Are you an Ex-Vegan?

[emma1325]

If so, tell me why.

Thanks!

[bohemianmama21]

Cheese and yogurt.

[emma1325]

Originally Posted by bohemianmama21 

Cheese and yogurt.

So you added cheese and yogurt?

[bohemianmama21]

Those were two of the reasons im ex-vegan. Too hard to find substitutes without soy that taste decent.

[C is for Cookie]

For me, it was because of cheese also. No good tasting subs out there for it.And because I was raw vegan, it utilized a lot of nuts and treenuts and since finding out that DS was allergic to both, I had to quit eating those. There wasn't much options left so I just went back to being grain-free and low carb.
 

[abbylotus]

EX Vegan must, in my way of thinking, be more of a dietary thing than ethical. 

[Lazurii]

I'm ex-vegan.  I loved being vegan, I found it to be a very spiritual experience.  But my health headed south, I had a lot of brain fog, it was difficult for me to speak or form sentences.  My joints started to hurt.  My breastmilk never seemed to have enough fat in it, my kids breastfed poops were always bright green.

I did everything a vegan is supposed to do.  I took all the supplements, added fats back into my diet (I was a McDougall follower), ate a wide variety of foods.  Nothing helped.  I added foods back slowly, starting with free-range eggs.  Once I added bone broth my jointed stopped hurting.  My thinking cleared up when I added red meat back in.

The first six month of being ex-vegan I couldn't get enough animal fat.  It was crazy!  That settled down after a while.

I do miss the connection I had with animals.  We try very hard to buy humanely raised meats; we get eggs from our backyard chickens.  But like I said earlier, there was an amazing spirituality I had while being vegan.  It was a special place to be.  I wish I could be healthy being vegan, but it just didn't work for me.

[berry987]

I'm an ex-vegan. And ex-vegetarian. I became a vegetarian when I was 16, a vegan at 19 (after reading Diet for a New America), went back to lacto-ovo vegetarianism after a little over a year, then became a meat eater (chicken and fish) at 24, then vegetarian again at 28, then a full-fledged meat eater at 30. I'm now 37 and have eaten a traditional foods diet for about 3 years.

I gained a tremendous amount of weight as a vegetarian. I was a "bad" vegetarian in my teen years (processed carbs made up most of my diet), but in college switched to whole foods and got on the nutrition band wagon. But I kept gaining weight. I switched to veganism partially for ethical reasons, partially in a hope that I would lose weight. I did lose some weight, but gained acne. Severe, cystic acne. I struggled with acne and unexplained weight gain for over a decade. Before switching to a traditional food diet, I'd eliminated so many foods it was zero fun to eat anymore. I was living on pita wraps with avocado, tomatoes and alfalfa sprouts and udon noodles with miso and brussel sprouts. I remember those meals vividly because I ate them often. I was hungry all the time because I was trying to lose weight, my skin was horrible and I felt tired and sad. I was 65 pounds overweight at this point and desperate and willing to try anything. So I stopped being a vegetarian and went on the Atkins diet. Yep. Seriously. I lost about 25 pounds, but more importantly, it opened my eyes to all kinds of different ideas and opinions. Atkins led me to Gary Taubes which led me to Cate Shanahan which led me to WAPF. Since then I've lost more weight, my acne is gone and I feel healthy and strong for the first time in many, many years. 

So that's my evolution. I still care deeply about the ethical treatment of animals, so I buy pasture/free range meats from local farmers, but for me, my health was screaming for a different diet and now I view things more from a natural food chain perspective. 

[Subhuti]

I was vegan for 5 years. I became a lacto- ovo vegetarian, then a meat eater because I was having b12 deficiency, then once that was solved (it more had to do with my inability to absorb vits, not being a vegan) I found I had serious blood sugar issues if I didn't eat meat. I would crash every two hours and become non compis mentis. I wish I could be vegan. Or even vegetarian but as I get older I find I can't. Bottom line -- I feel like crap as a vegan.

[dovey]

I eat the eggs of our kids' pet chickens now.  My daughter really wanted to have chickens, so we got them.  I don't feel significantly different after adding eggs to my previously vegan diet. 

I don't think I would've decided to have chickens if it weren't for my children.  To me, the ethical side of the decision to eat eggs is in an extremely gray area.  Environmentally, the eggs are wasteful.  The chickens eat way more food than we could ever grow.  The roosters involved make the process difficult - either they are ground up or gassed as babies, or you keep them.  But the problem is that you can't keep a ratio of more than 1 rooster to 7 hens, otherwise the roosters mate the hens too much and all of their feathers are yanked out.  The ratio of hens to roosters born is 1:1.  We kept our roosters, but we decided to separate them from the hens, just wandering at large.

What has made a difference in my diet is largely eliminating sweetners and flours.  I have so much more energy after doing this.  I think a lot of vegans consume way to many processed carbs, feel crappy and then the veganness gets the blame.       

[inconditus]

Originally Posted by Lazurii 

The first six month of being ex-vegan I couldn't get enough animal fat.  It was crazy!  That settled down after a while.

