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Trying to Transition from Vegetarian to Vegan - Multiple Attempts

2K views 12 replies 10 participants last post by  River 
#1 ·
Hi all,

So, I'm new here and signed up, because I'm looking for some support and also insight. I've been vegetarian for a little over 3 years now. One of the best things I ever did for myself was give up meat. About a year ago I started experimenting with transitioning to fully vegan after educating myself more and discovered the horrors of the whole meat AND dairy industry. I would say I've flirted with it over the past year. Last year, I went a week eliminating dairy and eggs, and I felt amazing during it. Lighter and fresher. It was almost like my body was ready for me to make that change. Then I added it back in out of convenience -- and I'll admit for some indulgence reasons, too -- but still continued to eat less dairy and eggs. Then back in April I went about 8 weeks fully vegan. It went well overall. I had some detox symptoms at first, but after those started fading I felt good. Then one day I felt terrible -- like I was going to pass out, tingling in my leg, brain fog. In hindsight, I think I was dehydrated. I live in Arizona, so it's easy to happen. I had coffee that morning and a glass of wine with friends the previous night and didn't drink enough water. Anyway, it was scary and my neuroses took over, attributing it to my new veganism, and I ate an egg and actually felt a little better, which was weird to me, because I would think it would be the opposite. After that I decided to add eggs and some dairy back in and still felt good (health wise, that is, not so much ethically), but I actually felt more balanced.

I'm transitioning again. It's been about 2 -- almost 3 weeks -- with one exception (cheese in some nachos, which made me feel terrible. I find cheese makes me feel terrible but eggs don't). But, it's been about a week since then. So, I've been fully vegan for a week so far. I was feeling really good, and then tonight, a little before and then after dinner, I crashed. I felt really low energy, slight brain fog like I wasn't thinking clearly. I met friends at a pub and just felt out of it. Like I wasn't myself. It was weird.

I know nutrition is personal, and for a solid opinion I should see a veg-friendly doctor, but I want to stress that I know it's important to avoid processed vegan food, or at least limit it, and eat lots of whole grains and vegetables and fruits and beans. I have been doing that. I want to be vegan the healthy way. I do throw in maybe a frozen veggie burger every now and then, but for the most part I make veggies (esp. dark leafy) and whole grains (quinoa is my favorite) my main sustenance along with beans or tofu or tempeh, and fruit. So, here is what I ate today for an idea:

Breakfast: Steel cut oatmeal with banana, mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries), a tbsp of peanut butter
a B12 vitamin right before breakfast (I've been paranoid/neurotic about it. This was only my second time supplementing)
Lunch: A big vegan bowl of quinoa, kale, roasted sweet potato, chickpeas, carrots, avocado, and hummus (it was really good!)
Afternoon Snack: a plum and Ezekiel toast spread with avocado and hummus
Dinner: a veggie burger (store bought from Trader Joe's) and some steamed kale
Desert: vegan chocolate peanut butter cup I made (I've wanted to treat myself in the first week of transitioning)

A few hours after lunch and before the snack was when I started feeling off. The vegan food I've been eating isn't that bad. I also got plenty of sleep the previous night and felt really good up until the afternoon snack. I'm wondering if I need to eat more? I've felt full from these meals though and have reasonable portions. The problem isn't hunger but feeling like I'm crashing. Honestly, it's felt like the effects of some crash diet -- feeling super energized and then feeling awful. I'm just a little disappointed and am conflicted. I'm wondering if maybe it's detox symptoms? Or maybe it's some adverse affect from the B12 pill? (as in, I know they can give you energy, but then on the other end, do you come down and crash from it? Or is that out of left field?). I'm mainly trying to think of different possibilities that would cause this.

Driving home, I was thinking, I hate the way I'm feeling. Maybe I'll eat an egg tomorrow morning instead of my oats or the tofu scramble with veggies I prepared. I want to be vegan though, not just for the health benefits reported from it but also for so many ethical reasons (environmental and the disgusting animal cruelty prevalent in the entire industry). I'm not sure what I'm looking for out of posting this. Mainly any support or encouragement or any tips for transitioning (I know everyone's experience is different, so that may be difficult). Has anyone else felt like this when transitioning? Great energy and feeling your best and then crashing (while eating fairly healthily)?
 
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#2 ·
Yeah I get low energy sometimes, however it's always after running a calorie deficit for a while. I have no idea if that's what you're doing or not, but it's not too hard to do the math if you're really interested. I do find that if I eat "normally" how I would when I was omni I lose weight. I need to keep a few higher calorie snacks around me to maintain my weight now.

Other than that I am not sure. Maybe something is not agreeing with you, or perhaps you're missing something. I also find that if I do not get enough protein while I am doing some physically demanding things for a week that my muscles will start to feel....bad.

