Vegan going Primal page 3

[Griff]

The headache, etc. is probably the low-carb flu, aka carb withdrawal. As a vegan you've been running on glucose almost exclusively. Your body's going to fight the change. Ignore it and make the change anyway. Eventually your body will shift over to running on fat.

I'd avoid potatoes on principle. Too many carbs.

[Funkadelic Flash]

...since I live in the Midwest...

Good to see another Midwestern member of the tribe! Where abouts?

[goingprimal]

Kansas here. We have a LOT of beef.

[Namasteak]

DH & I were vegetarian for about a year before going primal. We ate fish while vegetarian so our transition was a little easier, but I definitely recommend making the change slowly. Start with adding more fat, lowering carb intake & increasing the amount of fish you eat. Then add what you feel comfortable with (we started with chicken & pork then red meat). Mark's wife only eats fish and she is pretty darn healthy though.....

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here or private message me.

Good Luck!

[Helen in Oz]

Especially if your fat intake has been low, gradual change is the go.... you don't want to implode your gall bladder. Lotta vegans seem to have trouble with fats.

[goingprimal]

Well, my gallbladder may just pop today...I decided to go 'whole hog' this weekend and I had lots of things I haven't had in a while. I had a majority seafood, but I did have a little bacon yesterday and even some beef this weekend. Small portions, though. Today, my tummy is a little annoyed with me. I think long term I am going to pesca-vegetarian this thing most of the time and only have land meat in rare circumstances. Who knows though - the ethical problems I had with meat consumption are solved by eating local grass-fed beef and no nitrate/no antibiotic pork. Chicken still kinds of freaks me out - I have no idea why!

I think I talked myself into the fatty bacon yesterday to make sure I didn't binge on a bag of Kettle chips - which was my go-to vegan vice. I did stay full for hours after breakfast, and finally had a salad at about 3 PM, just 'cause I thought I should.

[MeatMe216]

I also experienced some stomach upset the first couple of weeks. I found taking probiotics and eating naturally fermented foods helped me adjust to eating meat again.

[Helen in Oz]

funnily enough, after a visit to an aquarium, I have more issues with eating fish than meat. Amazing animals. And fish is so unsustainably harvested. Especially if you're able to source ethically raised or at least grass fed beef.

I used to be a lacto-ovo-vegetarian, wouldn't go near animal skins and verging on tears if someone in my shared kitchen was preparing chicken. Burst into tears over a whole fish once. Went from that to eating blue steaks and considering raising a pig, so it's possible, you know.

Also considering number-of-lives per kilo of nutrition, beef is IMHO a better option. Though fish does have the better w3 profile. But do check the standards of your fishery - bycatch, drift netting etc. Don't want to turn this into an ethical debate, you may well totally disagree and that's fine, that's just my view at the moment. (open to change depending on knowledge).

I'm dead serious about giving your gall bladder a break and going low-fat on the odd day - I've seen so many people posting gall bladder issues here. It wasn't a worry for me as I've always used quite a lot of fat and butter, full fat dairy etc, compared to the standard diet. If you've been using low-fat products its a big shift in workload.

[Primal Toad]

Wow - the support here is amazing. I appreciate everyone not telling me to stuff down a steak first thing, but to allow time to ease in....that said, since I live in the Midwest it is probably going to be cheaper and easier to come by beef (grass-fed, local of course) than an unlimited supply of sustainable seafood. I am thinking of going all out this weekend and grabbing some beef at the farmers market. Eek - what will my veg friends think! Hopefully I have good progress and can show them how much better I feel, look, etc. and they will join the party!

Yes - the support is beyond Amazing. I wish I would have joined the forums a lot earlier!!

I just bought 1/2 of a 100% grass fed cow a few weeks ago. I picked it up on Friday. So far I have tried the hamburger and it was awesome. About 10-15 people went in on the deal and everyone has loved it! Even my sister who does not eat meat had a piece and enjoyed it

[goingprimal]

Helen, that makes sense. It is difficult and expensive to get responsibly sourced seafood in Kansas, so I am certainly taking that into consideration. I wouldn't say my diet before was low-fat (read my earlier post about thrice-weekly Kettle Chip binges), and veganism cries out for mass quantities of olive oil, since it is about the only fat allowed. That said, I will keep myself in check and not drizzle bacon drippings over my salads...very often.

Dosenberry, that sounds awesome. Even before I went vegan I would only eat grass-fed beef, because I just thought it tasted better. We have a lot of local farmers who offer grass-fed beef, buffalo (elk, ostrich, lamb, etc) and they have great deals on halves and quarters - although the per pound price isn't too much more than the grocery store stuff (except the ground meat - it's about 3-4 times as expensive). Makes you wonder what is in those plastic tubes they sell for $1.88 a pound...blech.