You may want to look into the Jains of India if you would like to read about long term ancient vegans.


Anyway, I've been vegan for over a decade and I am fine. Some here have been vegan for their whole lives, and are fine. I think veganism can work for every human on this planet with access to well balanced foods.

 

I am 56 and my husband and I have been vegan about a decade and vegetarian a few years before that. My now 22-year old son has been vegan since he was about 11 or 12, vegetarian before that. None of us has been sick in a long time, even head colds are very uncommon.

We eat a variety of whole foods: grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits. And fun stuff, like vegan brownies and pizza. We are all normal weights.

ETA: We take a sublingual B12, and my husband supplements lysine. I take a Vitamin D2 as I found my levels were low.

 

Hi Lima. :hi:

I've been vegan about 20-years- I don't have the exact date- and was vegetarian a couple of years before that, since 1992. I'm 64 and doing great! Just a few weeks ago, I had some bloodwork done (first time ever,) and my doctor is basically amazed at how healthy I am, says the majority of her patients don't even come close to being in the shape I'm in. I see so many people my age deteriorating into invalidity, on walkers, confined to wheelchairs, while I'm out scooting around town on my bicycle.

I hope this helps.

 

23 years vegan, 1 year vegetarian. I'm 62 and my doctors are impressed with my bone density, cholesterol, etc. I take high doses of iron+multivitamin because I have been iron deficient since I was 8. My body simply does not utilize iron properly. I also take hawthorn for a congenital heart valve problem that seems to have disappeared since taking the hawthorn. (But I continue to take it.)

I don't know what the explanation is for vegans whose health improves when they return to eating some kind of meat (whether land- or water-life). Perhaps it's a sort of placebo effect. Perhaps there are those whose bodies really do need something found in flesh. I've known two people who return to eating water-life and swear they feel better and that their health problems either eased or went away. I figure anything is possible.

And as hard as it is for me at times, I try to remember that all any of us can do is the best we can in our unique circumstances.

 

It'll be 31 years for me this Summer. I feel great! I do take B12, and probiotics (probiotics to help my skin.) I think a great many people, vegan or no, eat a very unbalanced diet. I also think that Everly has a point about the placebo effect, vegans are told so often that are diets can't possibly be healthy. Maybe some people start to believe it.

 

You're right about there not being any culture that embraces complete plant based eating, however, there are many individuals who've been raised, even from conception, as vegan.
Here's a wonderful blog of life long vegans. Check the older pages as well:

http://thevegantruth.blogspot.com/2012/12/vegans-since-birth.htm

 

That is a broken link for me
[Fixed Link]

 

I've been a vegan for 23 years, and the doctors always pronounce me healthy.

Actually, it HAS been well-established that properly-planned vegetarian and vegan diets are healthy. Please see the statements below, made by very reputable health and medical organizations:

The American Heart Association makes this statement regarding the health of vegetarians:

"Many studies have shown that vegetarians seem to have a lower risk of obesity, coronary heart disease (which causes heart attack), high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and some forms of cancer."
Link to this statement: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/Vegetarian-Diets_UCM_306032_Article.jsp#

The American Diabetes Association makes this statement regarding vegetarian diets:

"A vegetarian diet is a healthy option, even if you have diabetes. Research supports that following this type of diet can help prevent and manage diabetes. In fact, research on vegan diets has found that carbohydrate restrictions were not necessary and still promoted weight loss and lowered participants' A1C"
Link to this statement: http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/planning-meals/meal-planning-for-vegetarians/

Kaiser Permanente (one of the largest health insurance companies in the United States) makes the following statement regarding plant-based diets:

"Research shows that plant-based diets are cost-effective, low-risk interventions that may lower body mass index, blood pressure, HbA1C, and cholesterol levels. They may also reduce the number of medications needed to treat chronic diseases and lower ischemic heart disease mortality rates. Physicians should consider recommending a plant-based diet to all their patients, especially those with high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or obesity."
Link to this statement: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662288/

Like you, I've read people's claims that they became sick as vegans, and then miraculously recovered when they returned to omnivorism. There is a common explanation for this. One of the biggest mistakes that vegans make (even experienced vegans) is not eating enough calories. This mistake is easy to make, because vegan staples (beans, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables) are low in calories compared to meat (even lean meat). Not eating enough calories will result in fatigue, unhealthy weight loss, mental slowness, and greater susceptibility of illness. If these people then add meat to their diet, they are adding hundreds of calories that their bodies were desperately lacking - voila, a "miraculous" recovery! However, the problem was lack of calories, not lack of nutrients.

