Can some people simply not servive on a vegan diet?

[DaveQB]

http://voraciouseats.com/2010/11/19/a-vegan-no-more/

After reading this, discussing it and reading comments it seems like she was genuinely unable to get her nutrients from a vegan diet.
Is this really possible? Has anyone encountered this?

Consuming vitamins and minerals is one thing but we need to absorb them. Was she not absorbing them? Or was this Dr who she felt was open minded really not (by reading some of the quotes the Dr sounded anti-vegan) it was poor planning that got her into trouble?

There is exceptions to every rule is there one for vegan diets??

I am interested to hear peoples experiences.

Thanks.

[ratfan]

I think this blog has been discussed on here before - or a very similar one. And it appears to come from an anti-vegan source.

Personally (I'm a nutritional therapist and vegan for 19 years) I don't believe this story. The only nutrient that can't be found in a vegan diet is B12 (it can be tricky to get enough vit D too - just through diet) but many vegan foods are fortified with both these vits - and it's easy enough to take supplements. So it’s not as if an omnivorous diet automatically provides lots of nutrients that aren’t available with a vegan diet. It doesn’t.

If the problem was her inability to absorb nutrients that would point to physiological problems with her (such as low stomach acid or inadequate enzyme production from the pancreas say) so she would also not be able to absorb nutrients from an omnivorous diet.

I’ve met vegans who have appalling diets (all processed soya convenience foods and very little fruit or veg) – some of who have run into health difficulties – but they were all solvable by better planning and a balanced diet. Some struggle to maintain or gain weight – but again careful planning can overcome this.

I can’t imagine a situation where someone cannot thrive on a well planned and supplemented vegan diet – but then suddenly do fine when consuming meat, eggs and dairy.

[xJimx]

F*cking bullshit.

I lose count of the number of times former vegetarians/vegans tell me they had to quit for health reasons. In the 21st century with the wealth of info available online & living somewhere like the UK where every street corner has a supermarket packed with vegan-friendly goodies it's just a pathetic excuse.

[xrodolfox]

I also think that it is bullshit.

I can *imagine* someone who can't thrive on a vegan diet, but ultimately, those are due to social reason such as not liking veggies or eating the same thing every day... frankly, it is clear with our obesity epidemic, and folks who have nutritional disorders as carnists/omnivores that most folks who are omen/carnists cannot thrive on their diets.

I can see how it can occasionally be difficult to be vegan, but certainly nothing like the medical necessity to eat animals. The difficulty is a social problem. That has clear solution. The medical nessesity is a biological problem with no solution and allows certain people to just give up and stop trying to change the social political economic sphere. That argument is a cop out of responsibility, and when folks argue the "I can't survive without meat argument" I bypass that logic and go straight for the fact that the particular individual who says that is copping out of responsibility.

[knackers]

My god....

I cannot believe I read the majority of that dramatized anti-vegan bullshit.

Go slaughter the animal yourself Tasha, then once you realised you cannot do it, go back and try and work out where you were going wrong with your diet by seeing a knowledgable doctor/nutritionist that actually knows what they are freakin talkin about!!

[Talyn]

This exact same topic has been discussed before.

http://www.veganfitness.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=22144

[vCLaW]

Maybe they are just attention seekers.
It seems like an easy way to get lots of hits on your blog...

[DaveQB]

Talyn

Oh sorry about that. I did do a search before posting and could not find any thread relating to this topic. I don't know how my search didn't find it. I searched for "voracious eats" and "voracious vegan"
Should I post in that thread instead??

ratfan

Excellent post. Thanks for that. I am thinking along the same lines about this although without the education on the matter and thus the hard facts you have.
Having said that....can there be an exception to the rule? Could it be possible that there would be a handful of people in the world that somehow do better on an omni diet? Like we have some people born without some muscles etc. If the world was vegan, then anybody that was an edge case and needed an omni diet would probably have a vegan solution sorted for them as it would be issue whereas in this world it is called "being normal"

knackers
Yeah I have been drawn in and read alot of it too unfortunately.


vCLaW
She does seem the attention seeker type reading further on her blog.


She really went hard trying to justify her actions, clutching for straws, claim vegan was anti-feminist (how the hell did she bring these 2 unrelated things together) and vegan eating killsjust as much as omnio (which she later contradicts herself in a later post). I think "Meg" had the best comment there that I read.

[thestoatyone]

I wouldn't apologise mate, it's good to have these things out every now and again to point out what utter bollocks they are.

[vegansludge]

To be honest, I didn't read the whole thing. About a year ago, I managed to make my way through The Vegetarian Myth and it reminded me quite a bit of that. The "debunking" of veganism seems like an easy way out of admitting you didn't make the effort to educate yourself to ensure you were following healthy eating practices, something that can be said for anyone who makes a lifestyle change and "fails" at it.

[elixir]

It's my opinion that anyone can be healthy and thrive on a vegan diet, but of course it's very important to do it properly. The lack of B12 in vegan foods is an issue, and there are differing opinions as to how effective supplementation is in this case. The best bet is to eat live (fermented) food such as sourkraut - which can be easily made at home.

[Fallen_Horse]

It's my opinion that anyone can be healthy and thrive on a vegan diet, but of course it's very important to do it properly. The lack of B12 in vegan foods is an issue, and there are differing opinions as to how effective supplementation is in this case. The best bet is to eat live (fermented) food such as sourkraut - which can be easily made at home.

....and supplement with B12. If you have absorption issues, go with the methycobalamin form instead of the cyanocobalamin.