On a very regular basis, I hear from ex-vegans whose health has deteriorated from remaining too long on a diet that contains no animal fats or proteins.
My experience since 1993 is that vegan nutrition isn’t all it’s cracked up to be by its proponents.
Here’s the latest email on this important topic of vegan nutrition deficiencies:
Hi Chet,
I just wanted to write and let you know that I think your vegan diet dangers article is right on track.
My husband and I have been on a quite strict vegan diet for 6 years.
I got my first b12 deficiency either that summer or the following. I was taking a b-complex pill and the b12 did not absorb. I switched to sublingual and have been pretty much ok since then. Occasionally my husband and I would feel a little tingling in our fingertips, take some extra b12 and continue.
I’ve had trouble with digestion and thought going raw would be the answer. I love raw food and credit raw food with my overcoming some serious health challenges. I haven’t been able to do totally raw for any length of time, though, because I either get light headed and weak from too much fruit, hung over and sluggish from too much nuts, or constipated from too much greens.
Recently I started feeling like I wasn’t breathing in as much air as I should be. Very subtle, but it felt like the b12 deficiency I had several years ago. I added more b12 but the symptoms progressed. I started rotating 4 types with still no luck.
My husband and I discussed what we believe have been these periodic b12 issues. We also have felt a subtle lack of vitality.
We decided to try adding fish and eggs to our diet. Last night I ate some salmon. It was my first meal with any substantial animal ingredients in these 6 years. I don’t know what that salmon had in it, but I felt my breathing improve before I had finished the meal. Today my digestion is better and I have more energy than I’ve had in 6 weeks or so. My husbands sex drive increased overnight. It is remarkable.
We hope to get away with whole, healthy animal foods about twice a week. We like the vegan diet but it definitely has it’s limitations. Our primary objective is health. I would like to help the animals but not at the price of my own health.
I don’t know if you follow Gabriel Cousens at all, but you could probably add him to your page of gurus who are not vegans. I have read a couple of his books cover to cover, and in at least one of them he says he eats kefir. If I remember correctly, it’s some sort of a raw goat milk fermented thing. I never tried it.
Thanks for your honesty.
Sincerely,
No Longer Vegan
Well, that’s the latest from health conscious people who have had veganism fail them, and I like to share these emails on occasion to help current vegans who are wondering why their health and energy aren’t optimal when so many of the vegan gurus claim it should be.
As usual, listen to your body.
Don’t listen to the gurus… or, at least, take a lot of what they have to say with a questioning attitude. And keep in mind that many (if not all of them) are eating “occasional” animal fats and proteins in private but not admitting it publicly.
Chet
Amazing! I found your website and blog about half an hr ago by googling “dairy+healthy” because my 4 yr old daughter has such a terrible daity protein allergy and I struggle to find proper information about it.
What’s amazing is that in 30 min you have answered so many of my health concerns! I’ve been trying out vegan food, due to allergies, lack of health and for moral reasons but struggled to gain weight. Finally when i started eating some fish and meat again I’ve put on 5kg’s in just over a month – now weigh a healthier 60kg’s compared to 55 before x-mas (I’m 175m tall..).
However if I eat too much meat I get tired and bloated…
Thanx Dr. Chet for great info abt flu vaccine, diet, stress etc!
Lina, I’m not a doctor — just an aging writer interested in natural health and diets — but I’m happy to hear that you’re finding some answers to your questions in the many vegan and vegetarian articles I’ve written and collected over the years at http://chetday.com/vegetarianarticles.htm
Chet
Hi there,
So this couple never actually got tested for B12 deficiency ?? So all of this is just speculation??? Just saying, as I know heaps of Vegans- some in their 80′s and 90′s who have never had the problems this lady has had.
Hungover from to many nuts? Weak from to much fruit ? Constipated from to many greens- why there in itself goes to show that no proper nutritional plan was being followed ! U have to eat EQUALLY from the food groups- all of them ! Apart from animal secretions and flesh/inner organs . I’ve been vegan for 6 years and never even thought of or felt the symptoms you talk off.
The breathing condition could of been a factor from many reasons- exercise/ health and diet, environmentel factors etc….
In spite of the fact that vegetarians/vegans have lower rates of cancer, CHD, Cardiovascular disease, obesity, food poisoning, arthritis, nervous systems problems and generally a lack of diseases of choice, this couple felt their possible B12 deficiency was worth risking all these problems, so they ate animals again. A visit to a doctor to clear up any possible deficiency and a shot of B12 from the doctor would of nipped this in the bud, there by protecting your future health AND helping the animals. It seems you didnt try very hard for the animals or your health ??
