or Connect
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Are you an Ex-Vegan? - Page 2

post #21 of 30

I was vegan for 12 years. Dropped 15 pounds right away and kept them off till I worked at a veg. deli/bakery. The cookies did me in.

When I was pg I craved eggs intensely. I decided to add eggs, just until I had the baby. With the first free-range bite I thought, I don't think I'm not going to quit again, and I didn't.

Had some weird health problems after 1st baby. Didn't have access to health care, but an energy healer advised me to eat fish. In 12 years, lots of people had told me "you have to eat meat/dairy/ whatever animal product" but I never gave it a second thought. But at this time, I felt it was true for me.

I struggled with the decision, but I believe it's been right for me. One thing I've come to accept, and embrace, is that we do not all need the same diet. Some can be vegan, some can't digest milk, some have allergies to various proteins, etc. We don't all have the same digestive enzymes, why would we think we needed to eat one diet? So I accept that I need some animal products.

It might be possible for me to be vegan again, with a lot of supplementation, but at some point I think the diet becomes very unnatural, which conflicts with other values I hold. Ovo-pesce-veg makes more sense to me, and as much local food as I can acquire. I'd rather buy local eggs from someone I know than expensive algae from a lake 1500 miles away, processed in a factory somewhere else, and brought to me in a plastic bottle on a truck.

post #22 of 30
Originally Posted by bohemianmama21 View Post

Those were two of the reasons im ex-vegan. Too hard to find substitutes without soy that taste decent.

That's what I always thought. Daiya Cheese and So Delicious coconut yogurt and fieldRoast meat, Quorn chicken and Hillary's burgers and I'm set. I can now get all at neighborhood health food store or delivered they door to door Organics for very competitive prices. I'm in heaven!
post #23 of 30
Originally Posted by cynthiamoon View Post

For me it was two-fold:

1. Ethical: I have absolutely no faith in the belief that veganism is somehow a natural state of being for humans, and I have ethical concerns other than animal abuse that I don't take to such extremes, like my wariness of market capitalism (which hasn't turned me into an ascetic yet.) I think it's good enough to try and get natural animal products from local farms with humane treatment. Death is a part of the cycle of life, so the argument that "meat is murder" never resonated with me. 

2. Health: I wanted to commit to a whole foods diet but had no desire to become a slave to my kitchen, or a flavor-martyr.Vegan cooking requires too many substitutions and processed foods to mimic even the simplest of normal cuisine pleasures, and there's very few recipes that are wholesome, quick and easy that don't quickly get boring, or require fancy expensive ingredients. 

The thing they share is that I just have ZERO desire to be such a slave to food-needs.

Once I started being able to eat healthful foods without tons of prep or exotic ingredients, I gained tons of energy, lost 20lbs and cut my food bill by 10-20%, even with adding natural, pricier meats back into the shopping cart, and I'm pretty sure I save hours a week being able to eat simpler foods that meet my nutritional needs easily, with no need to calculate how many flax seeds approximate a salmon portion's omega content. 

I still eat several vegan and vegetarian meals a week, and often go days without meat products. 

I agree, though I am pescetarian. It was too much work, and too much anxiety. Food just became a source of fear and anxiety. It was no long pleasurable to eat. I buy ethically where I can now, but I would never go vegan again.
post #24 of 30

Because I was "cheating" and eating cheese. I love cheese. I am, however, very picky about which cheese I like and I find a lot of cheese repulsive because to me it tastes like a farm smells. Besides that I rarely eat eggs although sometimes things with eggs in it. I find milk revolting to the point I can't eat yogurt, but occasionally I indulge in ice cream and eat things made with milk (like sauces).


For me being vegetarian is natural and I don't ever crave or miss meat. If it were en exercise in discipline and I found myself always craving meat, I probably wouldn't be vegetarian either. It was like that being vegan. I found myself craving cheese and actually eating it every now and then, so I finally realized it just wasn't natural for me to avoid it.

post #25 of 30
I'm ex-vegetarian, but for a different reason. I spent a couple of years in my late teens/early 20's trying to be vegan, but cheese was my biggest weakness. What turned me away from that diet entirely was social pressure. I was shy and insecure, and I hated being at work, school, or with friends always explaining my dietary choices to people. It made me feel "different".

