Another ex-vegan

[FormicaLinoleum]

To me it seems like she had a severe B12 deficiency, which was most likely due to her being unable to absorb B12 orally, and that she was anemic. The B12 issue was solved with injections, which is unrelated to her diet. She couldn't stomach the two types of non-vegan iron pills she tried, but she still perhaps could have found a (vegan?) supplement she could handle.

Anyway, there are a few comments along the lines of "this has made me question whether I should be a vegan" which seems a huge shame as it seems her main problem had nothing at all to do with veganism.

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

And here are the Vegan RD's thoughts on it: http://www.theveganrd.com/2010/11/do-ex ... diets.html

[NeoEvaX]

Sometimes not every eating style works for people's bodies. Being healthy and doing what you can to help minimize animal suffering and the horrible farm industry is the key, in my opinion.

Doesn't Nutritional Yeast have B12? Aren't there other ways to get it? I never seemed to have a problem with my diet. Its varied enough that I have no deficiencies. I don't have to take any supplements either.

Oh well. Hopefully she still tries to minimize the animal products she intakes.

[xJimx]

What a load of self-indulgent bollocks. If you don't give a fuck anymore just be honest & say so, rather than try to rationalise selling out with lame excuses.

We should send our boy xKillerx round to talk to her.

[NeoEvaX]

Ya, after actually reading the page (I was at work and only skimmed at first) most of what she said is kinda crazy.

I understand wanting to listen to your doctor. But she made it sound like her doctor was saying it was impossible for everyone. Just judging from people on this forum, its obviously possible to be vegan and have tons of energy.

My guess is she was not eating right to start with. Which is sad, because on my vegan diet I feel great. I recently got a full blood test done and my doctor said he would give me an A+ (up from his arbitrary B- grade, 3 years ago)..

Hopefully people who are wanting to make the move to a vegan lifestyle talk to people who are successful, rather than these failures.

[runner]

My iron and calcium levels are ok (12 years vegan). I don't suplement for these even though I train 4-5 times a week. In my team was a guy with anemia, but he was eating meat. I do use soy milk, but not every day.

Do think b12 suplements are good to take.

for the other some people need more iron some don't. would say check food that contain iron like green leaf veggies, consume them. Also include appelstroop (apple spread from the netherlands, available in some healthfoodstores outside the country), this is high in iron. A doctor prohibit this to a girl that was high on iron. Yes they exist.

[FormicaLinoleum]

She says she was taking B12 supplements. If this is true, she most likely has pernicious anemia, which has nothing to do with being vegan and will not be fixed by eating animal products again. She says she started feeling better when she stopped being vegan, but she started getting B12 injections around the same time, so it's entirely likely that her experience of feeling better was caused by addressing her B12 deficiency through the injections and had nothing to do with eating animal products again.

And yes, her doctor was basically saying that no one can be healthy on a vegan diet, and this woman seems to have bought into what she was told and is now saying the same through her blog. It's interesting that she was already starting to doubt veganism because she was reading some books that claim that universal veganism isn't ecologically viable around the same time she started having the health problems.

She lives in Saudi Arabia, too--I would imagine there are not very many vegans there and that doctors and most other people she would speak to for advice would be pro-meat and not supportive of veganism. (Same would be true of 'professionals' here, but at least there's a somewhat better chance of stumbling across someone pro-vegan in countries where there are more vegans.)

[chloe]

did anyone get to the bit where someone called Lyndsay posted about how great feedlots are?
thats when i shut the blog!!

[crapiecorn]

Unfortunately, others have made threats against me and my family

Some people have the right idea.

Lately a lot of these food blogs are popping up. Women age 20 to 40 who are trying to eat healthy and run a sub 5h30 marathon. Most of the time they fail at both.

[mabli]

Am I missing the point, I don't see why it matters...

[FormicaLinoleum]

The comments on her blog show why it matters. She's basically saying all the things Weston A. Price says, but because it's coming from someone who was a vegan and claims to have given veganism up only because she absolutely had to for her health, people will listen to her more than they would to someone who had never been vegan. They'll think she knows what she's talking about and people who otherwise might have gone vegan may be convinced not to after reading this. She hasn't simply presented a story about why she personally started eating animal products again--she now believes that everyone should eat animal products.

[mabli]

well Ive known a few folk who've stopped being vegan and pretended it was for health reasons. They're generally the lard arses with the bad skin and I hope anyone meeting me and them recognises this fact.

I dont know how well known this person is, but I understand that each time you visit a site you add to its hits which the bots like, therefore making it register higher in the rankings, as does linking to it, writing comments so keywords are increased etc etc... if its higher in the rankings more folk are likely to read it, and more folk are going to read the comments and any susceptiple idiots may decide to believe her comments over the 100,000s of healthy, happy, long lived vegans.

[Talyn]

I dont know how well known this person is, but I understand that each time you visit a site you add to its hits which the bots like, therefore making it register higher in the rankings, as does linking to it, writing comments so keywords are increased etc etc... if its higher in the rankings more folk are likely to read it, and more folk are going to read the comments and any susceptiple idiots may decide to believe her comments over the 100,000s of healthy, happy, long lived vegans.

Judging by the comments on her blog, it is obvious she has moderated out any negative comments from people. So to new people reading that site there will be no alternative but to just assume that everyone agrees with her.

[mabli]

Oh, I just meant by linking to and visiting the site you inadvertently increase the optimisation so it does better in search engine rankings and lures more people to it, but a quick google of some of her keywords shows that's too late

[downhillingdemon]

I wouldn't be surprised if she's a meat-industry paid long term campaigner who has pretended to be out right vegan and has now suddenly 'changed' into a hardcore 'animal abuse is fine, as long as we eat the results'

The meat industry and it's supporters are big, powerful and desperate to cause discontent in the vegan/veggie movement.

*is cynical*

[E-P]

I wouldn't be surprised if she's a meat-industry paid long term campaigner who has pretended to be out right vegan and has now suddenly 'changed' into a hardcore 'animal abuse is fine, as long as we eat the results'

That was my first thought too. Why would someone write _7000_words_essay about her current changes in health and diet, without getting paid for it? Booooooooriiiiiiiiiing. I managed to get about 40% through the whole thing.