitamins! Good luck!

What kind of sickness? Maybe you're not washing your hands enough.

"Is it possible you are not getting enough b-12?"
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From what I've read, the body can have a store of B-12 for years even after entering a period of getting none of it. So if that's true it probably wouldn't do anything after 4 months. I'm not saying you should not worry about getting enough as after a long time it could lead to big problems so getting some steadily all the time is good.

Perhaps it is some other minerals that are needed regularly that you are now missing. Perhaps you shuld take a vitamin to make sure ( most omnis do this so why not vegans ... many omnis have vitamin deficiencies so I don't think vegans should feel it's a sign of vegan diet being bad if they take a suppliment).

I drink chocolate soy drink I've found that is cheaper than what I was getting before so now I drink quite a bit. I'm getting all of a handful of vitamins I need (including B12 ) just from that.

Perhaps it's something you are now eating which your body doesn't take well to.

Anyway , it would help to know what you mean by sick.

Thanks for the tips. I hadn't been taking my miltis. GUess I'lldig 'em out and see if it makes a difference.

i think it would more likely be not getting enough nutrients aka calories or protein. that is the only thing i can see causing a sickness right away after transitioning and recurring.