When I married my now ex-husband, he was the straw that broke the camel's back. He is a big meat eater, and he frequently "commented" on how I ate, what I was missing out on, how important meat is to our diet and how concerned he was about me. Of course he was never "critical", he was just discussing dietary issues - at every meal. I finally broke down and started eating meat again just to shut him up. Now I see that as passive-aggressive, but at the time I let it influence me.

Now, some 15 years later, I'm a lot more secure in myself and my beliefs, and I feel I have better friends and support, people who don't judge me. So I'm actually working toward vegetarianism again. My son is allergic to milk, and I have finally resolved the dairy free/cheese substitute when I discovered Daiya, thanks to people here at mothering.com. smile.gif I have been gradually decreasing my meat intake to just a couple of times a week. I don't think I will ever go egg-free, but I am looking for a local farm where chickens are truly free-range and treated humanely.
post #26 of 30

I was vegan for 7 years. We changed for a variety of reasons. I started reading Michael Pollan and Animal Vegetable Miracle and sort of lost faith in a vegan diet being environmentally superior to meat eating. My oldest child struggled on a vegan diet. I know children eat a lot of carbs, but with my restrictions on eggs and dairy, she ate almost exclusively carbs (grains and fruit). I started adding eggs and dairy back into my diet during my pregnancy with my second child: I was tandem nursing, I showed nutritional deficiencies, etc... I don't know if I would have gone that route if I hadn't lost faith in veganism and my daughter did better on the diet, but it brought me to a breaking point.

post #27 of 30
Originally Posted by revolting View Post

. . . and Animal Vegetable Miracle and sort of lost faith in a vegan diet being environmentally superior to meat eating.

I thought Kingsolver's treatment of vegetarianism was weak, however. She repeatedly said it's impossible to eat local and vegetarian, though she didn't appear to give it much serious thought, or make any effort. I don't have a problem with her eating meat, but I wish she could have just said vegetarianism isn't her thing and left it at that. Nothing has really been proven about eating local in modern life; it's all an experiment. Why discourage other people from experimenting too?


Of course, that doesn't speak to your personal experience, revolting, but a thought I had about the book that I think is somewhat relevant.

post #28 of 30

I don't have anything to contribute but I really enjoyed reading this thread!! I know I hear a lot about people going Veg or Vegan but never hear of the flip side, and it's been very interesting!!

post #29 of 30
I was vegan for 3 years. Started after my daughter was born almost 8 years ago, vegan through 2 years of BFing. Then stayed vegan through my pregnancy with my son and about a year after. Yes, the kids were vegan as well during this time.

My issues were that my life really picked up pace and It became difficult for me to plan meals and cook from scratch while having two little ones, working almost full time and going to college full time.
I decided I would rather use local/organic/ethical choices for eggs, dairy and some meat rather than heavily processed factory foods as vegan substitutes.
Unfortunately over time my handle on our nutrition really slipped and we ate a healthier than usual but still unhealthy American diet for many years.
Now I am getting back into health food and healing my body. Being pregnant again for the first time in over five years reminded me of my need for fruits, veggies and whole foods. Some days I eat all vegan foods, some days I do not. I am following my body's cues for tastes and nutrients.
Holding up to a "vegan" standard is much to stressful for me. I am not trying to impress anyone smile.gif i just want myself and my family to feel good and be conscious of what we put in our bodies.
I now post a lot on instagram to keep myself accountable for healthy eating and as a reminder for foods I can go back to.

I am happy to not be vegan anymore. I still feel as "ethical" and "healthy" as I did before but just from being a conscious eater.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
post #30 of 30
In the months since I last posted in this thread, I have gone back to being vegetarian. I feel better in terms of my personal ethics since I am taking a greater role in reducing my impact on animal welfare issues. I also feel better about myself in that I am strong enough to stand for what I believe in rather than caving to what others expect from me.

I don't ever see myself going completely vegan though. Veganism and vegetarianism are often associated with each other, but in some ways its a whole different ballpark. Its much harder to eliminate all animal products. Eggs and milk are ingredients in so many different foods, and even if you make everything from scratch your diet becomes very limited. I don't begrudge anyone who makes a vegan diet work for them. In some ways I envy people who are happy with it. But its not for me.
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Vegetarian and Vegan