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Zanahorias!
Nov 9th, 2008, 07:18 PM
I've been vegan for coming up on four years now, and I must attest to my health greatly improving. In particular, my respiratory health has seen real benefits. I've always been very active, doing lots of running and other cardio. However, I used to get colds so often. In school, I remember missing so much because of illness. Since, I can count the number of colds I've had on one hand. When I'm being active, I feel much more vital, too. My stamina has improved and my lung capacity seems to have grown.
I attribute this to the fact that I ate so much dairy and processed grains and sugars; all of which can cause problems like the ones I had. I feel fortunate that I went vegan when I did, before the ramifications of my poor diet to fully realized. Now, I am infinitely more aware of what I'm putting in my body. It's nice to take pride in my health and know that my diet is positively impactful.

cobweb
Nov 9th, 2008, 09:08 PM
my post (176) up there was a bit OTT. I am just a bit stressed about my general health. However, to be honest i think i am probably much healthier than a lot of people my age or younger who aren't vegan. I think sometimes i just feel, as a vegan, i ought to be a shining beacon of health and when i don't feel so great i blame myself for not being 'good enough'.
Hope that makes sense.
Didn't mean to knock veganism, i love it really :o.
I'm currently working on getting a properly balanced meal plan together on a sensible budget.

sandra
Nov 9th, 2008, 09:46 PM
I'm not very 'healthy' either Cobweb as far as my diet is concerned. I just eat what I feel like and I do eat a lot of sweets too! I still think though that I'd rather be vegan and eat 'unhealthy' things sometimes than not be vegan and eat 'unhealthy' things too.
Vegans don't eat animal products and that fact alone makes our diet healthier than non-vegans.
Overall though, I do feel healthier being vegan as I've said before (I know I go on about this too much) I had a lot of stomach problems before I was vegan and they have all gone now. I can now eat whatever I like and not suffer horrendous indigestion and stomach pains and I don't need constant medication like I did before........ or hospital investigations.
I think I'll follow your example though and try to follow a more sensible eating plan.............eating more fruit and veg etc and only drinking water.............I doubt it will last though...........as I'm only vegan because of the animals.........I couldn't really care less about being vegan for health reasons.:o:D

cobweb
Nov 9th, 2008, 10:12 PM
i'm a lot like that Sandra but i am beginning to care more about my health, and my weight!.
also i feel a bit 'lost' sometimes, cannot decide what i want to eat, so i have drawn up a plan with set meals for every day. I need to get organised!.

p.s it's great that your stomach problems are gone.

veganlinda
Nov 10th, 2008, 12:58 AM
My health is probably much the same although I have read way more about dietary requirements since becoming vegan so am more conscious of when I am not eating healthy! being vegan doesn't stop me being sad n binging or eating too much chocolate ... I just feel more guilty these days!

Gorilla
Nov 10th, 2008, 01:54 PM
i can't remember if i said this before but i used to get bad mouth ulcers, and they seemed to pretty much disappear when i went vegan. i'm more aware of how to get the necessary nutrients than i was as a veggie so i'm probably a lot healthier now (on top of the lack of animal products) especially as i used to get anaemic sometimes and i'm not any more. my diet hasn't affected my depression though.

bradders
Nov 10th, 2008, 06:20 PM
on the point of mouth ulcers I have noticed quite a reduction in frequency and severity

Haniska
Nov 10th, 2008, 10:20 PM
to be honest i have way more sugar problems as a vegan :(.
i eat far too many carbs and sugary foods now.
it only just hit me the other day that, up til i went vegan i never had a weight problem and never suffered with depression to a point where i needed treatment. I also never had teeth that were sensitive or broke/cracked.
Now all these things could be just the effects of ageing, or my own personal vegan diet might be very unbalanced, but it occurred to me that maybe i shouldn't go round telling people how 'healthy' veganism is :o.


I was wondering to myself if I was not getting all these awesome benefits because I didn't reduce my sugar like some people did. Good point to everyone who mention they were more educated now. I very much am too.

bradders
Nov 10th, 2008, 10:23 PM
my complex carb intake has increased but as my chocolate intake has decreased my fast acting sugars has also decreased which would explain a lot

rianaelf
Nov 12th, 2008, 09:35 PM
It took years for me to put on weight and for quite a while I felt less healthy than I did before I became vegan but it balanced out eventually and Im sure I feel a lot healthier now than I would have had I not turned vegan but as has already been said, I didn't do it for health reasons but for love and thats what makes me feel so amazing being a vegan, in my head and all through my body.

cobweb
Nov 12th, 2008, 09:59 PM
that's nice, rianelf, i too am vegan completely for love (love of animals that is) and that keeps me warm at night, too. x

Johnstuff
Nov 13th, 2008, 05:43 PM
I don't actually know if being vegan has made me more healthy. I was vegetarian for most of my life before becoming vegan and so I can't really remember how eating meat made me feel.

I feel now that I couldn't eat meat without it affecting my mental health in a negative way. I also feel fitter than ever.


One of my favorite hobbies is freediving. When I did my course a couple of years ago they said that not eating dairy was advisable beacause it could cause your body to produce too much mucus and this can block your eustation (sp?) tubes and make it hard to equalise.

Lots of freedivers (perhaps 50%) have problems with equalising, but I find my ears are very good. This could be because I don't consume any dairy. Then again it may have not made any difference.

Quantum Mechanic
Nov 14th, 2008, 09:17 PM
One thing I've noticed, is that when I still had some dairy in my diet, I had a lot of lines in my nails, and they were very brittle and thin. Now that I've been a vegan for about a month, my nails are much smoother, stronger, and seem to grow more.

