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Some People CAN'T Be Vegetarians?

25K views 165 replies 84 participants last post by  Jasminedesi16 
#1 ·
I was talking to a woman today who told me she had tried twice to be a vegetarian and both times she had ended up in the hospital. She said she developed pancreatitis as a result of vegetarianism and she thought it is just not for everyone. I find this hard to believe and wonder if there wasn't some other factor (perhaps she ate more unhealthy as a vegetarian). I don't really know though and would like to hear what people have to think about this.
 
#4 ·
Some people can't be vegan - but it's an extremely, extremely rare genetic disorder where their bodies don't produce enough cholesterol. And even then, there is synthetic cholesterol, though egg yolks are supposed to work better.

I can't think of one reason a person couldn't be vegetarian. Maybe my imagination is limited.
 
#5 ·
I've been thinking about this kind of thing today. It's possible to be vegetarian, but eat only garbage like potato chips and ice cream. I think it would be easy for a person uneducated about balanced veg meals to fail to get proper nutrition. I have no idea if this is the case with this particular woman, but without more info, it's hard to tell if it's a genetic issue or an implementation issue.
 
#6 ·
I think she is probably eating an unhealthy diet.

Quote:
Pancreatitis Causes

Alcohol abuse and gallstones are the two main causes of pancreatitis, accounting for 80%-90% of all cases.

The remaining 10%-20% of cases of pancreatitis have various causes, including the following:

* medications,

* exposure to certain chemicals,

* injury (trauma), as might happen in a car accident or bad fall leading to abdominal trauma,

* hereditary disease,

* surgery and certain medical procedures,

* infections such as mumps (not common),

* abnormalities of the pancreas or intestine, or

* high fat levels in the blood.

In about 15% of cases of acute pancreatitis and 40% of cases of chronic pancreatitis, the cause is never known.
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/pancr...s/page2_em.htm
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by GryffinSong View Post

I've been thinking about this kind of thing today. It's possible to be vegetarian, but eat only garbage like potato chips and ice cream. I think it would be easy for a person uneducated about balanced veg meals to fail to get proper nutrition. I have no idea if this is the case with this particular woman, but without more info, it's hard to tell if it's a genetic issue or an implementation issue.
I've met some "ex vegetarians" that ended up in the hospital. The conversation always seems to go like this:

Them: Oh I tried to be vegetarian but I ended up sick and in the hospital

me: Wow. How did that happen?

Them: Well I got sick from only eating plain salads and fries everyday.

Me: What about beans, grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, etc? Weren't you eating those?

Then I go on to list the bizillion vegetarian foods and options out there and the response is always "Oh well I never thought about any of that stuff". So yeah basically it always came down to the person being totally uneducated about a vegetarian diet and their health suffering because of lack of knowledge.

Maybe there is some sort of medical/genetic issue that prevents people from being vegetarians but from my experiences from the people I've talked to so far it's always been because of poor diet.
 
#10 ·
One girl told me her hair fell out when she went vegetarian. I guess. I don't know about that kind of stuff. Honestly there is nothing magical about meat. It's an easy way to get some of the things our body needs but if you are getting those things from other sources guess what - your body doesn't know the difference.
 
#13 ·
since I work in dialysis, I know that if a person was on dialysis, it would be very difficult to follow a veg diet....there would be a lot of restrictions on the vegetables and fruits that are allowed to be eaten. So many foods affect potassium, sodium, and phosphorus.....I would have really hard time following the diet......and the dieticians are always encouraging eating more red meat of course, to up the iron levels in the blood, and to up the albumin.....

This is only one situation I would know of.
 
#14 ·
I am not sure about this....I am sure for some people from a health aspect its possible.....I CANT be Vegan....I have tried three times in the almost 21 years I have been Veg and each time I got sicker and sicker........I am not going to judge anyone cause this could be real.....

peace
 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Photojess View Post

since I work in dialysis, I know that if a person was on dialysis, it would be very difficult to follow a veg diet....there would be a lot of restrictions on the vegetables and fruits that are allowed to be eaten. So many foods affect potassium, sodium, and phosphorus.....I would have really hard time following the diet......and the dieticians are always encouraging eating more red meat of course, to up the iron levels in the blood, and to up the albumin.....