I don't think I have enough information to offer much more of an opinion, but I will mention one thing. I went from omni to vegan like three years ago and initially I felt pretty crap. It took a while for me to figure out what I needed to be eating to feel good, and from there I learned exactly what feelings were caused by what. And obviously what to eat to prevent me from getting that way in the first place.

Now the only times I don't feel great is when I don't eat properly because I am lazy. But hey I did the exact same thing as an omni as well so no change there :p
 
#3 ·
Personally I have done very well going from omnivore to vegan overnight and have not looked back, and so has my sister, but my mother struggled quite a bit with it and ended up going back to eating meat. I did witness her hair falling out. She has other health issues going on though and not only eats gluten free and mostly soy free but has diverticulitis and can not have nuts/seeds/fruit with seeds so I think she was limiting her food choices a lot which contributed to her issues.

Your diet looks pretty healthy to me. The only item I am noticing that is missing would be nuts and seeds (peanut butter is from the legume family). Those can provide some important omega 3s that eggs also provide. Perhaps that is what you are craving? I absolutely need to incorporate nuts and seeds into my daily diet. For example I make my own flaxseed milk in batches for the week, and include snacks like almonds or add walnuts, chia or sesame seeds to salads and so on. I just feel better and more focused and less hungry. On occasion I take a vegan DHA supplement but not all the time. I had my Mom try the supplement and take in ground flaxseed and it seemed to help stop her hair loss. She still feels bad even eating meat right now so I suspect her issues were not even related to being vegan.

Most likely, from my experience witnessing new vegans posting with the same types of feelings and issues, it is a matter of not eating enough. It is easy to feel full quicker eating whole grains and vegetables. I do see that you have added foods like avocado and hummus which might help. Also, there is a common misconception that vegans lack all kinds of nutrients in their diet and that you can easily become deficient and must be vigilant. I was the same way at first, trying to be perfect and worried I was missing this and that. After a while I relaxed and have enjoyed the awesome variety and creativity of the vegan diet. A vitamin or nutrient deficiency does not come easily and generally would come after months or even years unless you have some other underlying health issue that is causing the deficiency (ie malabsorption issues in the intestine etc). From what I understand, a deficiency of B12 usually does not happen right away because B12 can be stored in the body for a long time. Most vegans (and others) who are B12 deficient due to diet are long term people who did not supplement etc. It is wise to take a supplement though. I have had various free screenings and tests over the years as a vegan and everything was smack in the middle of normal range or excellent, almost all improved from omnivore and I was healthy then...hemoglobin, D, B12, LDL, HDL, glucose, triglycerides etc. My only test that became worse was my fourth DXA scan that showed severe bone loss but this is not due to a vegan diet as much as to other personal issues (I acquired osteoporosis as an omnivore many years ago for a variety of reasons). I do try to be more vigilant about my calcium and protein intake now though. But as I said, the mind is a powerful force and if you have lived most of your life believing a certain way...such as that you need milk for strong bones or that eggs are necessary in the human diet etc...then it can be hard to overcome those beliefs and trust a new way of living. I think that is why it seems to be harder for older people to transition. To ease my own mind I read a lot of books on general vegan nutrition and how to meet my nutritional needs as a vegan. Not the fad diet books like low fat high carb or raw diet and so on, just general vegan guides and so on.

Finally, do not be too hard on yourself. You may just be one of those people who needs to make the transition more slowly and figure things out as you go along. Sounds like you have made some great strides and I think that is awesome! Hope some others chime in here too!
 
#4 ·
Thank you both for your well thought out replies. I know I'm not looking for hard and fast nutrition advice, b/c nutrition is so personal, and am looking for any support and shared experiences. Thank you both for sharing your experiences/insights. When I went from omni to ovo/lacto vegetarian, I felt great immediately and never looked back, so maybe in my mind, I was hoping that's how it would be transitioning to vegan. Then again, I had been slowly phasing meat out of my diet for awhile until I made that final -- wonderful and life-changing -- decision. I think it's going to be about trial and error. That insight about Omega-3s may be the key. I ordinarily will eat nuts or seeds and like to put ground flaxseed in my steel cut oats or if I make a breakfast smoothie chia seeds, but I'm visiting my parents right now and it hasn't been on hand in the past week. Also staying on top of eating enough calories. It's true that I'm starting to have that same neuroses you had at first, too -- questioning, am I getting enough of this? I better eat a bunch of this, trying to be overly vigilant. I know that a vegan way of eating is nutritious when done right -- even more so than omni -- and it will be about testing out what works for me to get the full benefits. Please anyone else, please share any other experiences/insights!
 