 

Hi there :hi:

I have been vegan for a number of years and it has been great

A vegan diet can definitely work for everyone

To stay healthy you need to make sure that you get enough vitamins and minerals from fortified plant-based milks, products containing fortified flour or vitamin tablets. If you want to avoid these things for whatever reason, you can technically get all of the vitamins and minerals that you need from vegetables - especially green leafy ones

 

Thanks so much everybody,

There is loads here for me to think about and it's all very interesting. I honestly think that we humans know and understand so little of our own physiology and nutritional science is still in its infancy.... I'd be interested to know what you think of this guy's argument that veganism hasn't 'proved itself' by lasting through generations....

Sorry I'm not trying to wind anybody up, just I'm so fascinated by the different views people have on this topic. Personally I ahve always struggled to completely give up dairy. I do think there's a strong argument for the placebo effect though, and I think the calorie deficiency is also a very important consideration.
Thanks for your views and comments - really really helpful

 

What a sham! NO modern society has a diet like the tribal societies he's referring to!
We do have enough research to know the damage of our modern diets.
So often ex-vegans and vegetarians (Lienne Keith, Weston Price) love to preach the benefits of eating completely free range, grass eating animals, along with a majority of frutits and veggies. First off, no one ever seems to notice the minimal amount of meat, or lack of dairy in the diets they extoll. Second, the idea of free grassland animals is a pretty pie in the sky idea. I've heard this kind of environmental arguement from so many people who may have bought organic grass fed beef once in their lives, their most important consideration being the price and wanting it cheap.

Unless this guy extolls giving up our homes, our premade everything, transportation etc, and taking up bows and spears to get out fresh food.....

BTW, algae is a very plentiful source of both DHA and EPA
B12 is easily formulated vegan
and humans formulate their own complete proteins.
and a vegan diet has as much variation as omnivore.

 

Well, meat eating "diet" hasn't exactly proved itself the best way (cholesterol, hyper-tension, heart attacks...).
Also, you can't compare the amount of vegan food that existed back during the tribes' times he talked about, and the amount of vegan food that exists now. Nowadays, it's perfectly possible to lead a healthy vegan life-style.
I would also like to know why exactly he needs to find a 4th generation vegan. Why isn't finding a vegan family of 3 generations enough for him to prove that you can be vegan and healthy.

 

Also, you can't compare the amount of vegan food that existed back during the tribes' times he talked about, and the amount of vegan food that exists now. Nowadays, it's perfectly possible to lead a healthy vegan life-style.

Exactly!

 

I got the impression the guy in the vid didnt actually read Weston Prices book.
Price did not compare low meat diets with high meat diets, he compared traditional whole food diets with highly refined industrial diets. When reading price its essential to keep the historical context in mind, science had only discovered about 6 vitamins and food fortification had not been implemented but it was the dawn of the second industrial revolution and so people all over the world could live on unfortified white flour, white rice, white sugar, jams, and feedlot lard. What Price documented was the nutritional consequences. When food fortification was implemented most of those diseases of deficiency went away and the modern diseases of excess took their place.
I found it amusing that he used B12 as a excuse to call veganism unsustainable within a few breaths of mentioning Winston Price. Price described peruvian populations in extremely good 'physical and moral' health who, for thousands of years, had been importing DHA and iodine food supplements to 'keep their women fertile' and prevent iodine deficiency goiter, respectively.

 

I got the impression the guy in the vid didnt actually read Weston Prices book..

The Weston A. Price Foundation claims to promote the nutritional recommendations of Weston Price. The WAPF promotes diets that are high in meat, lard, cheese, butter, and other sources of saturated fat. They actively discourage and criticize vegan diets.

Here is the opening statement on the WAPF website:

"They are happy because they eat butter! They also eat plenty of raw milk, cream, cheese, eggs, liver, meat, cod liver oil, seafood, and other nutrient-dense foods that have nourished generations of healthy people worldwide! Learn more about the foods that support radiant health for your family."
Link: http://www.westonaprice.org/

The Weston A. Price Foundation is led by president Sally Fallon. Here is a photo of Sally Fallon. Not looking too healthy.