This is only one situation I would know of.
My mom was on dialysis. I couldn't believe all of the food restrictions she had and I don't think that she could have been a vegetarian even if she wanted to. I have a hard time believing that an otherwise healthy person would get sick because of following a balanced veg*an diet.
 
#17 ·
If a person says they can't be a vegetarian because it causes health problems, ask them if that was their doctor's conclusion or their own. I think most of the time it is someone attempting to do a self-diagnosis based on misinformation.
 
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#18 ·
I have PCOS which requies me to carefully watch my starchy veggies and grains. I also have a history of kidney stones, for which I am recommended me to stay away from food that are high in oxolate, which is many of my favories veggies. There was a time when I used this as an excuse to resume an omni diet. Eventually I woke up and realized I was fooling no one, especially not myself. I resumed a veg*n diet and have never felt better. I must admit that I do not watch my oxolate intake like I should (I'm sorry but I am not giving up healthy things like leafy greens and sweet potatoes!), but I combat this by drinking a ton of water.

IMO, the majority of people with stories like this are making excuses (like I was). It might be more challenging for some people than others, but it is not impossible. And there is no way in hell anyone will convince me that a healthy veg*n diet caused pancreatitis. NO WAY!
 
#19 ·
Most of the ex-veggies at my school ate meat again because they said they got really sick and their doctors told them to. One of the girls lived off of protein bars pretty much.... I got scared at first, since they were veggies for a short amount of time before they got sick, but now at 3 healthy months I think they just had awful diets.
 
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Earthling View Post

99% of the time it's an excuse, or the result of a very poorly planned diet (i.e. the chips and soda kind of vegetarian).
^^This.

I've been getting frustrated lately with the "excuse" crowd when they have said they are compassionate toward animals. If someone truly believes something is wrong and yet will not put the tiniest amount of time and research into being a part of the solution, nothing I can say to them is going to make any difference at all. *grrumble**
 
#22 ·
And you notice it's always so vague like "my brother's aunt's sister's cousin's dog's friend's brother's baker's son went vegetarian and all his hair fell out" or "...and she died of protein deficiency" or "...she got really weak and collapsed one day and split her head open and got 10 billion stitches and it got infected and then she died all because she didn't eat bacon".
 
#23 ·
This has been such an eye opener for me.. I think because I am half Indian (so my all my Indian family has been vegetarian all their lives) and because I have been vegetarian since the age of 5, I only knew of the vegetarian diet and never knew people thought it could be unhealthy. The first time I realized some people really thought this was when my husband's parents found out I was veggie. I always tell people: if the vegetarian diet makes so many people ill, then how come so many Indians have been vegetarians for centuries and haven't gotten sick then?
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Earthling View Post

And you notice it's always so vague like "my brother's aunt's sister's cousin's dog's friend's brother's baker's son went vegetarian and all his hair fell out" or "...and she died of protein deficiency" or "...she got really weak and collapsed one day and split her head open and got 10 billion stitches and it got infected and then she died all because she didn't eat bacon".
I canNOT tell you this how many times I've gotten the shocked look and "OH MY! Where do you get your protein from?????" *gasp* I sometimes think that I'm expected to be a walking nutritional guide and if I can't provide an list to their liking, then by gum, they certainly couldn't make this work. oye!
 
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dutchvegan View Post

This has been such an eye opener for me.. I think because I am half Indian (so my all my Indian family has been vegetarian all their lives) and because I have been vegetarian since the age of 5, I only knew of the vegetarian diet and never knew people thought it could be unhealthy. The first time I realized some people really thought this was when my husband's parents found out I was veggie. I always tell people: if the vegetarian diet makes so many people ill, then how come so many Indians have been vegetarians for centuries and haven't gotten sick then?
History should show them that people started getting ill when their diets became so unnatural.
 
#26 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Earthling View Post

And you notice it's always so vague like "my brother's aunt's sister's cousin's dog's friend's brother's baker's son went vegetarian and all his hair fell out" or "...and she died of protein deficiency" or "...she got really weak and collapsed one day and split her head open and got 10 billion stitches and it got infected and then she died all because she didn't eat bacon".
That made me laugh out loud.
 
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