Positive (side) effects of going vegan

[starlight]

Right On Starlight - tell your mom how happy we all are to hear of her choice!

And what a wonderful influence her daughter has become - hooray for you both!

:)

Thanks tachcha.

(But I think I should point out I'm of the male persuasion, before this goes any further. lol)

[tahcha]

:eek: OMG Starlight - I am so sorry and meant no offense - I never even thought - how selfish of me!!! Please accept my humblest apologies - along with my adoration for your ability to positively influence those around you.

:dizzy: jain

[starlight]

:eek: OMG Starlight - I am so sorry and meant no offense - I never even thought - how selfish of me!!! Please accept my humblest apologies - along with my adoration for your ability to positively influence those around you.

:dizzy: jain

No worries

[bradders]

my skin is softer and complexion improved

[squigaletta]

need less sleep
have stronger nails
have much better fitness levels without even trying (used to not be able to get out of bed after kickboxing, now I barely notice it)
dont feel 'heavy'. I used to do day fasts to make myself feel 'lighter' now I have that feeling pretty much all the time.
get a warm smug glow every time I buy soy milk at the super market (bad I know but true! I've started judging other people's baskets!)

one unpleasant side effect is feeling very at odds with the majority of the world, and everyone I know, I just don't get why they can't see it the way I see it and thats a little depressing.

[mariana]

(bad I know but true! I've started judging other people's baskets!)

Hehe, I didn't even notice other people's baskets until I was in the supermarket the other day with my friends and looked in their baskets and all they had was ice cream, cookies, cake, etc. :rolleyes: They looked at mine in shock--I had carrots, onions, beans, pasta, nuts, apples. :p:D

[Enchantress]

We only ever buy alcohol and junk food at the supermarket. Feel free to judge us :satisfied:.

[squigaletta]

the people who I tend to judge badly are the ones with cheese and cheesy ready meals and stuff like that, I kinda wanna shake them! and people with kids who are buying a weeks worth of junk, that makes me :(.

[mariana]

We only ever buy alcohol and junk food at the supermarket. Feel free to judge us :satisfied:.
Haha, well I didn't judge them, I just thought it was funny, especially given how completely shocked they were at my basket. (Btw, in addition to all the healthy food, I also had vodka in my basket. :p:D) And trust me, I would have had some junk food in there too but the supermarket near me is really small and doesn't stock much vegan junk food (it mostly only has preprepared omni food :().

[Enchantress]

Just to make things clear we (that is Risker and I) don't live off junk food and beer, it's just that his mum pays for most of our food out of our rent money, so we just use the supermarket for picking up a few extras.

[helen105281]

one unpleasant side effect is feeling very at odds with the majority of the world, and everyone I know, I just don't get why they can't see it the way I see it and thats a little depressing.

That is exactly how I feel especially at work. But I would not change my decision to become vegan for the world. One unexpected effect of my veganism is my ability to stand up for my beliefs has improved a lot.

[vava]

i feel more strongly about vegan issues as I become vegan for longer. I went away for the weekend and we ate out quite a bit and i saw childrean being fed animals and all I could think of was how sorry i felt for them and that they were being fed 'death'. I think I am now a fully fledged vegan weirdo. Hurrah!:o

[~Lyns~]

Best unexpected side effect .. New found happiness and inner peace. I thought i was happy and held inner peace before but its just nothing compared to that of which i feel as a vegan. Being 100% CF has just made me find a new sense of inner peace knowing i in myself am completely peaceful and my existence doesn't arm any other living being.
Hmm i hope you are able to understand what i mean its hard to write down exactly what i mean.

[~Lyns~]

need less sleep
dont feel 'heavy'. I used to do day fasts to make myself feel 'lighter' now I have that feeling pretty much all the time.
get a warm smug glow every time I buy soy milk at the super market (bad I know but true! I've started judging other people's baskets!)

one unpleasant side effect is feeling very at odds with the majority of the world, and everyone I know, I just don't get why they can't see it the way I see it and thats a little depressing.


^ *nods* .. I feel the same way :) ^

[hiddenfromview]

^ *nods* .. I feel the same way :) ^
me too! 100%
defo need less sleep too...and have plenty more energy during the day :)

[starlight]

butter smells really, really bad

[Nyphur]

butter smells really, really bad
Chicken too. After a few months of being vegetarian, I began to gag at the smell of cooked chicken. It smells like what I imagine a corpse smells like.

This could be from going vegan or it could be just a coincidence but my sleep has gotten a lot more potent. It's not that I need less but I can sleep to get over illness much faster than I used to. I'd say the regenerative stages of sleep are working much more effectively than they used to. Colds that used to last a week or more are cured in a few days. I know it's the sleep because when I am sick and don't sleep I am just as bad. When I'm sick and wake up after 14 hours sleep, I feel a lot better.

The biggest negative side-effect is how people treat you when you tell them you're vegan. Sure some people are nice and genuinely interested (even though they all ask the same questions) but for most people it's like they take personal offense. I don't talk about it unless someone brings it up of course, I'm not pushy and don't try to convince people they should be vegan too. Some people just take a personal interest in picking you to pieces when you mention off-hand that you can't eat something because you're vegan.