 

Wow, again thank you people, you make such a lot of sense.
I'm really going to lay my cards on the table here and hope nobody will judge me. The thing is I'm a long term anorexic, I hate it, and I hate the fact that people try to associate veganism with anorexia. In my opinion they are two completely unrelated things and it's quite possible to be vegan, or anorexic, or either, or both! But there is not (necessarily) and causal association. (I say necessarily because there might be some people who use the vegan diet as an excuse to restrict, I can't speak for everybody)

Anyway, I have been told by conventional dieticians that a) I'm using veganism as an excuse to restrict - which I don't regard as true - but more importantly b) that I can't recover from anorexia or gain weight (at a decent and healthy speed anyway) on a vegan diet.

Any opinions or advice? again, I'm really sorry if this topic has already been raised and resolved thousands of times, please do flag/delete/remove this post if it's inappropriate.

Many thanks
xxxx

 

It is true many people use vegan as an excuse to limit eating. That's wrong, they should never be linked.
Just before making the switch from whole food vegetarianism into vegan I met a very overweight woman who had been vegan many years. I was really surprised as she talked about cooking, and baking, her diet didn't seem to limit anything, yet was animal free. She even talked about not using things like palm oil that indirectly kills so many.
Anyway, vegan can be healthy and whole, processed and high calorie and a good mix of both.
Vegan eating should never be about calorie restriction, but for those who do NEED to lose, you can get all your nutrients from whole food eating. The best way being to eat the number of calories for your ideal weight and let it take it course. If say your ideal weight would need 2500 calories and you're currently eating 4000, simply be eating 2500 will get you there and you stay there.

 

How long have you been vegan for? How long have you suffered from anorexia? They are indeed not related, but I wonder which came first... What does your doctor say about the cause of your anorexia! Surely working on the psychological cause would relieve symptoms and help you get better?

 

One of the most common misconceptions is that vegans are unusually thin. The truth is that you can gain weight at a decent and healthy speed without using animal products. Some higher calorie vegan foods are nuts, seeds, fruit juice and avocado.

 

Please check out this website:

http://www.mercyforanimals.org/vsg.pdf

I love the quote from Erykah Baddu-
"Vegan food is soul food in its truest form. Soul food means to feed the soul."

Eat what your body needs. Respect yourself first and everyone benefits

 

Another thing--ever notice how when people argue about the ancestral diet including meat they forget to mention the abundance of insects that were the primary meat source? And how many cultures did not include dairy?

 

Thanks everyone
to reply - I have been anorexic for 15 years. I have been trying to go vegan, on and off, fot he past few months but never been able to do it fully. I can easily go without cheese and eggs but it's just the fiddly bits like whey powder in biscuits, and milk in tea e.g. when I'm in a situation where no milk substitute is available. I'm getting better at herbal teas though. I still haven't been able to replace yoghurt. I do love yoghurt,and I don't like soy yoghurt.
I eat a LOT of nuts and PB, but they don't seem to put weight on me at all. I don't get on with banana based smoothies, though I've tried many times..... I hate cooking, I'm a terrible cook, so I tend to eat a lot of toast and houmous. I know I ought to have more variety especially if I go vegan. Also I really don't have much money so things like avocados are pretty expensive.
Thank you for the link to the pdf, it made me much more optimistic about veganism. I guess my main worry is explaining myself to other people. If I say I'm vegan people would take one look at me (pretty emaciated, to be truthful) and think 'vegan? whatever. anorexic more like'. OK, yes I'm anorexic but I don't want to be. Vegan I do want to be. NOT the same thing!
thanks for all the help

 

I'm not a good cook by any standards, but I've started cooking one pot meals and you can't go wrong with those. You just literally put lots of chopped veg and lentils or pearl barley in a big pot cover with some veg stock and leave it to cook for about 40 mins. It will last you a few days. To add more calories add rapeseed oil. Eat it with bread and soya spread to fill you up more. It really is easy.

I don't know where you are but in the uk places like lidl and Arab shops sell very cheap fruit and veg. As for milk in tea that's such a minor irritation, have a back up with plant based milks at home, they usually keep out of the fridge until opened. Tea and coffee out can be done with soya milk, most coffee shops do soya milk now, if not have herbal tea or fruit juice or smoothie.

Smoothies can be done with lots of different fruits and veg, doesn't have to have banana in it

 

Some plant foods are very high in calories. Nuts contain at least 800 calories per cup. However, if you don't chew your nuts thoroughly, they are unlikely to help you with weight gain.