It seems you want to disregard the advice from the world cancer council that says to avoid animal products and also disregard the largest nutritional study undertaken- the china study, in order to eat hens periods and mercury laden fish.
Even the definition “quite strict vegan diet”, makes me laugh as the vegan diet I have come to know is one of abundance- in fact- I eat a much more varied diet then I ever did as a meat eater!
I just think you should be more careful putting out info like this, when your not a doctor and the writer clearly hasnt obtained professional nutritional advice or followed it in the first place.
I have lost 3 people in my family to cancer who’s lives could of been saved from the vegan diet. The first thing the doctors told them all was stop meat and dairy- SO WHY NOT JUST STOP EATING IT B4 YOU GET SICK PEOPLE ??? Its better for the environment, your body, your taste buds and your health.
The thought of putting rotting flesh in my body disgusts me for so many reasons, i fail to see an any vegan who has educated themselves on what meat & dairy does to their body could do such a thing. Rotting decomposing flesh- in my mouth?? For health?? R u having a laugh???
Aside from B12- on which the jury is still out on, as the body stores it for years and may actually manufacture it in its own bile, you can get everything u need without the baddies, with a vegan lifestyle. I cant call it a diet as vegans LOVE their food and eat masses of it. As long as its not junk vegan food- which does exist (!), your not gonna get fat.
Also B12 can be obtained from growing your own veggies and fruit- it naturally occurs in the soil and as long as you dont sterilise the fruit when you wash it, you’ll get some. Its also said to be in Nori sheets for seaweed etc etc…U need minute amounts of it by the way! Also you can do absolutely fine with a sublingual tablet for B12 or by using fortified foods.
Spoken like a true vegan zealot!
The many articles about vegan deficiency problems on my main website will be available for you to do some serious homework when the inevitable deficiencies hit you.
Until then, enjoy what you eat!
Chet
You are going to be sandwiched between two well informed and well researched raw vegans. I totally agree with Len. When my wife went to work for Souring Free Superfoods, the nucleus of the raw food movement in South Africa, I initially spent months researching and cross referencing data and years later I am still learning. New research is being done all the time. The only common denominator is that the results all point in the same direction. Animal products and processed food coupled with lack of exercise is killing the first world. Chronic diseases are in the main, lifestyle diseases, diseases of affluence.
I don’t care if I am called radical. A raw friend of mine who lives in the USA is one those amazing raw foodists who lost over 150lbs after she converted to raw food. She was at a party where she met an obese woman who told her that she was going to have her stomach stapled. My friend told her about her own experiences with weight loss and suggested to the obese woman that she change to a raw food diet. The woman’s response, “That’s far too radical”
Maximizing the nutritional value of my food is very important to me as an individual and yes, I am somewhat of a zealot. But equally important to me is the future of our planet. A report released by the United Nations claims that greenhouse gasses from livestock in the USA exceed greenhouse gas emissions from all the cars, trucks and planes in the world.
Keith, I agree with the zealot part of your self-identification but would disagree with the “well-informed” label.
In any event, my site will be available for fellows like you and Len when the inevitable deficiencies of a raw vegan diet start to impact your life.
In my experience raw vegan zealotry doesn’t fade until the bloom of eat raw and 100% plant kingdom wears off and the ugly realities set in.
Until then, enjoy what you eat.
Chet
When I went vegan four years ago, for ethical reasons, I did not give nutrition much thought. Health was simply not the focus of my transition from ovo-lacto-pesco “vegetarianism” to veganism. I had read that all we needed we could get from plants, so I just didn’t think about nutrition.
So I ate lots of white pita bread, vegan burgers, orzo cooked in a vegan bouillon, couscous, vegan sausages, whole grains, some fruit and almost no veggies.
Well, my first year was miserable. I had always been sickly, but now I was not only not in better health, I was almost constantly sick with a cold, bronchitis and laryngitis. I lost my voice for a month. A month!
Then, about two years later, I began to become more interested in nutrition. I started tracking my nutritional intake and this is what I discovered. Things looked OK. Protein intake was 55-65 g – OK, but not great (I weigh about 74 kg). I was getting an abundance of some vitamins and minerals, but not enough of others. In particular I was having trouble getting 100% of vitamin E, niacin (B3), vitamin B6, calcium and selenium.
