'Forks over Knives' or 'Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead' or 'Skinny Bi*&h'

radleyboo

Talk to me about these documentaries/books and the approach to plant-based diet.  Are you a vegetarian or vegan?  Why do you eat this way?  Have you seen benefits from this?  Was this a tough change for you to make?  Do you still work out?  Do you get enough protein?

I'm fascinated by this and wondering if its worth a go.
Thanks!

radleyboo

Thank you for your insight.  There are a lot of reasons I'm considering this, one of which is the connection between animal products and disease, like you'd mentioned.  I'll make a note of that title and pick it up for a read as I'm working through this decision.  There are other factors that come into play: compassion, energy (expended on processing animal products), fitness, etc, but the compelling reason I'm exploring it is overal health and disease.  I'm lucky and have been pretty healthy most of my life and would seriously like to stay that way. 

Thanks again!

radleyboo

Oh my goodness, no, definitely not a juice diet!  The gist of that Doc was that he was able to clear up a number of health issues by going to an all-plant diet.  He chose to juice because he felt he could get 'more' nutrition that way.  I'm thinking you could get the same benefits and still CHEW.    For me, it's definitely a healthier-lifestyle type of decision. 

entropicbeauty

Just to give a different perspective, I have a friend who was a vegetarian for 10 years and was constantly sick and the doctors couldn't tell her what was wrong. She was pretty much in constant pain and had zero energy. She supplemented her diet with soy and tofu and beans, but the doctors were pretty much telling her that she was 100% healthy and it was all in her head.

She recently made the switch to eating meat again, and almost all of her symptoms have completely gone away.

Her situation might be a bit unique because she suffers from an autoimmune disease, but there are some benefits to eating meat as well. I personally could never get enough protein from eating beans all the time, but if you want to give it a go just make sure to do the research like Kwith said.

firsttimersluck

Are you a vegetarian or vegan?  

I am a vegan

Why do you eat this way?  

I chose to go this route for reduce my carbon footprint (environmental sustainability) 

Have you seen benefits from this? 

Uhhh....? As far as my health and fitness? I lost about 8 pounds of muscle when I first started, but gained it back. The transition was incredibly difficult. I struggled with finding the right vitamins to make sure I wasn't deficient in any areas. I had NO energy for the first 4-5 months, but now I'm golden. During fall I'm usually just continually sick. Seriously.. I'm usually sick for all of Sept-Jan and I have yet to catch a cold. *knock on wood* 

But it's about knowing exactly what your body needs, what you're not getting with your diet, and how to properly, efficiently, and effectively get it. 

 Was this a tough change for you to make?

I'm not much of a meat eater so it was honestly just  difficult to be vegan when it came to eating out with friends. It's gotten MUCH easier now, but that was annoying for a while. Very overwhelming when a waiters look at you like they are incredibly annoyed just because you have a dietary restriction. It was also a struggle with wine at first but I'm all good there now as wel  

  Do you still work out?

uhh.. yes. 2-4 hours a day 6 days a week. I work out A LOT.

  Do you get enough protein?

Sometimes. I get about 100g a day, which is reasonable but not enough to build much more muscle than I have with my work out schedule. I am okay with that, though. I'm happy where I'm at. if I wanted to build up I would just add more nutrional yeast and protein powder to my daily intake, but .. like I said, I'm good. :P 

unchatenfrance

I'm not vegetarian - quite the opposite, I follow Paleo/Primal - and I have my opinions of vegetarianism and veganism that I won't get into now. But one thing I have learned from the various "wars" on internet forums I have seen between vegans and the paleo folks is this: there is a crucial similarity between the "poster children" (who seem to defy age) of both veganism and Paleo. What you DON'T eat is just as important as what you DO eat. So both those vegans and hard-core paleo people who look 25 at age 60 and are in great shape and health share the following: both eat loads of fruits and vegetables; and, more importantly, they both avoid industrially processed and genetically modified "food" that is devoid of nutrients. 

So that's my perspective on nutrition. Avoid the poisonous stuff and eat real food (whether this includes meat and dairy is up to you).

firsttimersluck

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_getting-shape_forks-over-knives-or-fat-sick-and-nearly-dead-or-skinny-bih?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:238Discussion:8148932c-d2bc-45df-9110-236d82072b75Post:e985b2f8-71d7-4ba5-8e57-3a42c3325889">Re: 'Forks over Knives' or 'Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead' or 'Skinny Bi*&h'</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm not vegetarian - quite the opposite, I follow Paleo/Primal - and I have my opinions of vegetarianism and veganism that I won't get into now. But one thing I have learned from the various "wars" on internet forums I have seen between vegans and the paleo folks is this: there is a crucial similarity between the "poster children" (who seem to defy age) of both veganism and Paleo. <strong><em>What you DON'T eat is just as important as what you DO eat. </em></strong>So both those vegans and hard-core paleo people who look 25 at age 60 and are in great shape and health share the following: both eat loads of fruits and vegetables; and, more importantly, they both avoid industrially processed and genetically modified "food" that is devoid of nutrients.  So that's my perspective on nutrition. Avoid the poisonous stuff and eat real food (whether this includes meat and dairy is up to you).
Posted by unchatenfrance[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>Could not agree with that more. </div><div>Just because I'm "vegan" doesn't mean I automatically eat well. </div><div>Oreos are vegan.</div><div>Hard alcohol is vegan. </div><div>Soy is BAAAAD for you ( non fermented soy anyway) and yet most vegans I know get a lot of their protein from soy.. Sooooo bad bad bad bad (I know.. common misconception. Soy is not a health food IMO) </div><div>
</div><div>Just like it's easy to get too much fat in a primal diet, it's easy to get too much fat in a vegan diet. You have to be wanting to change your diet as a full LIFESTYLE change. It needs to be moderately changed at first so you can stick to it, and changed for the better. I'm considered more of a "rawist" vegan because I am a clean eater and avoid most processed crap. But I cannot say that is the case for most vegan/vegetarians I know. :/ </div><div>
</div><div>Ultimately, it sounds like you want to do your research to figure out what's best for you so brava! Whatever lifestyle choices you make, I would suggest you stick it out fo ra few months to fully know what it does for/to your body. Keep journals or take notes. We are all different and have different priorities. You know or can research what is best for you, we can only give our personal experiences :) Hopefully we have been a little helpful in pointing you in the reasonable direction! </div><div>
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