In my other life where I try to earn a living, I spend a lot of time writing about natural health, nutrition, fitness, and related topics.
Because I was for several years a raw foodist and strict vegan, I occasionally stir up a hornet’s nest of anger from a vegan zealot when they read an article that points out potential problems with veganism.
I received such an angry email earlier today from some woman who had been receiving my free newsletter for quite some time. I’m not going to post her email her because of my respect for email privacy, but I am going to post my reply to her.
And her it is…
Dear Annoyed Vegan:
PLEASE educate yourself on the deficiency dangers of long-term veganism. Your life and health, both physical and mental, depend on learning the problems of vegan zealotry!
Regarding long-term problems with raw vegan as well as cooked vegan diets, see my detailed collection of articles at
http://chetday.com/vegetarianarticles.htm
The first four articles will be particularly useful to you.
Be sure to read the articles with an open mind.
Do NOT make the mistake so many zealous vegans do of having an utterly closed mind to the truth.
It’s very sad to say, but some vegans can look in a mirror every day and yet never see the scrawny, unhealthy, unhappy, judgmental, and miserable creature staring back at them with eyes the size of half dollars and bags under those eyes as black as coal.
I’ve known and corresponded with far too many vegans since 1993 who lost their energy, lost their zest for life, lost teeth, looked anorectic, had strokes and blood pressure problems requiring prescription medication, and had serious mental problems develop because they were missing so many nutritional factors only available in foods from the animal kingdom.
Denying that human beings are opportunistic omnivores who need clean foods from both plant and animal kingdoms is to deny reality, something Einstein allegedly pointed out in a lecture on why he hadn’t yet gone 100% vegan at Princeton in the early 50′s.
And for your information, according to Wikipedia, “although Einstein had long been sympathetic to the notion of vegetarianism, it was only near the start of 1954 that he adopted a strict vegetarian diet.”
Interestingly enough, but not surprising because it happens to so many who go on vegan diets, to continue from Wikipedia’s article on Einstein: “…on 17 April 1955, Albert Einstein experienced internal bleeding caused by the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. He died in Princeton Hospital early the next morning.”
Did the strict vegetarian diet contribute to his aneurysm?
We’ll never know but as you’re about to learn, it may have…
Regarding scientific studies, as a truth seeker and intelligent human being, I trust you’ll agree that the “gold standard” for a vegetarian or non-vegetarian diet is mortality rates.
Ms. Annoyed Vegan, I hope you’ll take the time to review an important study, one that traced over 76,000 vegetarians and non-vegetarians.
Entitled “Mortality in vegetarians and non-vegetarians: detailed findings from a collaborative analysis of 5 prospective studies,” the UK study published in Am J Clin Nutr 1999 Sep;70 reveals:
“Mortality from ischemic heart disease was 24% lower in vegetarians than in non-vegetarians (death rate ratio: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.62, 0.94; P<0.01). The lower mortality from ischemic heart disease among vegetarians was greater at younger ages and was restricted to those who had followed their current diet for 5 years.”
With that said, I know you’ll appreciate the next conclusion of the study, which reveals:
“Further categorization of diets showed that, in comparison with regular meat eaters, mortality from ischemic heart disease was 20% lower in occasional meat eaters, 34% lower in people who ate fish but not meat, 34% lower in lactoovovegetarians, and 26% lower in vegans.”
Indicative of the point I try to make in my work, which promotes a balanced diet based on plants with moderate servings from the animal kingdom, those in the study who ate fish had the best protection from ischemic heart disease.
(If only Einstein had been smart enough to see this, perhaps we would have had him for more years. Who knows, he may have had time to prove his unified field theory!)
But it’s the final point of the study that deserves your keenest attention:
“There were no significant differences between vegetarians and nonvegetarians in mortality from cerebrovascular disease, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, or all other causes combined.”
Anyway, Ms. Annoyed, if you stick with veganism, enjoy it until the day you finally realize you were wrong.
When that day comes — as it does for just about every strict vegan I’ve known and/or corresponded with since 1993 who never cheats on the diet with “occasional” meat, fish, eggs, cheese, etc. — my website and it’s wealth of true articles will be available for you.
In closing, I wish you all happiness in whatever you choose to eat and some success someday in whatever mean (albeit ignorant) thing you choose to say in emails to people who never did anything to you other than to send you free newsletters that do improve the health of those open-minded enough to read and understand the information.
Yours for truth,
Chet, a friend of mine has recently become vegan. She was semi-vegetarian for a long time, meaning that she ate some chicken or fish on occasion, but mostly lacto-ova vegetarian.
I sent her some links to articles you provided, and for whatever reason, she’s convinced veganism is the way for her to go.
I don’t think a season of veganism hurts a healthy person, but i do see problems with it as a long-term choice.
In my case, i learned i need more animal protein than i was getting and fewer carbs, so i try to eat that way, but i don’t always. When i do, i feel better than when i don’t. Guess i have to try every now and then to see if i still need to keep on doing what i’m doing. To date, the answer has been yes.
Just wanted to let you know that I am a vegan, and have been for many years. Everything has protien in it, it is just how much. I do use tofu, which is fun to use with so many different seasonings. Nuts are very good also to eat. As a vegan you do eat much better, and more while losing weight, although some vegan are overweight cause of too many refined carbs.
