I hear this all too often “A vegan diet “Made Me sick”.
First of all, let’s be real, YOU made yourself sick, we must learn to take accountability for our disease/sickness/symptoms. I know this may sound harsh, but it is a reality, our state of health has everything to do with ourselves, our habits and our lifestyle choices. There is no such thing as a “Vegan Diet”. The term “Vegan” merely describes an ethical stance, and stating that you Eat a vegan diet – does not reveal what you actually EAT on a day to day basis. When an individual says that they eat a “vegan diet”, the only thing that we can know for certain, is that they don’t eat animal flesh,protein, dairy, eggs and honey – yet there are so many other foods that this individual can eat.
The term Vegan does not reveal the foods that one eats, and no two vegans ever eat alike – so when an individual states that a “vegan diet” made them sick, this isn’t entirely correct because there is no such thing as a “vegan diet” – like I said the term “vegan” only encompasses what the individual does NOT eat, and does not include what the individual DOES eat.
This is the reason why I hardly ever use the term “Vegan” to describe my dietary ways. I am aware of the automatic presumption and assumptions that arise in the majority the moment they hear the word “vegan”.
Here are 3 examples of different Dietary habits for Vegans… all 3 examples are vegan, all 3 examples have completely different ideas with what a healthy diet looks like. Many people have this false notion that if they simply “Go Vegan” that their health issues will go away. I will say this: going “vegan” is a really good start, however, if health is your desire, there’s more to learn, and a ways to go!
Vegan #1 eats:
White rice
Lentils
Potatoes
French Fries
Drinks soda pop a couple days a week
Steamed vegetables
Bread with peanut butter or vegan cheese
Bananas
Uses condiments such as ketchup, vegan dressing, mustard, etc.
Cooks at home mostly
Now this may seem like a decent diet to the average person, however, notice there is very little fresh/raw food in this diet. This diet is loaded with complex carbohydrates & dead dormant foods that must be soaked to be edible. One rule of thumb, if a food cannot be eaten raw, it is likely not truly food that we are designed to eat. This diet could work well as a transition diet away from foods such as meat, eggs & dairy – but eventually, if further improvements are not made, this individual will likely develop symptoms overtime just like anyone else.
Vegan #2 eats:
Some fruit in smoothies
Bread
Vegan sausages, cheese, hamburger patties & Tofu
Soda, fruit juice, beer, water
Pasta
Tomato sauce with some vegetables in it
Occasional small salad
Oatmeal with fruit
Nut milks daily
Vegan condiments
White rice
Eats out often at restaurants
Unfortunately, vegan #2 is likely going to feel awful within the first year of this type of diet… condiments for example contain a myriad of ingredients that do not promote health such as vinegar, salt, sugar & preservatives. The Vegan faux meat & cheese products are often worse for the human body than actual animal meat and dairy cheese – I’m not saying meat & cheese is healthy, it’s all unhealthy food to various degrees & will build disease issues overtime. If we eat out regularly, you can be certain that your food is loaded with the cheapest canola oil possible, table salt and other disease forming carcinogens- no matter what we eat out, the bottom line is that restaurants cut costs wherever possible – and they must make their food as tasty as possible because they rely on repeat customers which means the regular use of toxic ingredients, MSG & nutritional yeast for you!!
Vegan #3 eats:
Fruit for breakfast
Salad for lunch with homemade avocado dressing
daily avocados
Tahini butter for dressings
Drinks only water and freshly juiced fruits in the juicer
Raw and steamed vegetables
Vegan #3 is likely going to feel pretty good – most of the time. The reason I say most of the time is for two reasons. One, this individual likely will experience some detoxification symptoms that come in waves over the months to years of eating a fairly clean diet. And two, if this individual overdoes the fats such as avocado, tahini, they are likely going to feel the effects. I see this all too often, overdoing the fats can really set us back. I am not saying to not eat healthy fats, I am just saying that there is a very fine line and they are very easy to overindulge in – resulting in excess protein loads, lethargy and acidity issues.
So what is the perfect Vegan diet that will not “Make a person sick”? Let me start by saying this, a diet does not make us sick, we make ourselves sick through the over-consumption of certain foods or the consumption of the wrong foods. If we choose whole foods in their natural form, it is difficult to go wrong. The problem lies when multiple ingredients come into play. The body is designed for simplicity and foods that contain ingredients are not simple. Salt is not simple, it is complex, dehydrating and stimulating. If we engage in certain habits, or eat certain foods on the daily, you can be assured that there are bio-accumulative effects to be aware of. That which we do daily either builds disease, or builds eventual health. It is the small but consistent habits that we must watch out for and be aware of. That which we do daily matters.
So a vegan can be eating french fries and white rice, beans, lentils and lots of sugar with very little vegetable matter and no fruits and this individual is likely going to become sick overtime. We can have a vegan individual who eat daily processed vegan foods combined with oil and condiments that are loaded with sugar, vinegars and salts- or they can eat fast food just as long as it’s vegan which means veggie burgers, or faux hotdogs.
The bottom line, or the point that I am trying to make is that it is very easy to make ourselves sick overtime on any foods – vegan or not. In fact, most people develop symptoms at some point during their lives which lead to more serious health complications if they do not make the necessary changes to heal. Most of us do not know how to properly feed and care for ourselves because the truth on this topic is buried under a sea of misinformation. There is no diet that can save anyone. The only way to heal is through a complete return to the foods that we are designed to eat combined with healthy lifestyle changes. Building health requires knowledge and understanding of our physiology. Building health is a lifestyle, there isn’t a diet that can make us healthy, the body will return to health – overtime – when the correct conditions for it to do so are met. We are so caught up in diet categories that we’ve lost the ability to see that there is no diet required for health, all that is required is for us to return to our natural ways of eating. Unfortunately these ways have been lost and replaced with man-made products and all sorts of diets that only cause the individual to build health issues.
So next time you hear the phrase “a Vegan diet” made me sick, dig a little deeper because that doesn’t even make sense. Find out what it is that – that individual actually eats instead of jumping to conclusions.
Thank you for reading!