Are you participating in therapy to address the underlying causes of your eating disorder?

 

Brilliant Moz, thank you I will try the one pot idea. I'm thinking maybe I ought to try and find a cookery class or something to encourage me to get going in the kitchen. Only problem with the fruit based smoothie thing is I need to whack some fats and etra calories in there somehow. I have tried nut butters in smoothies but it tastes really weird to me. makes them go kind of floury.....

Hi David, interesting what you say about chewing nuts and weight gain.....why would that be? As regards therapy, I've been in and out of treatment for over a decade, none of it has helped (I did see a brilliant vid on you tube the other day which might prove to be a turning point, but that's a whole different story) the trouble is, the way these things are addressed (at least on the nhs here in the UK) is that a person suffering from an eating disorder is considered to be unable to engage in therapy - basically cos the brain is under nourished and not capable of thinking clearly - until he or she has reached a certain BMI threshold. So bluntly, until I weigh more, I won't be offered therapy. To be honest it doesn't bother me much because I don't have much faith in it anyway. But I'm getting off topic.

The thing is I just need to eat more, whatever it is. Vegan food is fine as long as I eat enough of it!

As ever, thank you so so much.

 

I do add peanut butter to my smoothies I think it makes them more interesting, also have you tried nutritional yeast? I add it to my smoothies and soups and stews, it adds calories and nutritional value to food.

 

Hi Lima, I hope it is ok if I chime in here. I have been vegan only four years, not that long term, but I have been very successful and love being vegan for many reasons. I have a long history of anorexia nervosa and binge/purge tendencies also and battled that for years before becoming vegan. Becoming vegan for me was never about restriction or part of my ED, except that at the time I became vegan I had been exploring issues of world hunger, having come into a period of recovery and wanting to look beyond my own struggles, and that brought me to veganism and ethics. I have been able to gain over 22 lbs as a vegan and get to a normal healthy weight for my height, age, and body. In fact I came much further in recovery as a vegan than the many years I was extremely underweight and sick as an omnivore. I too went through eating disorder treatments and used to see a dietician that specializes in eating disorders, even vegetarianism, and none of that helped. I had to be ready in my own way and on my own time. That is not to give veganism credit for my recovery because as I said my ED is mostly separate. I came further in recovery because I was and am at a point in my recovery that I was ready to move past the point where I was stuck for years in fear. I also have severe osteoporosis that worsened according to my fourth DEXA scan I had last year and it pushed me to really go from safe middle ground to a healthier and better place. It was very hard and I still struggle with accepting where I am now. But I also feel stronger and have made accomplishments in the last year I only dreamed of for many years. I finally finished school at the age of 42 and earned a certification and full time job.

I have been relatively healthy as a vegan with the exception of my osteoporosis, but that is something I had for many years before becoming vegan. It worsened from being underweight for too many years, and from losing my ovaries at the age of 33 in 2005 (this is what set off my ED because surgical menopause was so traumatic for me). I was worried that as a vegan maybe I wasn't getting enough bone building foods in my diet, and also because of restriction of food intake in general. I have worked very hard to include more calcium and other bone building foods in my diet regularly. It also meant I had to eat more to meet my needs.

I too had a hard time giving up yogurt. I could not tolerate dairy as an omnivore and already avoided it for years because it made me sick. That trait runs in my family. But Greek yogurt, plain, I could handle and I used to eat that daily. In fact as an omnivore I loved it because I could get loads of protein and calcium for only a few calories. Vegan yogurt doesn't do much for me either, is too sweet and runny. What I discovered that I love is tofu pudding. I will crumble some extra firm or silken tofu in a blender, add a banana, some cocoa powder, a pinch of salt and a sweetener, just a pinch, like maple syrup or turbinado sugar. I blend until creamy. It is very thick, not too sweet, and has a texture similar to Greek yogurt. I love creamy things and this does it for me. I haven't tried it, but there is a vanilla version without the cocoa powder too. I used to do a lot of thick smoothies in the early vegan days to get that creamy texture of something. Dense fruits like melon, peaches, cantaloupe, bananas, all make smoothies creamy and rich. I would also include protein powder and leafy greens like collards or kale for the extra calcium, and maybe a splash of plant milk. I haven't craved Greek yogurt in years now.