Then I discovered Dr Joel Fuhrmann and his position that the way to nutritional excellence is the consumption of nutrient dense foods – whole plant foods, not processed foods. So gradually I began to remove processed foods from my diet – the Boca burgers, the vegan sausages, the pasta, the orzo, the cereal, and replaced them with whole foods.
Yesterday I had steel-cut oats cooked in light chocolate soymilk, with strawberries, blueberries, almonds, flaxseed, a bit of coconut sprinkles, and some semi-sweet chocolate chips melted on top. Then for lunch I steamed cauliflower, broccoli and red cabbage and topped with my own dressing made of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, tomato, leek, Liquid Aminos and balsamic vinegar. Then after my cardio workout I had some soup made of split peas, barley, carrots, kale, onion, zucchini, mushrooms, tomato, with turmeric, cumin and nutritional yeast seasoning.
And after adding all of that up, there wasn’t a single deficiency anywhere, except, of course, for vitamin D, which I take care of when I sunbathe for 20 minutes after my workouts. As a matter of fact, there was an overabundance of all nutrients. All, including calcium, were over 100 % of the RDI, many were over 200% and some, like vitamin A and K, were well over 1000% of the RDI. Protein was over 100 g. My omega-6 to omega-3 ration was about 3.
So, I don’t understand what deficiencies you are talking about. If anything I am getting TOO MUCH of everything. Since I take a B12 supplement I am probably getting more B12 than the average omnivore. The only deficiencies I can think of are saturated fat and cholesterol and perhaps sodium (which in my case is usually between 600 and 1800 mg, depending on how much liquid aminos I use).
I would advise vegans – and all people, actually – to be mindful of their diet, to know what nutrients they are getting by getting a food scale and tracking their intake with Cron-o-meter, until they figure out what provides their bodies with a good balance of nutrients. I would recommend daily consumption of one average brazil nut (usually 3 grams) for the selenium, about 75-100 grams of mushrooms, for the B vitamins and niacin, bok-choi, an extremely low-calorie source of calcium, and almonds and sunflower seeds for the vitamin E. Also, if protein is your concern, make sure you eat at least 100 g of beans, lentils, split peas or soybeans a day. You will get the rest of the nutrients in abundance if you just follow the vegan food pyramid.
Rami, if you’re eating soy “foods,” I’d encourage you to read the important articles at:
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert.html
If you want to learn more about vegan diet deficiencies, check out the large collection of articles at
http://chetday.com/vegetarianarticles.htm
If you’re thriving on a strict vegan diet, more power to you.
My collection of articles will be here to help you transition to a diet more suitable to an opportunistic omnivore when the inevitable deficiencies hit.
Chet
Chet,
Are you a nutritionist? I don’t see it anywhere. Is it that you have a lot of friends who are farmers? I know Weston A. Price is a shill for the animal-based food industry and that explains their opposition to vegans.
The thing that concerns me the most is that you and many others are still pushing people into eating foods that are hazardous to their health, whether it be beef, chicken, or fish, etc., while discrediting those who have chosen a healthier and humane way to live. Do you have something against compassion and ultimate peace?
Those who work in the food industry are no different than those who work in other industries that have been destroying the planet on a grand scale. To them, money is more important than life itself.
But that’s okay. I choose not to give my money to big corporations anymore. Right now it’s very hard, because they’re everywhere. However, eventually, I’m going to have my own garden and grow my own food the way I want it to be grown. I want a car that runs on solar energy so I don’t have to depend on oil. I’m going to learn to be as self-sufficient as possible for the sake of the planet.
There are no personal choices. Everything we do affects another. We’re all connected–all living beings.
You see Chet, there are humane alternatives to everything. Why not be humane? Let the animals live. Let’s live in harmony with the rest of the world rather than trying to take it over. Remember we need the existence of all live. They don’t need us. Let’s be apart of the future.
Peace
ease
“There are no personal choices” — ease
This is the kind of non-reality comment one sees from vegan shills who insult the bejesus out of anyone who doesn’t follow their little agenda and then sign their emotional remarks with “Peace.”
Anyway, Ease, my site will be here when the inevitable vegan deficiencies hit you and your health starts to fail.
You won’t be so high and mighty with your judgmental comments when you have no energy feel the way so many ex-vegan feel, as thoroughly and convincingly documented at http://letthemeatmeat.com.
