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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Lifestyle > Vegetarian & Vegan

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  #1  
Old 16-12-2015, 09:41 AM
Shivani Devi Shivani Devi is offline
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Going Back to Vegan

It's just been too long in the making, but this is going to be my 'New Year's Resolution' and also to cut down my chemical intake across the board, from coffee to cigarettes to cleaning products to painkillers.

I won't be giving it all up entirely, but giving up meat, fish, eggs and dairy (along with wheat products) and drinking more filtered water, is something my body has been screaming for, for a while.

I am 51 and my body and digestion is 'slowing down' with age and I'm noticing I'm having more trouble digesting the same foods now, than I did 10-20 years ago. I am lactose intolerant now and if I have something like a milkshake and a white bread sandwich with meat on it, I am doubled-over with pain from gas and wind for days, followed by a week of diarrhoea leading to a course of Loperamide and prochlorperazine (more chemicals).

Every two-three months, I will get a pain in the right side like a 'raw stitch' that is about a 7/10 on the pain scale and lasts for 1-2 weeks. I have had upper abdominal Ultrasounds, Gall-bladder scans, Liver Function tests and laporoscopy and doctors found...nothing! everything is perfect there.

I wake up every morning and I am all sweaty and nauseous and I stink and I have 3-4 showers daily to try and wash it all off because deodorants give me migraine headaches - like most perfume does.

I'm just suffering with IBS and a multitude of food allergies and I'm also going through menopause and I hear soy milk is better than real milk for that...and even if I have cows milk in my tea now, I am belching and farting for hours.

Then, I was watching TV a few days ago and I was watching the Global Climate Summit and I saw Arnold Schwarzeneger take the cause for global vegetarianism to the world stage as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 1/3 and therefore meet the 2Deg target by 2030...well, Arnie sold me at that point (he just helped drive it all home, actually).

Then, I was walking through Woolies/Coles and roast chickens are like $12 each, steak is $22 kilo, pork chops are $16 kilo and fish is about $16-24 kilo unless you buy tasteless basa fillet (yuk)....this is so bad...I can't continue to afford this. $22 would buy me enough veggies for a few days, maybe a week!

I'll have to wait until after Christmas though, because I'm hosting the Christmas Party this year and I'll be expected to eat all that then, but it will be the very last time I do and I'll make the announcement, not to try and get me to eat any of this stuff in future because I won't.

I was a vegetarian before, many years ago, so I'll have fun going through all my old recipes and cooking all that Indian vegetarian stuff again, but with less spices this time around as well (except for ginger...I'll be using lots of it in my cooking in future). Peace out.
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  #2  
Old 16-12-2015, 10:08 AM
knightofalbion knightofalbion is offline
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Good for you!
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  #3  
Old 16-12-2015, 10:20 AM
Emmalevine Emmalevine is offline
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Yay!

I can't speak for you of course, but for me going vegan has become second nature. As you've been there before you may find it easier to go back. I had to think about what I ate for the first 2-3 weeks but then it clicked into place. I have about 3 basic, delicious meals I fall back on, but I regularly look up recipes online to keep my diet interesting and stop the boredom rut. My tastes have changed a bit - I used to hate nuts but I don't mind them now.

Most people can't tolerate dairy so I'm not surprised you're reacting like that. I'm intolerant and used to experience much the same.

Now that I'm vegan I am sooo aware of the animal industry and I don't even get cravings for meat as to me it represents cruelty and suffering. I'm shocked I managed to detach for so long - but then nearly everyone does. Once you step out of the matrix as it were, you realise just how terrible it is.

Good luck - hopefully it's a path to a healthier you as well as a kinder lifestyle.
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Old 16-12-2015, 10:39 AM
Shivani Devi Shivani Devi is offline
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Thank you guys for your warm wishes and advice.

I think steel-cut oats with grated apple, slivered almonds, soy milk and honey is going to be my 'morning staple' for a while, followed by a lot of salads with raw fruit and vegetable juices and steamed vegetables...and trying to find legumes that are not gas-producing. I won't be able to eat any of the brassicae family whatsoever either. I like nuts too and I love trail mix. I could live on that and raw juices and filtered water for days...that's how I might kick it off...
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:56 AM
Shinsoo Shinsoo is offline
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Don't mean to nitpick, but Honey isn't considered vegan actually. You'd be better off sweetening your oatmeal with some maple syrup or some coconut sugar (it's a plant based sugar that's natural and tastes just like brown sugar, you can use it teaspoon for teaspoon in place of refined sugar as well)

Good luck to you--it's hard. I fell hard yesterday myself and ate a giant chicken sandwich after some extremely bad news, processing and other junk that happened, so be nice to yourself if you slip up. You'll get there in time just as I will. :)
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Old 16-12-2015, 04:37 PM
mogenblue mogenblue is offline
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Good luck Necromancer.

I am 55 and I went vegetarian when I was 49. I had serious digestion problems too. Just like you.
2 years later I skipped the last bit of dairy from my diet: cheese. I had already replaced cow milk with fortified soymilk for the B12 and extra calcium.

I feel so much better then before. It took me a few years to really get into it but my taste has changed and now I feel very good about myself.

Today I made my first reasonable seitan. It's not that hard at all if you have the right glutenpowder. Taste like more. I'm going to get into that. It has a very good bite. And I know how to spice it up.
Seitan has the bite from meat. But it doesn't lay like a brick on your stomach doing nothing for a while, except messing up your digestion.
1 kg glutenpowder can bring you about 3 kg seitan, maybe even more.

Go for it
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Old 16-12-2015, 10:21 PM
Shivani Devi Shivani Devi is offline
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Thank you for both replies above.

@ Shinsoo - Nah, you weren't nitpicking, I just didn't know, but I do now. It makes sense though, being an 'animal byproduct'. Still, I would rather use brown sugar instead...I'm not trying to cut out sugar entirely, just refined white or even raw...I don't mind molasses or treacle either (very high in trace minerals)...just in moderation to sweeten my morning oatmeal. Thanks for your reply and yeah, I'll probably slip up too, but as long as I am going in the right direction, a few slip-ups are par for the course.

@ Mogenblue - Thanks so much for your advice and I've never heard about seitan before, however I am also trying to give up gluten at the same time -
it feels like my intestines just can't handle it as it sets my guts off in painful spasms...even Weet Bix triggers it. I prefer tempeh, although I am trying to get a low sodium one.
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Old 17-12-2015, 01:08 AM
mogenblue mogenblue is offline
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Like I said, I just made my first reasonable batch.
I guess I ate too much of it because it felt after a 3rd portion my stomach was blocked. Maybe 200 grams a day could be a daily limit for me. I still have to work this out.

It's a pretty stiff mass and my stomach had trouble breaking it down.

I hope you will find your way though. Maybe your resistance will build up when you are vegan for a longer time, like one or two years.
I sometimes compare my metabolism with cars. When I still ate meat it was like an old Volkswagen van: nice to have but it wouldn't get anything anymore. Now that I eat plant based it's like a Ferrari: massive power available at an instant.
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Old 17-12-2015, 10:57 AM
Emmalevine Emmalevine is offline
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Maple syrup is a good honey substitute.
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