Vegan here - Considering trying meat again

[ZenAlex]

I have been suffering from symptoms that have no full explanation. I've gone to docs and had blood tests done in numerous places and none of the tests seem to explain myself. I've gone for one more blood test yesterday, and if that comes back with no issues, then I'm going to try consuming meat again and see if it makes a difference.

I don't know if it will, but I'm willing to try.

What would be the best place to start? Fish?

[undeather]

Yes, only grass fed fish though.

No, but seriously - what happened to the good old virtue of self-sufficiency? How about just testing it out and see for yourself? There is no right or wrong in this - use your body as an experimental labratory, try adding different animal products to your diet and observe if there are any changes to your symptoms. 

If it does get better, great. If not, you have tried and you need to look further. 

Edited January 25 by undeather

[Yimpa]

The best diet is the one that feels most aligned with your values and intuition. Don’t go chasing “the best diet”, because it doesn’t exist.

[ZenAlex]

33 minutes ago, undeather said:

Yes, only grass fed fish though.

No, but seriously - what happened to the good old virtue of self-sufficiency? How about just testing it out and see for yourself? There is no right or wrong in this - use your body as an experimental labratory, try adding different animal products to your diet and observe if there are any changes to your symptoms. 

If it does get better, great. If not, you have tried and you need to look further. 

Agreed with self sufficiency, but I'm not omniscient.

[undeather]

4 minutes ago, ZenAlex said:

Agreed with self sufficiency, but I'm not omniscient.

Neither am I! It's really more of a common sense question to be honest. 
If I were in your situation, all my knowledge about medicine/the human body/nutrition & ethical concerns would be pretty much useless. 
Sometimes the raw and direct "try and find out"-approach is simply the way to go. 
 

[ZenAlex]

1 minute ago, undeather said:

Neither am I! It's really more of a common sense question to be honest. 
If I were in your situation, all my knowledge about medicine/the human body/nutrition & ethical concerns would be pretty much useless. 
Sometimes the raw and direct "try and find out"-approach is simply the way to go. 
 

Understood but I wanted advice because naturally a bit worried about eating meat again after 8.5 years without it. Just wondering if there's a best place to start

[undeather]

7 minutes ago, ZenAlex said:

Understood but I wanted advice because naturally a bit worried about eating meat again after 8.5 years without it. Just wondering if there's a best place to start

Start with what feels right for you - you can't really fuck that up - there are no rules in what you are trying to do. (except allergies)
Your body knows what to do with the animal product, don't worry about it. The intelligence behind your digestive system has millions of years of experience dealing with food. My one piece of advice is to ease into it - maybe don't go from 8 years+ vegan to a 500g steak in one day. Start small and see how your body responds. 

And now knock yourself out! 

Edited January 25 by undeather

[sholomar]

Start with hard boiled eggs sliced up into a salad. Eggs contain basically everything deficient in a vegan diet besides zinc and perhaps iron. Eggs, canned smoked oysters, pork rinds.... choline, glycine/collagen, zinc, B12, and iron. Pretty much all your nutritional deficiencies are taken care of along with essential amino acids.

Only "certified humane" eggs (not to be confused with "american humane certified") should be bought if you care about animal welfare.

https://www.consumerreports.org/food-labels/seals-and-claims

Edited January 25 by sholomar

[LoneWonderer]

From a health perspective fish may be a good choice. Good luck with your health issues let us know if you get better through this experiment.

[ZenAlex]

8 hours ago, LoneWonderer said:

From a health perspective fish may be a good choice. Good luck with your health issues let us know if you get better through this experiment.

@undeather

Ate some tuna and salmon last night. Gonna try eating meat for 3-4 weeks and we'll see what happens. 

[undeather]

1 hour ago, ZenAlex said:

@undeather

Ate some tuna and salmon last night. Gonna try eating meat for 3-4 weeks and we'll see what happens. 

Great plan!

[ZenAlex]

36 minutes ago, undeather said:

Great plan!

Considering you are a doctor, can I ask you what you consider to be a good b12 level for someone to be at?

292 ng/L is my most recent test.

[Applegarden8]

Could be vitamin D, B or Ferritin. Maybe thyroid related issue or who knows whatever else. When you get tested you get specifications on your report where it tells where your levels should be.

In case of anemia, honey is also what you could try to consume more often. Have your tried supplements and vitamin complexes? What about macro/micronutrients? Have you tested them?

There is no big difference between meat and fish I think unless you get to eat liver. Once in a while like a month would be fine I think. Maybe you lack something from dairy products.

EDIT: once I get back to meat, I know and feel I have eaten meat. I personally don't like that feeling. I feel more agitated and I feel that my digestive system is under more friction and there is additional agitation when I am doing some kriya practices. 

Edited January 27 by Applegarden8
Sorry, didn't know you got tested.

[Yimpa]

On 1/26/2024 at 3:39 AM, ZenAlex said:

@undeather

Ate some tuna and salmon last night. Gonna try eating meat for 3-4 weeks and we'll see what happens. 

Nice, love tuna.

[ZenAlex]

On 27/01/2024 at 9:04 PM, Applegarden8 said:

Could be vitamin D, B or Ferritin. Maybe thyroid related issue or who knows whatever else. When you get tested you get specifications on your report where it tells where your levels should be.

In case of anemia, honey is also what you could try to consume more often. Have your tried supplements and vitamin complexes? What about macro/micronutrients? Have you tested them?

There is no big difference between meat and fish I think unless you get to eat liver. Once in a while like a month would be fine I think. Maybe you lack something from dairy products.

EDIT: once I get back to meat, I know and feel I have eaten meat. I personally don't like that feeling. I feel more agitated and I feel that my digestive system is under more friction and there is additional agitation when I am doing some kriya practices. 

[ZenAlex]

[ZenAlex]

@undeather

What would say about those results above bro.

 

[martins name]

@ZenAlex Ramp up slowly your body is not used to it. What are your symptoms? I've done the same thing and nothing changed.

[Schizophonia]

Which symptoms ? It’s the elephant in the room.

[ZenAlex]

11 minutes ago, Schizophonia said:

Which symptoms ? It’s the elephant in the room.

Exercise intolerance, so to speak.

Feeling lightheaded/strange while walking or doing any exercise

The more physical activity I engage in, the more irritable, restless, depressed I feel.

If I stop physical activity, the symptoms seem to subside.

There's a correlation between the symptoms and my physical activity level. 

Last time I did a hike I had a panic attack, and had bad symptoms that only subsided after a week of rest.

I had a rapid heart rate and also cold outsides of the hands.