vegetarian to vegan

[Guest guest]

My family and I are strict vegetarians and I offten try to make the

jump to vegan but it seems that my body won't allow it. I suffer bad

headaches, trembling, fatuige, and even mood swings and it seems like

when I give in and slap a little eggs or cheese into my diet I am

immediatly cured. My best friend sayes it is because I am a type O and

O's being the oldest blood type can't function properly without animal

product in the diet. I am interested to hear some oppinions on this

matter.

 

Thanks alot, Jesse

[Guest guest]

The blood type diet is not based on quality science, and it is totally false

that Type Os cannot thrive as vegans. Not that anecdotal evidence is worth

much, but I am type 0, as are at my kids, and we are all vegan and doing

just fine. Here is a good article about it:

http://www.vegsource.com/articles/blood_hype.htm

 

Below is the text of a letter that Jack Norris wrote about the blood type

diet. He is the RD associated with Vegan Outreach. The link for this article

is

http://www.veganoutreach.org/enewsletter/20020308.html

Also, he references another article, called Staying Healthy on Plant-based

Diets, which is here:

http://www.veganhealth.org/sh/

This is a very long and detailed article though, just so you're forewarned.

 

Leena

 

Dear E-mag Editor,

 

Thank you for your issue exposing many of the environmental problems created

by modern animal agriculture. I have read many of the letters to the editor

regarding this issue. Unfortunately, becoming vegan does have nutritional

implications and changing one's diet can have both positive and negative

effects, depending on the person. Certainly, meat-eaters have health

problems. Additionally, there are many differences from one vegetarian or

vegan diet to the next.

 

Some of the people writing letters to E-mag in response to the vegetarian

issue have not had good experiences with a vegetarian or vegan diet. Without

knowing more, some of the problems sound like B12 deficiencies, which can be

easily solved in most cases by taking a B12 supplement (which vegans should

be doing anyway and with which many older meat-eaters must also be

concerned). There are some other nutrients that also need attention in vegan

diets (see discussion on our site).

 

There are some popular books which say that people should eat according to

their blood type. One book says that people with Type O blood should not be

vegetarian. The theory is that different humans evolved eating different

foods, that your blood type corresponds with the humans from whom you

descended, and you should eat what your descendants ate.

 

Actually, the ABO blood types existed long before humans existed, according

to Stephen Bailey, PhD, a nutritional anthropologist at Tufts University. In

fact, blood types do not vary as much between races of people as within the

same race. What this means is that two people of African descent are no more

likely to have the same blood type as a person of African and a person of

European descent. Both the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter and

the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter have criticized the blood type diet as

unscientific. Additionally, there is no published research to back up the

theory that some blood types have a worse time as vegetarians.

 

Out of curiosity, I did a survey of vegetarians and vegans to see what blood

types they were and what their experience with the diet was like. In a

survey of 76 people, 39 were Type O, their experiences were mostly positive,

and there were no detectable differences in experiences between the various

blood types. I'm also a Type O, healthy, athletic, 13-year vegan.

 

It should be noted that in general, vegetarians have excellent health. For

example, life expectancies in the Adventist Health Study have recently been

published in " Ten Years of Life: Is it a Matter of Choice? " (Arch Intern

Med. 2001 Jul 9;161(13):1645-52). The data showed that white, non-Hispanic

Seventh-day Adventists, who are often vegetarian, live longer than other

white Californians (7.28 years for men, 4.42 years for women). According to

the researchers, these Seventh-day Adventists appear to be the

longest-lived, formally studied population in the world (78.5 years for men,

82.3 for women). Among these Seventh-day Adventists, those following a

vegetarian diet lived longer than those not following a vegetarian diet.

 

For more information, please see Staying a Healthy Vegan.

 

-Jack Norris, Registered Dietitian, Vegan Outreach

 

 

>

>

> On Behalf Of Jesse Hyde

> Tuesday, June 13, 2006 2:55 PM

>

> vegetarian to vegan

>

> My family and I are strict vegetarians and I offten try to

> make the jump to vegan but it seems that my body won't allow

> it. I suffer bad headaches, trembling, fatuige, and even mood

> swings and it seems like when I give in and slap a little

> eggs or cheese into my diet I am immediatly cured. My best

> friend sayes it is because I am a type O and O's being the

> oldest blood type can't function properly without animal

> product in the diet. I am interested to hear some oppinions

> on this matter.

>

> Thanks alot, Jesse

 

[Guest guest]

i'm sorry to be so forthright, but the blood type diet is a crock. any fad

diet is based on bad science and worse marketing, but the blood type diet is

perhaps worst of all.

 

how long are you experiencing these symptoms for before you start adding

animal products? it's normal to have somewhat of a physically challenging

transition to a completely plant-based diet. in general it seems to last 2

weeks or so before the body balances.

 

i'm sure that i don't have to tell you that standard milk, eggs, and cheese,

as well as all flesh foods, are chockful of artifical hormones. those

hormones do incredible things to our bodies. it's pretty well accepted now

that those hormones are very likely why western girls are getting their

periods as young as 8, and maybe even why hormone-related cancers like those

of the breast and sex organs have been on the rise for several years. so

think of what those hormones are doing to your body on a daily basis. many

women who do hormone-replacement therapy find themselves unable to ever stop

taking those hormones because of the exact same symptoms you described

above. they have blinding headaches, trembling, and tremendous mood

swings. our bodies get addicted to those hormones no differently than from

any other drug. so what you are experiencing when you attempt to transition

to a vegan diet is no different than WITHDRAWAL.

 

my husband and i transferred to a vegan diet from an omnivore diet. those

first few weeks were VERY difficult. i wondered many times if we were doing

the right thing or if we were just killing ourselves. but at the end of two

weeks, our bowels had balanced, our headaches were gone and our heads

clearer than they'd ever been, we had more energy than we'd ever felt, the

trembling was gone, and our moods were elevated and STAYED THERE. if

you can get through the transition, it's so worth it. but i won't say the

transition isn't yucky! your body is flushing itself and it takes several

weeks to rid itself of those toxins and chemicals, not to mention equalizing

your bowel system, which is a feat in and of itself, and also rearranging

your cholesterol count and differentiating your caloric, fat, and protein

intakes. during this time it's not unusual to lose hair, feel weak and

trembly, need more sleep, and have mood swings. but at the end of those few

weeks, you should feel wonderful. if not, i would maybe recommend a

re-evaluation of your diet to make sure you're getting the proper nutrients

in the proper amounts. i highly recommend " becoming vegan " if you don't

already have it; it was indispensable to us.

 

hope that helps!

 

chandelle'

 

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see more pictures at www.namesanddatesandtimes.blogspot.com.