Hey Chet,
Are you actually wishing me ill will? That’s pretty low, but expected.
I guess you’d rather live in a “Me” society where you have no contact with anyone and no way of affecting the life around you.
Me on the other hand, I care about all life (human, non-human, etc.) and do the best I can to be humane.
I will admit that I have a problem with people who go down the same harmful path as everyone else, then discredit those who follow a different one that may be beneficial to the rest of the world. But I’m working on that so I can have an open dialogue with everyone.
One question: Should I tell my Dad that it was okay for him to continue eating meat when he had cancer and almost lost his leg if he hadn’t went on a vegetarian diet? I guess one leg is better than none. Luckily, he has both because of diet change.
Anyway, believe what you believe. I myself am not interested in following status quo off the cliff.
It would be good if you were able have a rational conversation with people who don’t agree with you, but this is your blog.
Good luck to you.
ease
Ease, there’s no such thing as a rational conversation with emotionally driven individuals on vegan diet trips.
I was a strict vegan for years until the inevitable deficiencies hit and then I came to my senses and adjusted my diet accordingly. It’s really that simple when one is rational and when one seriously cares about his/her health.
You put emotion aside, you listen to your body, and then you act accordingly, recognizing the undeniable fact that human beings are opportunistic OMNIVORES who require clean, unprocessed foods from both plant and animal kingdoms to thrive in health.
Like I said before, when veganism fails you as it inevitably will, my site and information will be around to help you.
Until then, eat what you want and have a happy life!
Chet
Chet,
There’s obviously no rationality coming from your end, so it’s best to agree to disagree.
Again, you believe what you want to believe. However, the healthiest and more humane lifestyle is a Vegan one. Peace is the ultimate goal.
If wanting to be compassionate toward others and to achieve peace makes me crazy, then I guess I’m crazy. I’d rather be crazy and do right by my body, the animals, and the planet, than contribute to the problems that we now face.
If you’ve gone from being vegan to at least a vegetarian, then I’ll give you some credit. Even though the vegan diet didn’t work for you or wasn’t followed correctly, doesn’t mean you need to put down the lifestyle altogether. It works for a lot people, so spare me the voodoo “inevitable deficiencies” curse. This doesn’t help your argument.
Oh BTW, I’m not a shill for anything. I just believe in being humane toward all, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, and species. We are all connected–All earthlings. If this goes against the way of humans, well, I can live with it.
Peace (and I’m being genuine when I say that)
ease
P.S. You can have the last word.
Ease, I’ll be glad to take the last word since I’m the one who is correct about vegan diets and you’re the one who is wrong.
That’s a fact of life that experience will eventually open your eyes to… when the inevitable deficiencies hit.
When that day comes, revisit my site and take advantage of the many articles that’ll help you transition to a diet that contains healthy whole foods from both plant and animal kingdoms.
Chet
“Last night I ate some salmon. It was my first meal with any substantial animal ingredients in these 6 years. I don’t know what that salmon had in it, but I felt my breathing improve before I had finished the meal.”
That was mental. There was no way her breathing would improve or that she would feel such effects right away. What a phony.
I have been vegan for years… I am fine. Blah.
Vegan, you’re the phony with your judgmental comments and rejection of what every honest vegan I’ve ever know eventually experiences when their health and energy go down the toilet from not eating the whole foods from both plant and animal kingdoms that human beings are designed to eat and thrive on.
But that’s okay. We’re used to zealous, judgmental vegan comments here on the blog. And we’re also used to those same vegans eventually coming back for help on how to transition into a heavy whole foods diet that includes animal fats and proteins.
We’re be here when YOU’RE ready, as you will be at some point in the future.
Chet
Chet, my judgments were based on a fact, therefore there is nothing wrong with them. It is called a tough love. I wish your responses were a bit more factual then I would give you time of a day. Have a nice life living in this bliss you and all other you’re trying to brainwash.
Vegan, rude judgments such as the one you made are based on nothing but the ignorance of the vegan zealot.
With that said, we’ll be here when you’re losing your teeth, losing your energy, and losing your muscle mass from the inevitable vegan diet deficiencies. You’ll probably forestall some of those problems for a year or two and longer as long as you sneak in a few animal foods every once in a while as much vegans do.
We’ll be here to help you when you’re ready to listen to our “brainwashing.”
Chet