Vegan in a Nutshell

If you're really looking to get into peak physical form, going vegan might be the route for you. It's a common misconception that we're all malnourished, overly-skinny waifs; in fact, we live six to ten years longer than our meat-eating counterparts, and enjoy many health benefits. I became a vegetarian at the age of seven, and turned vegan a month after turning sixteen. What has it done for me? Before I go into that, here are a few facts:

1) Many health insurance companies are now offering discounts to people who live vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. Vegetarians and vegans have far less incidence of health problems; have lower body weights; and (as mentioned above) have life expectancies which are six to ten years longer than those of our meat-eating counterparts.

2) You were brought up to think that your body needs milk, but the truth is you probably can't even digest it. "One of the most predominant food intolerances is to dairy products... All mammals breast-feed until a certain age, and then when they are weaned, their bodies no longer need to produce lactase, the protein enzyme needed to break down the lactose into glucose. For humans, this begins happening around age 2. So when we consume dairy products beyond that age, our bodies may no longer be able to digest the lactose they contain, thus causing some people symptoms of lactose intolerance.

Lactose intolerance is a common concern throughout the modern world that sustains itself on a diet of dairy-rich foods. In fact, only a small part of the world population can even digest cows' lactose throughout their entire lives, and it's mostly those of Eastern European descent. For the rest, nearly 75 percent of the population world-wide, consuming dairy products may start out as a harmless act but soon ends in pain and discomfort." -- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living, 2005.

Did you ever wonder why so many infants suffer from colic and gas?

3) A plant-based diet is considered preventative medicine and is backed by many doctors; a completely plant-based diet is full of antioxidants, minerals, plant proteins, vitamins, and everything else the body needs to fight disease. It provides just the right amounts of everything you need, as it's a known fact that too much calcium and protein can hurt you. Through living vegan, you not only avoid improper nutrition, but you can give your immune system a complete arsenal with this type of diet.

4) In fact, many people who convert to vegan diets have successfully reversed diabetes and heart disease, and have maintained their results while discontinuing most (sometimes even all) of their medications.

My reasons for being vegan involve ethics as well as the desire to maintain a healthy physical state, but I'll keep this limited to the physical aspects. Some of the perks I have enjoyed are: low BMI; clear skin; healthy hair and nails; high energy levels; high metabolic rate; never bloating after food or drink (or basically ever); rarely to never being sick (aside from a gastrointestinal disorder I have suffered since November 2007, most likely result of toxic environmental factors I was involuntarily exposed to until recent years). My doctors are in awe of how low my cholesterol has always been, and my insulin has been forever stable. I never experience the fluctuations in these levels that throw so many people off.

"But Lunar, I want MUSCLE!"

Trust me, I abound in muscle, as do many vegan body-builders. When you get your proteins from meat and dairy products, you are taking in high-fat foods that provide you with the kind of energy that high-sugar foods do. You get a nice boost for a short amount of time, but it doesn't last, and you're left feeling like crap. When you consume plant-based proteins, they do wonders for your muscle development and support longer periods of endurance whilst physically exerting one's self. Proof? Look to The Yale Medical Journal and Dr. Ioteyko, a doctor at the Academie de Medicine of Paris. He discovered that vegetarians and vegans had two to three more times stamina than meat-eaters, and recovered from exhaustion in just one-fifth of the time. Maybe this is why I kick ass in tennis matches

Partially because I'm Italian and partially because I'm vegan, I eat a lot of pasta. Most people would consider that their worst nightmare because "carbohydrates are SATAN!" Uff, no, this is not the case; rather, you must watch the type of carbohydrate you are consuming. Vegans consume a lot of complex carbs, eat small amounts of simple carbs, and, for the most part, completely cut out refined carbs, preferring foods in their natural state. Here's why.

Basically, refined carbs are things like bleached and polished grains and sugars. While they may look appealing, they are nothing but empty calories, stipped of everything that could possibly be useful to your body. They are found in pre-packaged foods, and while they certainly may satisfy your palate (gotta love Ding Dongs and Fruit Loops), they don't stop there. They hang around for awhile in your digestive tract, and may even decide to rent some land in your hips. They become those damned tenants you'd like nothing more than to evict, but just can't.

When consuming carbs, a vegan looks for the following: complex carbs in their whole forms, such as whole-grain pasta (just ask me if you want a longer list!). With these, you are improving your brain function; getting all of the fibre compulsory for digestive function; and lowering your risk for chronic disease. Simple carbs are found in fruits, and give you that "quick fix" for energy you're looking for, meanwhile fueling you with antioxidants, enzymes, fibre, vitamins and more!

