How My Primal Instincts Led Me to... Veganism page 33

[grokgramma]

I am going to tell you something you don't want to hear. Veganism is a dangerous game people play. How do I know? I was a vegan for many years and it wrecked my health. It doesn't happen instantly, but over a long period of time. The longer you are a vegan, the more vitamin deficient you will become unless you take a lot of supplements. I don't even agree with Mark S. about taking supplements. They are not primal, paleo OR natural. You can get all the nutrients and vitamins you need on a truly primal/paleo diet, but you can't on a vegan diet. For one thing, you will become vitamin B-12 deficient. I was and I developed periphial neuropathy (tremors in my feet and hands and twitching in my face). You will also develop muscle wasting. Everyone loses some muscle over the years, but with vegans it is worse. Muscle wasting (sarcopenia) not only makes your body look bad, it makes you tired all the time and eventually people with muscle wasting find it difficult to do ordinary every day tasks. No amount of strength training or other exercise can rebuild your muscles on their own, although added protein combined with strength training does help. You might be thinking you can get protein from beans and soy and that is true, but the aminos in those foods are not complete and you still won't get vitamin B-12. It is an open secret among long-time vegans that some long time profile vegans have developed mental problems from a non-supplementary vegan diet. As far as animal cruelty and the environment goes, rice farming in other countries not only uses cattle, but the production of rice contributes just as much to habitat destruction and global warming as the cattle industry and most of the world's rice comes from countries were there are little to no regulations. I used to be a huge animal rights activist. However now I realize that raising livestock actually preserves those species. If we stopped raising cows, chickens and pigs, their species would die out. You might think that would be best, but considering that wild animals are even more endangered, it wouldn't be long before the world would have no animals, domesticated or wild. You can find places that care for their animals in a humane way and have a very small impact on the environment. They are increasing in number and the links are provided on this website. So take it from a long-time former vegan, veganism not only is not the way to go if you want to live a healthy life.

[Omni]

Exactly my point altho I was trying to be facetious and humorous about it. WE are not all that different.

Sorry, we're in a Vegan domain and I thought you'd been infected with pseudo-science.

[Terry H]

No problem. Enjoy your posts, BTW.

[twa2w]

@nd chance, just to give you a little support, I have a friend who is 48. She has been a vegetarian since age 12 and a vegan for the last 12. She also smoked for 20 of those years.
She is very healthy, looks great. Much better than most people her age. No she is not skinny fat and no she is not a stick. She is also very active. Little cardio, lots of Yoga and lots of outdoor activity
She did not do it for health reasons (as you can tell from the smoking ), she did it for ethical reasons.
I wish you good luck on your journey. If you stick to primal principals of avoiding processed food/oils/gluten and supplement those items that a vegan diet may lack you should be OK. Like everyone should, keep an eye on your health.
I respect this lady for what she is doing and I try not to eat meat in front of her :-).

[Terry H]

I am going to tell you something you don't want to hear. Veganism is a dangerous game people play. How do I know? I was a vegan for many years and it wrecked my health. It doesn't happen instantly, but over a long period of time. The longer you are a vegan, the more vitamin deficient you will become unless you take a lot of supplements. I don't even agree with Mark S. about taking supplements. They are not primal, paleo OR natural. You can get all the nutrients and vitamins you need on a truly primal/paleo diet, but you can't on a vegan diet. For one thing, you will become vitamin B-12 deficient. I was and I developed periphial neuropathy (tremors in my feet and hands and twitching in my face). You will also develop muscle wasting. Everyone loses some muscle over the years, but with vegans it is worse. Muscle wasting (sarcopenia) not only makes your body look bad, it makes you tired all the time and eventually people with muscle wasting find it difficult to do ordinary every day tasks. No amount of strength training or other exercise can rebuild your muscles on their own, although added protein combined with strength training does help. You might be thinking you can get protein from beans and soy and that is true, but the aminos in those foods are not complete and you still won't get vitamin B-12. It is an open secret among long-time vegans that some long time profile vegans have developed mental problems from a non-supplementary vegan diet. As far as animal cruelty and the environment goes, rice farming in other countries not only uses cattle, but the production of rice contributes just as much to habitat destruction and global warming as the cattle industry and most of the world's rice comes from countries were there are little to no regulations. I used to be a huge animal rights activist. However now I realize that raising livestock actually preserves those species. If we stopped raising cows, chickens and pigs, their species would die out. You might think that would be best, but considering that wild animals are even more endangered, it wouldn't be long before the world would have no animals, domesticated or wild. You can find places that care for their animals in a humane way and have a very small impact on the environment. They are increasing in number and the links are provided on this website. So take it from a long-time former vegan, veganism not only is not the way to go if you want to live a healthy life.

Thanks for posting this.

[patski]

I find it absurd and extremely dangerous when people think what they do not eat makes them morally superior.

[patski]

Patski Glad to see you're back! You've been missed.

Thanks for the link, great stories.

Awwww, that's sweet Urban Forager! Yes, I disappeared for a bit there. I'm still around

[2ndChance]

I find it absurd and extremely dangerous when people think what they do not eat makes them morally superior.

Do you consider yourself superior to cannibals? Just wondering.

[patski]

Morally superior? Or just plain ol' boring superior?

Actually no, I do not. Probably not the answer you were looking for.

[2ndChance]

Morally superior? Or just plain ol' boring superior?

Actually no, I do not. Probably not the answer you were looking for.

I wasn't really looking for a specific answer. That's the one I was expecting, though.