Vegatarian and being primal? page 2

[Moochy]

What is high cholesterol?

[YogaBare]

I was veggie and had high cholesterol.

Has anyone pointed you to the Cholesterol primer? http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread4723.html

Sometimes I really miss beans, lentils and tahini. I might have a big huge vegetarian dinner some day as a cheat meal.

lol.

[magicmerl]

To the OP, I think that vegetarians can eat very healthily depending on what 'flavour' they are (there are lots of high quality fish and egg protein sources out there). Vegans can be ok too as long as they supplement B12 (although that is a big one). I think it's hard to criticise vegans for needing to take supplements when a lot of people on here are taking dietary supplements.

Once you scratch the skin of a primal/paleo/vege/vegan person, I think that there are a lot more similarities than differences. All of them care about what they eat, presumably think that processed and industrially produced food is bad for you, etc etc. It's just that some veggies have a moral dimension to their choice of dietary restriction, which seems like it's not necessarily aligned with best nutrition (because if it was, you could make the argument solely on the grounds of nutrition, without emotional/moral appeals).

[Iron Fireling]

I think some people do very well on a vegetarian diet! I was a vegetarian for a few years (for ethical reasons, too!) I basically stopped a few months ago and became pescetarian, and then started primal and went whole hog and started eating meat again. I didn't really WANT to eat meat, but I actually feel better, I have lost a bit of weight AND my hair's stopped falling out so much!! It's amazing how little I lose when I brush it these days . (This is very exciting as I'd had quite a few major shedding episodes, and even when I wasn't shedding I seemed to lose a lot of hair, and it was getting very thin and stringy... if things continue the way they are in 4 or so years my hair will look good again ).

Hair may not be something major BUT to me it's an indication that things weren't 100% right in my body... I can't say why, as the diet I ate seemed to be very good... but it is said that when your health suffers, things like hair and nails are the first to go, so I can only assume that internally things were not as good as they could be. I had no MAJOR health issues at all (at least none I know about!) but the fact that my hair has stopped falling suggests my body is suddenly getting something it NEEDS that I missed out on as a vegetarian. And, really, the most major difference in my diet is that I now eat meat!

That being said, I know vegans with thick, luscious hair... I just think, we're not all the same, and what works for one person won't necessarily work for another!

[KathyH]

I'd be careful about saying that you know lots of vegans/vegetarians that are in impeccable health. Do you really know what's going on inside their arteries in terms of plaque build up and inflammation? So many people die far earlier than they should - and how many times do you hear "I don't understand. He/she was a vegetarian and used to run 6-miles five times a week" or something similar. I hear it too often to not think that there's more at play than total cholesterol readings.

You could say the same about primal eaters, no?

[KathyH]

For one thing, without eating fish, vegetarians don't get any anti-inflammatory omega 3's to fight off all of the inflammatory omega 6's so there's a major heart attack risk, as well as the other things inflammation does to you. Also, depending on what you specifically eat, you may not get all of your essential amino acids or have an imbalance of them and end up with a deficiency. By cutting out meat, you also miss out on all of the fat soluble vitamins and heart healthy monounsaturated fat. You can also end up with deficiencies in minerals like iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium because of all of the phytates you're eating in the grains and legumes. So yeah, vegetarians are pretty much f***ed. They won't drop dead instantly but over time, all of the deficiencies will take their toll and something will go wrong.

This is CW, hope you realize that.

[sezzajezza84]

I think some people do very well on a vegetarian diet! I was a vegetarian for a few years (for ethical reasons, too!) I basically stopped a few months ago and became pescetarian, and then started primal and went whole hog and started eating meat again. I didn't really WANT to eat meat, but I actually feel better, I have lost a bit of weight AND my hair's stopped falling out so much!! It's amazing how little I lose when I brush it these days . (This is very exciting as I'd had quite a few major shedding episodes, and even when I wasn't shedding I seemed to lose a lot of hair, and it was getting very thin and stringy... if things continue the way they are in 4 or so years my hair will look good again ).

Hair may not be something major BUT to me it's an indication that things weren't 100% right in my body... I can't say why, as the diet I ate seemed to be very good... but it is said that when your health suffers, things like hair and nails are the first to go, so I can only assume that internally things were not as good as they could be. I had no MAJOR health issues at all (at least none I know about!) but the fact that my hair has stopped falling suggests my body is suddenly getting something it NEEDS that I missed out on as a vegetarian. And, really, the most major difference in my diet is that I now eat meat!

That being said, I know vegans with thick, luscious hair... I just think, we're not all the same, and what works for one person won't necessarily work for another!

That's interesting you say that. I was a vegetarian/pescatarian (went through phases with the fish eating) for 12 years up until 6 months ago and I've always gotten a lot of compliments on my hair for being healthy and abundant, and it's always grown really really fast. However, I've always shed a lot of it, and still do despite now eating organic beef and lamb fairly regularly and tuna and salmon almost daily (still not big on chicken and pork for mostly ethical reasons, but also taste). I wonder if it's indicative of something or just the fact that it's really long and thick so I shed/replace it more?

I'm quite a vain person, hence picking out this post, heh.

[Hedonist2]

In going through these posts (the ones from people not on my ignore list), I don't see anyone mentioning that Mark's son is life-long vegetarian (and Mark is ok with it.)

More thoughts

[Iron Fireling]

That's interesting you say that. I was a vegetarian/pescatarian (went through phases with the fish eating) for 12 years up until 6 months ago and I've always gotten a lot of compliments on my hair for being healthy and abundant, and it's always grown really really fast. However, I've always shed a lot of it, and still do despite now eating organic beef and lamb fairly regularly and tuna and salmon almost daily (still not big on chicken and pork for mostly ethical reasons, but also taste). I wonder if it's indicative of something or just the fact that it's really long and thick so I shed/replace it more?

I'm quite a vain person, hence picking out this post, heh.

I think if you've got plenty of long, thick hair you'll notice a lot of shed hair by default . You may find that it's not THAT much, overall, it's just that it looks a lot.

I honestly have no idea why my hair stopped shedding so much when I stopped being vegetarian, but I'm not going to complain! I find it quite interesting though.

[magnolia1973]

I have never meet a vegetarian with high cholesterol.

My husband was a vegetarian with high cholesterol and my friends husband is a vegetarian and takes lipitor.