In addition, I concur with most professionals that wellness is about not only the body, but the mind. When you're fueling your body with all-natural, organic foods free of hormones (which 80% of meat sources are treated with in the American market), it's only natural that you're going to feel as good as you were born to feel. To be a RLSH, one can greatly benefit from improved clarity and functionality.

So that's my contribution to the wellness forum. Of course, don't forget to get plenty of exercise, but for all of us, that's already a given!

Wow, very interesting and informative. I almost wanna go vegan now...

...but i love me some In n Out

The places my mind went when you said that...

Until I did a Google search and discovered that there is a hamburger place called the In-N-Out Burger lol!

Lunar, I generally agree with your posting here, but I had a question about the study you cited about stamina and recovery time. Do you know the fitness level of the study participants? My thought here is that someone who decides to go Vegan may make other healthy choices regarding diet and fitness, whereas the meat eaters may also indulge in other, less healthy behaviors. It would be interesting to see the results of a similar study using fitness competitors of equal caliber, and see if the results match the study you cite here.

I'm very sympathetic to this, but when I personally tried being a vegetarian it didn't work out so well for me. I lost a lot of weight, which might be good for most people, but isn't for me at all.

Lunar Veil wrote:

The places my mind went when you said that...

Until I did a Google search and discovered that there is a hamburger place called the In-N-Out Burger lol!

haha, i forgot its west coast chain

Gauge: I wish I knew the specifics regarding the people that were surveyed, but I'm unfortunately not able to find that particular information. I definitely agree about testing subjects with similar levels of fitness, but I do more or less have my own evidence. I have seen three friends who were overweight and very unhealthy, with little to no energy, convert to being vegans as a last resort since they had tried everything else already. Within six months' time, they were all different people, wanting to go out and get active. They all shed several pounds (my best friend at the time lost seventy-two pounds after a year), and they all look great now.

In addition, one of them can run circles around even me! I blame my G.I. issues, haha, which unfortunately get me down more often than they used to, but still. I'm quite proud of them all, and actually really impressed. If anything made me reinforce my beliefs, it's definitely that.

Mega-Rad: It sounds to me like you're saying you're already pretty thin. What works for some doesn't always work for others, but if you wanted to try it again, I'd say to make sure to pack a lot of healthy fats in such as avocados, olive oil, nuts, etc.

!: I'm still laughing :p

Hey, well thought out article. An interesting read.


I'm sorry, its not for me though. But I respect it, as long as you don't go up to people eating hotdogs and start that whole "Meat is murder" thing

I dated a vegatarian girl for a little, too bad she was one of the unhealthiest people I ever met in my life.but she wasn't a true vegetarian, more of a carbotarian. didn't even like most vegetables, or anything that wasn't fried. disgusting.

That was informative, I'll become a hybrid. I'll only eat the finest meats when I eat meat and I'll eat a lot of vegetables and healthy plant foods. Btw does soy and almond milk count as being good? Because, milk from nuts and beans tastes so good.

a hybrid is also known as an omnivore.

Urban: Yes, in order to be healthy while you are a vegetarian or vegan, you have to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables to get the proper nutrition. The majority of my diet consists of the aforementioned dietary staples, as well as a lot of grains; hot flax cereal, pasta, and vegan pizzas are some of my normal daily choices.

I initially made this post hoping to see if there were any other vegetarians and/or vegans within the community. I was also hoping to inspire others to live a vegan lifestyle, because a lot of doctors are starting to favour plant-based diets. It is a very healthy and natural way to live. I reiterate that some health insurance companies even give discounts now for being vegetarian or vegan due to the lack of health problems people statistically incur. It should definitely be of note that this is a lifestyle, and not just a diet.

I agree that the reason your ex-girlfriend was unhealthy was because she neglected to eat the staples involved with being a veg. As far as fried foods are concerned, those fall in the same category as my distaste for fast food. They are certainly on the naughty list, and I have never liked them. Anyway, I'm sorry that she didn't do it correctly, because if she would have, she would have been be a perfect picture of health... unless she had other health problems.

Chivalry: Thank you, I worked for a long while to get my facts straight so that I could share this with everyone in an educational way with technical information. I do drink almond milk and soy milk, and they definitely count as good foods. It isn't really compulsory to have a replacement for milk, as humans shouldn't even be consuming it for the reasons I mentioned in the first post, but these substitutes are enjoyable and healthy regardless. In fact, you can even make your own at home; if you want more information on this, I would be happy to post a step-by-step process.

Here is a link to an article which I believe adequately describes some of the best benefits of soy milk:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

As the article says, note that it is not fat-free, but it is low in fat. What is in there is the good kind of fat. If this is still a concern for you, I suggest Silk Light Soy in either the chocolate or vanilla flavours. The average calories are merely ninety for a one-cup serving.