Finikan
Dec 7th, 2008, 06:50 AM
I feel much better now! I've only had eating disorder relapses a few times, but nothing like I used to have.

burl
Dec 17th, 2008, 09:10 PM
I figure this is a good place for my first post.
I have been vegan for almost five years and I feel better for it. I actually weigh 30 more pounds now than I was right before I became vegan. Veganism was my first step into a healthy lifestyle. I have always thought about how worried people get about me getting enough nurtients. As we know there really aren't any nutrients vegans can't get that non-vegans can. Becoming vegan introduced me to a big world. I began to read about how to be healthy in general. Healthy in body and mind. My vegan diet was a starting point for where I am today. Before I was vegan I smoked, drank alcohol and did drugs. Since becoming vegan (and a little earlier) I have quite drinking alcohol and never smoke anything. I realized that diet isn't enough so I started exercising and found that I really enjoyed it. I credit veganism for my physical fitness now. I may weigh a lot more but I am in such better shape. I have a job that requires tons of endurance and strangth and being vegan hasn't been a disadvantage. I can keep up with and often preform better than my "bacon-n'eggs" co-workers.
Veganism has also helped me mentally. I know that when I eat a meal it has much less of an impact than most people (though pleanty of an impact). I know that I am not supporting suffering of animals. I feel good that at least I am trying to do something good for the earth, which is in turn good for me and everyone else.
Being vegan can be tough because most people have weird misconceptions about it and assume they know more than you about your lifestyle. So, being a vegan has definitely had a positive effect on my life and I can't imagine living any other way.

fiamma
Dec 17th, 2008, 09:41 PM
What a great story burl :)

Ifeel much calmer as a vegan, perhaps it's knowing I'm not contributing to a lot of the suffering that goes on in the world :thumbsup:

Pilaf
Dec 27th, 2008, 03:55 PM
I've been vegan for coming up on four years now, and I must attest to my health greatly improving. In particular, my respiratory health has seen real benefits. I've always been very active, doing lots of running and other cardio. However, I used to get colds so often. In school, I remember missing so much because of illness. Since, I can count the number of colds I've had on one hand. When I'm being active, I feel much more vital, too. My stamina has improved and my lung capacity seems to have grown.
I attribute this to the fact that I ate so much dairy and processed grains and sugars; all of which can cause problems like the ones I had. I feel fortunate that I went vegan when I did, before the ramifications of my poor diet to fully realized. Now, I am infinitely more aware of what I'm putting in my body. It's nice to take pride in my health and know that my diet is positively impactful.

I pretty much feel all these effects and more now. Like you, I have been on and off physically training since the late nineties, but since becoming vegan and especially since working full time and staying busy thus combating my pseudo-depression I get now and then, I feel like I can be more physically fit and have much more bodily stamina and not even have to work out as much as before to be at the same level. Naturally, I work out even more, when I can, and so my energy levels are through the roof. And lung capacity, as you said. I very rarely get out of breath doing anything.

convectuoso
Dec 28th, 2008, 03:45 AM
i'm starting to go down to a more suitable weight and i've noticed my sleep pattern is becoming more natural too

bradders
Dec 29th, 2008, 12:21 AM
my thyroid really seems to have stabilized recently, largely due to diet, so this is a really great benefit, no pills, no harmed animals, less food needed, yay

Roxy
Dec 29th, 2008, 02:22 AM
Oooo that's great news Bradders!

bradders
Dec 29th, 2008, 02:38 AM
I'm really happy about it. I like my food, don't get me wrong but I'm really glad not to eat so much at the same time not be losing weight and not be so incredibly restless, oh and not risk early onset demensia LOL

wendy
Jan 6th, 2009, 02:08 PM
Well I have cfs for 14 years. I was vegetarian when I got sick. Going vegan didn't improve the cfs, but dairy and eggs did give me diarroeha

clueless
Jan 7th, 2009, 10:45 AM
I feel like I have more of a purpose in life and I'm really proud of being a vegan coz I'm taking a stand for what I believe in and also doing my bit for the animals and the environment.

Physically, I don't really remember what it was like eating meat (coz I was veggie for 3-4 years before I turned vegan 8 months ago and I'm only 17) but I'm sure I feel a lot better coz I have seen photos of me even at 15 and I've definitely lost weight! (thank goodness to that :o). My skin is pretty clear, I don't have any allergies and come to think of it, I don't think i've even had any health problems ever since i went vegan. i used to get the flu a lot as a vegetarian but now i don't.

I also feel like I'm more disciplined because being a vegetarian means you can still eat at restaurants mainly and food is easier to find, plus you can still eat dairy so all deserts were tempting! But now I have resisted going to restaurants (except vegan ones of course) and i can say no to junk food like icecream etc so i feel like i have more willpower.

That was a very long answer to a very short question lol. :p

AnneCE
Jan 7th, 2009, 12:14 PM
Having eaten too much rubbish over Xmas, I had indigestion for what must be the first time since I went vegan (Sept 06). I hadn't really noticed that I hadn't have indigestion in that time. It was horrible and has motivated me to be a lot more conscious of what I am eating in terms of my health.

Sarabi
Jan 9th, 2009, 04:23 AM
How has it affected me? Well, this is not so much the diet as the principle, but it's made me angrier because every time I talk to a non-vegan, they want to argue with me about how it's purely a matter of personal choice. I can't blame them. Either all parties are guilty or no one is. I can't even tell someone that veganism is not a joke without them turning on me to suggest that I'm a snob.