#5 ·
Perhaps it would help you stay vegan if you concentrated less on how you felt and more on the good you're doing by not contributing to the horrible cruelty inherent in dairy and eggs. Obviously it's good to eat well and stay hydrated, but you seem almost fixated on how you feel at any given moment. Nearly everyone I know has afternoon slumps from time to time. Try eating more. Try taking your vitamin at night so you won't feel it while you sleep. Eat foods you like. Drink water. Get some exercise. Being vegan should be about abundance, satisfaction and health - and about compassion, empathy and peace. Enjoy! It's a wonderful lifestyle! Good luck.
 
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#6 ·
Coffee and alcohol doesn't help the pure state that you want to attain.
It could be good to look up food combining and practice it to better how you feel from what you eat also.
Need to gain a strong sense and adhere to what is good for us and not just what tastes good or our desires crave.
Maybe eating eggs may make you feel good but so would a shot of heroin or some cocaine for example but it doesn't mean it's good for you.
It can take a long time for the body to transition and there is some work to help the good energy to become routine, lots of exercise helps, fruits and also fruit and vegetable juices.
It can be hard to become or remain realized about the benefits that occur with a good diet change but they are there and it has to grasped constantly and isn't simple sometimes.
All skills require practice.
Talking about it like you did here is very important and that is why a lot of us are here and are trying to relate and trying to be a help.
Foods and its indulgence is addiction pretty much and an amount of struggle will always be there.
Even after decades we still need to find inspiration, knowledge and reasons to stay encouraged.
 
#7 ·
Your diet looks rather healthy, but as NB suggested, more nuts/seeds.. I would also suggest more fruit for that extra pump of energy. That's another thing, depending on your activity level you need to make sure you're taking in enough calories to maintain enough energy for your body.

Also, though everything you mentioned was healthy.. to me, it seems a bit heavy. Steel cut oats for breakfast, then a big bowl of quinoa and a veggie burger for dinner, which I'm assuming had a large bun. Personally, that would kind of drag me down.

I noticed feeling the best when I ate a lot lighter and more whole. There was a couple months I started to get bored of it, and began eating more processed foods, like veggie dogs & lunchmeats, some veggie patties on Ezekiel, and less wholesome foods.. That's when I started to feel the way you described and began to feel just BLAH.

So, in conclusion, keep it up! And I hope you're able to find what works for you.. but just keep experimenting with all the food options until you find what's right for you. I began eating vegan over night this past Feb and though I've been able to stick to it.. finding out what makes me feel the best has been a rollercoaster. Though, I believe now that eating as close to whole as I can and eliminating the processed food is where it's at to feeling and being the healthiest. Good luck on your journey.
 
#8 ·
Try a couple of veggie sausage patties for breakfast. They have protein, which might help you out.

Otherwise, Godspeed & Good Luck!!!!! :)
 
#9 ·
I am the lone vegan in my family, circle of friends and colleagues. This is very challenging for me because I am alone on this journey this healthy vegan lifestyle. What keeps me motivated is interacting on message boards such as this with like minded people and I also listen to podcasts, hit up youtube, read books etc. to further educate myself and staying motivated.

www.danbukowski.com
 
#10 ·
I am the lone vegan in my family, circle of friends and colleagues. This is very challenging for me because I am alone on this journey this healthy vegan lifestyle. What keeps me motivated is interacting on message boards such as this with like minded people and I also listen to podcasts, hit up youtube, read books etc. to further educate myself and staying motivated.

www.danbukowski.com
Dan -

I'm a "lone vegan" too....soon to be mostly Raw. My other family members are mostly veg*n. My daughter says that I can "have a little cheese" once in awhile. I have resisted, since cheese has as much, or more bad stuff in it than meat. I committed to being vegan, & I'm not going to do a half-hearted attempt at it.

If you were vegan for 8 weeks.....you can do it. We are bombarded with a lot of advertising from the Big Food companies. They make it sound like you're crazy if you don't eat their food. That translates into disease & medical bills later for you, profits for them.

Take it one meal at a time, day after day. Be committed to eating healthy & your life will be better for it.
 
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#12 ·
So, this is coming pretty late, but I want to thank everyone for their supportive, helpful replies. My main takeaway has been to try different foods and in different proportions, experimenting to find what makes me feel my best and healthiest. So, I've been in a transitional period where I'm about 80% vegan or so (kind of an arbitrary number, but if I would roughly quantify it). So, I'll have vegan days and those mostly comprise my week, but then for non-vegan days it's generally only one meal that's non-vegan (and absolutely no meat; I've been a vegetarian for 4 years now). And my plan is to slowly phase out those non-vegan days. I've also been trying new recipes and also have found support in my local community. I moved to AZ recently and found this amazing vegan restaurant:

http://www.pomegranatecafe.com/

So if I'm over-thinking things or feeling down, I'll go get a very delicious meal there. I just had their macro bowl and am feeling so balanced and right.

Anyway, my point is that I'm doing a whole lot better and thank everyone for their support.
 
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