[bradders]

about how quickly you get over colds etc, I'd certainly agree with that. Hardly had a cold since being vegan and they normally seem to last about a day and a half now rather than a week and a half. My sleep has improved a bit too in every way.
With some people I find the best way to introduce the subject of being vegan is to show that you have a sence of humour and say something like (in the right tone) "I'm one of those vegan, it breaks the ice on the subject, shows that you're not a completely humourless robot and helps get the conversation going on the subject in a positive air. This has got a few people I know thinking seriously adopting the vegan way of life and one person has already adopted it now. Keeps veganism mainstream, whilst showing that we are still normal people who can have alaugh.

[Quantum Mechanic]

I find when I have a sore throat, it isn't as bad as it used to be. There's no more mucous from the dairy!

I stopped getting my sinus headaches for a while but they are coming back. I get a headache almost every day now. :(

Yeah, I was always told as a child not to have milk and cheese and ice cream when I had sore throat / mucous / cold, and I remember one day reaching for a yogurt and not even realizing that that was also dairy like milk.

I gave up dairy about a month before being vegan for health reasons (I have probably a dairy allergy that while not life threatening or anything can make it harder on breathing and stomach troubles). That mostly cleared up. Also sinus infections recurring, that I kept going to the doctor, then after being dairy free for awhile it mostly has cleared up. Still have a bit mucous though, and asthma-like symptoms I've had since a child. In the last month gotten slightly worse, though I would put that down to the colder weather/climate and increased exercise.

After a couple months I mostly have had my acne cleared up, even though I don't wash nearly enough as I would like. This may just be a temporary coincidence, but it may be related to the exclusion of dairy and other animal products.

First I gained a couple pounds because of my enthusiasm for vegan convenience foods like soy ice creams and stuff like that, but after that I lost more weight and went to the higher end of healthy weight. Though I've gained some on holiday. But I'll be eating much better and doing more exercise in another week. Those chocolate chip pancakes were good though...

I feel slightly less need for sleep, which in my case is not so good because I already have the tendency for my body to think that bedtime is between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., and since I've been vegan I tend to go to sleep at least 5 a.m., often 6 or 7. Which isn't good when I have to get up NO LATER than 8 a.m. to get out the door (and that's if I just change clothes without breakfast or brushing hair or anything, and I feel nasty the whole day even though I try to shower the night before).

And yet, I can still be mostly productive and alert and attentive in class through until 5 p.m., as I have loads of energy. But I am terribly sleep-deprived and that can be seen sometimes at the end of the week when the weekend I crash for 12-hour sleep times, and especially at the mid-quarter and at the end of the quarter when I am in class and intermittently falling asleep (though I am fortunate that I have trained myself to not fall asleep in a way that my head dips down and it is apparent, but my eyes are open and I am sitting up, but my mouth hangs open and I may drool a bit ;p ). Then again I've always had that problem, it's just gotten a little worse lately, even though I follow good sleep hygiene almost all the time (except when I'm on holiday).

I get very uncomfortable just at the sight of animal products, and unfortunately most of the time I wear my emotions on my face and my own personal disgust could easily be mistaken as me trying to actively be judgemental towards someone else, so I try to monitor my facial expressions, which is no easy task. If I see someone has taken my disgust especially personally, I might launch into a clumsy explanation, knowing that it probably won't make a difference, but just in case I'd like to explain that I'm not trying to be actively critical. Haven't encountered as much of the "vegan police" (whether omni or vegan) as I expected.

My sweat does seem to smell better, sweet smelling almost. But I thought that was because of the new, natural deodorant I was using (even though it is odor and fragrance free), I figured it was interacting with my skin or something. :p

[helen105281]

I have definitely had less colds etc since becoming vegan. Though I have a horrible one at the moment which I have now had for a couple of weeks. I work in an office where everyone was coughing and sneezing for weeks and the bugs constantly get spread around the office thanks to the air con so I had no hope really though it did take longer than most for me to get it. My partner has always had an excellent immune system but it is even better since he went vegan, have been coughing and spluttering around him for the past 2 weeks and he feels fine.

[bradders]

people with good immune systems make me sick

[Buddha Belly]

people with good immune systems make me sick


Hee hee. it annoys her i never get ill as well.

[bradders]

you people need to be made ill so you know what we go through. We could do some sort of programme where we feed people like you various poisons to make you sick for a month and then you can apologize to us for being well all the time and recognize the true scale of our plight!

[Buddha Belly]

you people need to be made ill so you know what we go through. We could do some sort of programme where we feed people like you various poisons to make you sick for a month and then you can apologize to us for being well all the time and recognize the true scale of our plight!

If it is any comfort to you: last night i developed Helen's cold and spent the night snivelling and sneezing. Today i am fine!!
As for the poisoning... I had two Linda Macartney sausages today and have awlful stomach cramps because of it.
I know the pain of being ill as i have to listen to Helen's contant moaning about it.

[bradders]

mwa HAH HA HA HA HA HA HAAA!
that's what you get for boasting about how you never get ill
:D:D:D