Look at the “Blue Zone” places on earth. Loma Lynda California is one of them because of the Seventh Day Adventists lifestyle. Not all Seventh Day Adventists are vegan, let alone vegetarian, but the ones that follow the heatlh message live longest, healthier, and happier. Even a vegetarian diet is good. Just use very, very, little cheese and diary. The right fish is very good for us. I do use sea kelp instead, and that requires an adjustment to get used to.
Hope this helps. Also an site to look into is Howard Lyman’s “The Mad Cowboy”
I became a vegan live fooder after discovering your website years ago. Its been over 11 years now and Im still vegan, very healthy, no deficiencies….I think you got scared by all the fear mongering, and not listening to your body properly and giving it the right vegan foods.
Shekinah, I wish you could see the hundreds and hundreds of emails I’ve received over the years from ex-vegans who finally listened to their bodies because their health was failing and added judicious amounts of animal fats and proteins to their diets.
There is no fear-mongering in the ex-vegan movement. It’s all based on facts and personal experience from years of listening to one’s body and from eating the “right” vegan foods.
I’ve been corresponding with vegans and ex-vegans since 1993, and my experience has been that less than 1% of humanity is genetically prepared to live 100% without any animal fats or proteins.
I’m just thankful that most vegans who continue to claim to live 100% without animal fat and protein in their diets sneak in enough foods with animal fats and proteins in private to continue to ward off the eventual deficiencies!
Denying that human beings are opportunistic omnivores is a denial of reality. It really is that simple.
But if you actually live 100% vegan with NO cheating in private, hey, more power to you.
Chet
Dear Chet
I do not dispute that you have had many emails from ex-vegans who complain about what the vegan diet has done to their health, and I have met many vegans who look as though they had just risen from the grave, but I have never met a vegan or a raw foodists who took the time to educate themselves about what they need in their diet that does not look the very picture of health. You cannot live as a vegan, raw or otherwise, and plan your diet just on what you won’t eat.
I have been receiving your email for about 18 months now. Nothing in what you have sent me so far has indicated that you are a supporter of a SAD. Do you actually propose that people should eat processed foods, fried foods, doughnuts, corn syrup or sugared milk? Putting ethical concerns aside, do you actually propose that people eat animal products? Do you ignore the solid evidence that clearly shows the effects of animal protein on heart disease, sugar on type 2 diabetes and animal protein and sugar on cancer?
I am a raw foodist. Over the past 18months my weight has gone from 98kg to 74kg. My BMI from 29.3 to 22.1. My cholesterol from 8.9 to 3.7, my blood sugar from 6.3 to 4.1 and my homosystine level from 15 to 7.8. I am 53 years old and I can hike 100km over mountains with a full pack over 4 days. I can and do swim 8km a week. I work 6 days a week with no public holidays off in my one job and 5 nights a week in our other business. I still am able to bring balance into my life and have loads of energy. All this since changing from a standard diet to a raw diet.
I don’t know about vegans, but for ever one bad health example of a raw foodist that you can produce, I can produce 500 good examples.
Kevan, obviously I don’t support eating donuts and other modern crap. If you’ve been reading my stuff for 18 months and haven’t figured that one out, I encourage you to take a reading comprehension course.
I absolutely do encourage people to eat plenty of fat and protein from the animal kingdom and to support local ranchers and farmers who produce grass-fed beef, pastured pork and poultry, organic eggs, and so on.
There is NO solid evidence proving a 100% plant-based diet is better than a diet with clean foods from both plant and animal kingdoms. To say there is such evidence reveals an ignorance of the available research.
From past experience over the years, I know it’s pointless and a waste of time to argue with vegan zealots, so I’m not going to attempt to do that with you, but on the off chance that you have some kind of an open mind, read Gary Taubes’ powerful “Good Calories, Bad Calories.”
As for all your superman abilities on your raw vegan diet, my comment is “Good for you, bud. Enjoy them while they last!”
Chet
Hi Chet, also an ex vegan, did vegan diet in 90s– worst years of my life. I’m a blood type O & thrive on red meat “hunter gatherer” diet. I got fat & tired, had carb cravings galore & yes as you mention mental problems…My early perimenopause mat have been caused by it & also bone loss. It utterly amazes me all the celebs who’ve hopped on it causing the public to think it’s cool. Bill Clinton who looks a million years older, Alicia Silverstone, a mere shadow of her former self…..ugh– if I see one more black under eye I might hurl. So glad I got out of the vegan CULT!
Hi Admin:
I’m certainly not a zealot, and am still investigating this question between a paleo diet and raw food veganism. Currently, I eat paleo, but I have seen people who are incredibly healthy on a RAW vegan diet. They do not eat grains. That is completely different than a standard vegan diet. Standard vegans eat loads of wheat and other grains. It seems that your argument is lumping raw vegans and standard vegans together, which is completely different.
I think one thing all of these studies miss is the variable of grains and wheat. I think that is the real, unknown culprit of poor health.
Actually, I’ve had more experience with raw vegans than I’ve had with standard vegans, and, in my experience, most of any kind of strict vegan ends up in poor health because of the built-in deficiencies. I agree that grains and wheat may well be a major problem for lasting health for many people.