I would like to re-touch upon the concept of avoiding fast food. One of the good reasons to do this is because there are so many things in fast food that your body was never meant to consume, such as all of the additives and potentially poisonous ingredients. It also has an outrageously high sodium content. What makes this worse is the fact that fast food companies add neurostimulant addictive chemicals to their products, which are the flavours that distinguish their food from what it would taste like if you made the same dish at home; in fact, they frequently hire panels of test subjects to test how addictive their food is. That is part of how they make their money, is to keep you hooked, and coming back for more.

If that didn't scare you away from fast food, let me say this: most of your complete fast food meals exceed your allotted daily value of calories in just one meal. I recently spent one day looking up the nutrition facts from several fast food restaurants, and I was shocked by how ridiculous they were. I encourage you to at least look online for what the restaurant serves before you go, and then look up the nutritional content of what you think you will order.

Do have a look at these interesting facts, though:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I would also like to encourage everyone to look into the slow food movement in Europe. That, my friends, is how you should be eating.

I had injured my back, stepping out of a truck on patrol, so I oculd do PT like most. I gained a lot of weight. Finally taped over my limit and got put on the overweight program for the first time in 18 years in service. Went on to a vegetarian diet, made tape in two weeks, stayed on it for 6 months, went from 255 to 190 in four months. It helped ALOT, Im a carnivore addict though. Have gone back to eating meat again, and gained weight back. Its telling me something LOL

A vegetarian diet or especially a vegan diet is definitely a great way to lose weight.

One thing I did stick too is Silk. I love that stuff!!! Especially the vanilla and the chocolate. Oh could someone explain the big words Luanr Veil was using, i shoot people for a living,Im not that smart lol

I admit I am a meat-eater. I love me a good steak, and am a total carniwhore, but I do have a well-balanced diet and am in peak condition.

Meat eater here. Too much plant matter seems to mess up my digestion (like anyone wanted to hear that). I've had no problem keeping a reasonable, if gorilla-ishly similar physique.

If by mess up your digestion you mean add enough fiber to make things, uh... flow?... then that is the way that it should be. May I be blunt here?

Regulation instead of constipation = the declaration of a wonderful sensation. You should go once or twice per day around the same time each day.

By the way, I am sorry to bump this topic up the thread after so long, but I just now saw these responses when providing a link to this post in a separate post from today.

When I was dating a Vegan last year, I did go on a vegan diet for a couple months. Neither of us expected me to stay on it permenantly, and neither did we expect her to reciprocate and eat cheeseburgers for a couple months.

Here's my experience...

As a diabetic (I have a rare form so this may not apply to others) I found it difficult ot keep my blood sugar in reasonable levels.

The variety available was poor in resturants, which contributed to the blood sugar problems, much of the time I was forced to eat appatizers.

I did wind up gassier than I usually am. This was not a plus.

After 2 months I wound up putting on 10 pounds, and was far more sluggish.

I'm not saying that a vegan diet won't work for most people.

I am saying that it would likely have killed me if I stuck with it.

I am really sorry to hear about your bad experience with the Vegan lifestyle. Most people with your condition who become Vegan are able to go off of most of their medications, and typically, they shed weight rapidly; in fact, one of my cousins just decided to give it a try, and he has already lost twenty-five pounds. He looks wonderful, and I am very proud of him. He has stopped taking his insulin, and has started taking his evening walks once more.

I have honestly never heard of anyone having your experience, and I wish that it had been better for you. In the end, though, you must do what is right for your body, and you know your own physical needs better than anyone else does.

Keep in mind that diabetes is not a disease as much as it is a group of symptoms.

I have one of he rarest types of diabetes, it is a genetic disorder that affects the liver. Basically my liver decided to start converting all the fat in my body into sugar a few years back and didn't feel like stopping.

Most people's experiences will probably be different, but when anyone makes that drastic of a change in lifestyle, they really need to monitor things closely.

There is some validity in the Vegan lifestyle. Hell, the gladiators of old didn't eat meat at all, mostly leafy greens and grains.

But I do like cheese and I do like meat....

DRock wrote:

There is some validity in the Vegan lifestyle. Hell, the gladiators of old didn't eat meat at all, mostly leafy greens and grains.

That had a lot ot do with refridgeration.

Seabear wrote:

DRock wrote:

There is some validity in the Vegan lifestyle. Hell, the gladiators of old didn't eat meat at all, mostly leafy greens and grains.

That had a lot ot do with refridgeration.

Who needs refrigeration when you could have it fresh? *L*

Well, expense was part of it. But the trainers co-related the health of the gladiator with his diet.

(Finally, hours of watching History Channel came in handy!)

I try to eat less meat, and more greens, but I'm not a full on vegetarian.
Do I at least get the constellation prize?