This is me also! I switched from vegan to Lacto-veg. because, honestly, it was just too damn expensive especially since my husband is/was not a fan of vegan foods. It also wasn't helping him that much health wise. So I switched back to eating dairy and absolutely loved it. Seriously, I never thought I ate so much cheese in my life as the first few months going back from vegan. Thankfully at the time I was able to go to WFM a lot and get well-made cheese. Now that I live far away from a health food store, I find myself slowly going back to vegan. 

At the moment I'm working towards becoming Ovo-veg because the baby in my belly LOVES boiled eggs. I get them from a local free range guy. Dairy is making my stomach hurt so I cut it out because of that... though I (ethically) have felt much better the less that I consume. 

[cynthiamoon]

For me it was two-fold:

1. Ethical: I have absolutely no faith in the belief that veganism is somehow a natural state of being for humans, and I have ethical concerns other than animal abuse that I don't take to such extremes, like my wariness of market capitalism (which hasn't turned me into an ascetic yet.) I think it's good enough to try and get natural animal products from local farms with humane treatment. Death is a part of the cycle of life, so the argument that "meat is murder" never resonated with me. 

2. Health: I wanted to commit to a whole foods diet but had no desire to become a slave to my kitchen, or a flavor-martyr.Vegan cooking requires too many substitutions and processed foods to mimic even the simplest of normal cuisine pleasures, and there's very few recipes that are wholesome, quick and easy that don't quickly get boring, or require fancy expensive ingredients. 

The thing they share is that I just have ZERO desire to be such a slave to food-needs.

Once I started being able to eat healthful foods without tons of prep or exotic ingredients, I gained tons of energy, lost 20lbs and cut my food bill by 10-20%, even with adding natural, pricier meats back into the shopping cart, and I'm pretty sure I save hours a week being able to eat simpler foods that meet my nutritional needs easily, with no need to calculate how many flax seeds approximate a salmon portion's omega content. 

I still eat several vegan and vegetarian meals a week, and often go days without meat products. 

[cynthiamoon]

Originally Posted by abbylotus 

EX Vegan must, in my way of thinking, be more of a dietary thing than ethical. 

True, not all ethical beliefs around food center around an animal-liberation "abolitionist" perspective. But that doesn't mean it's just dietary and irreverent of ethical concerns to become an ex-vegan. 

Plenty of veg-people see killing and eating animals as a normal part of the cycle of life on earth-- they just don't want to support those who heartlessly abuse animals.

Others still are simply queasy about the idea, and prefer not to be a part of it, but don't think it's inherently wrong-- like how I'd never fight in a war, but I don't think it's inherently wrong to sacrifice your life for a cause. 

I think it's a good idea to try and understand these perspectives just like it's important for people to understand your particular ethics. 

[catnip]

See, as a vegan, I almost never eat pricey 'substitute' foods - organic soymilk and cultured yogurt are pretty much it. I don't eat fake cheese, or fake meats more than once every few months.

What I do eat is a lot of grains, nuts and legumes, fresh seasonal fruits and veggies. I don't feel like there is any flavor lacking in my diet. Today I ate homemade granola and fresh, local, organic strawberries for breakfast. For lunch, we're having spinach Mediterranean style spinach pizzas (no cheese, just olive oil and veggies), dinner tonight is fajita veggies, slow cooker black beans, corn tortillas and lime coleslaw. That's not a sacrifice, not hard to make, and it tastes amazing.

[cynthiamoon]

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Edited by cynthiamoon - 4/22/13 at 5:04pm

[YoginiMomma]

I was vegan for 8 years... and then I got pregnant and did a lot of research on DHA and healthy fats and healthy happy eggs and alaskan salmon and the pros outweighed the cons..... and my body was craving them out of nowhere. 

so now I eat salmon 2-3 times a month, and eggs whenever I feel like it, which isn't too often- maybe 2-3 times a week. Much healthier and I feel better overall. I was always a whole foods vegan and towards the end transitioned to gluten free vegan, still gluten free! just eat eggs and salmon. 

edited to say:: being pregnant has made me want to just get rid of the whole label thing. For so long I was really attached to the idea of being a vegan, but now I don't care as long as I'm getting the nutrients my body is intuitively telling me that I need ~ soy free dairy free gluten free pescetarian would be the "label", but who wants to say that??? Everyone's body is different- i Never thought in a million years I would ever eat fish or eggs again, but I woke up one morning just needing salmon, and it didn't help that my recently pregnant friend was telling me all the benefits of eating salmon and how dha is so important for baby's brain and eye development. I still eat mostly vegan meals every day-- it's just occasionally i add in an egg or a piece of salmon- I really think that's all you need, i don't think it's necessary to eat that kind of stuff every day. I know for certain I will NEVER eat animal flesh ever again in my life- the thought of that is beyond disgusting and there are no health benefits- no way!

Edited by YoginiMomma - 5/1/13 at 8:48am

[caiesmommy]

I was vegan...then got pregnant. As soon as that happens I crave eggs/cheese. As soon as baby is out I'm off the stuff. I'm already back off eggs and dairy has been killing me. tons of mucus and phlegm nastiness. So I'll prob be off my cravings before baby even comes