For eggs, I make chickpea flour omelets and fold stuff like nutritional yeast "cheese" sauce, salsa, bell peppers, onion, and spinach or tomatoes inside. For "egg salad" sandwiches, I mash chickpeas and celery in a bowl, then add my own homemade vegan mayo (blended almonds, turmeric, full fat coconut milk from can, pinch of sweetener, maybe some garlic or onion powder or even dijon) and have this mix in a sandwich. Or have scrambled potatoes and chickpeas with veggies and spices for "scrambled eggs."

I gained weight eating more recipes with avocado, nuts and seeds, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, coconut dishes, smoothies packed with chia seeds, lots of bananas and other fruits, protein powders, homemade mayo in various dishes, pastas with bean/tomato sauce mixes. I made lots of homemade whole wheat seeded breads. Adding vital wheat gluten in those makes them even richer and more dense in texture and nutrition, as well as adding ground flaxseed. I allowed myself to enjoy occasional homemade desserts, and I ate six small but dense meals per day. Sometimes that meant eating cliff bars and bananas if I was up to my head in studies and no time to cook. Admittedly, some of my weight gain was from reactive bingeing from years of restriction. I am very active and I was studying hard in school and working and my body was screaming for nourishment and I got to a point where I just allowed the binges to happen without compensation because I knew my body needed it. Eventually they tapered down and now they rarely ever happen. I think my body trusts me more and my hormone levels (gherlin, leptin, thyroid etc) are healthier because I have consistently eaten more. I am still cautious and careful and sometimes strict about what I allow into my body, but I have no choice but to eat enough to at least maintain because I started a new job that is VERY challenging and requires my absolute attention. I can't restrict the way I used to. The mental stuff is still a challenge at times. I still battle with dealing with the trauma that set off my ED to begin with, and social anxiety. I have been through years of therapy. Right now I am going to a free mental health support group on Monday nights. it is for all types of mental illness, but they are very accepting of my issues and the people there have been incredibly supportive and helpful. Real time help like that is so important for me.

I think there are many reasons why people leave veganism. There are also many people who stay vegan and live happily this way. I think it is possible even with an ED or some other health problem. We just need to take care of ourselves and be mindful of our specific needs as vegans. I used to think veganism was too extreme when I knew next to nothing about it. Now I see that it is nowhere near extreme. It feels so natural to me now, so automatic and I still embrace the many facets of veganism. I am never bored with the variety of plant foods available to me. I am fortunate to make a good living now. I also love to cook so perhaps it has been easier for me in that regard too. If you struggle with food dislikes, allergies, restrictions etc it would be harder but still not impossible.

Anyway, I am rambling now, but I just wanted to post because I can relate to some of your struggles. If it is any consolation or help, the founder of the vegan movement in England, Donald Watson, lived over three or four decades as a vegan and died in his nineties. Dr. Kellog, in the 1800s was a long term vegetarian and lived into his nineties also with few health problems.

 

hi everyone

Wow, I have been meaning to say THANK YOU for ages but been so busy....

loads of brilliant ideas, I have never tried nutritional yeast but I've aloways wondered what the point of it was!!
Thank you Naturebound, I don't know what your job is now but hey did you ever think of becoming a vegan chef?!?! Your food just sounds soooo delicious, I just wish i had the time and the money (and the blender!) to hand.

I do recognise that I have unreasonable difficulty with food at the moment (branching out from the foods I know I like and are non-scary) which makes it harder to try new flavours and textures but I do honestly trust my palate sometimes - for example nasty over-processed stodgy white bread just tastes like there's no point eating it, likewise over-cooked vegetables.... wholemeal bread and raw veggies just taste better!! and nuts and raisins..... I can't get enough

Oh - related question for anybody who's not completely fed up with me by now - is there any thing as too many nuts? I eat raw whole nuts, all varieties, but in massive quantities - seriously LOADS - as well as loads of nut butters -is there any danger in this? I mean there's nothing in nuts that can be dodgy or bad for me is there?

Thanks everyone

 

Honestly, once you're vegan for long enough and are eating a proper well-balanced diet, it becomes habit exactly like the food you're buying now. As a side note that I did not mention before, one way to make sure you're eating lots of different vitamins and nutrients is to eat a variety of colors of food. Check out the book Color Me Vegan. It has some AMAZING information and recipes.

About the nuts,
one problem with too many nuts is high calories and fats, so if you are looking to maintain or lose weight, you might not want to eat like a pound of peanuts.