Disgusting Food

[miles2go]

I have just finished up what was left of the company food bought for an angel who is a picky "American diet" eater. No shame, no blame, but I'm just left kind of reeling. I was vegetarian before and am now wanting to eat a vegan diet. I don't know why, but animal products aren't sitting well with me. Has anyone got advice for this? I know some on the forum here were vegan before dx and I take a daily multivitamin, so hopefully B-12 won't be an issue. I'm allergic to some beans so have to be careful about that, but other than that, is there something that I have to look out for?

TIA,

Margaret

[Jestgar]

Hi Margaret,

Not vegan, but I don't particularly care for meat, so I don't eat much of it.

I keep bags of frozen veggies and cans of beans. In the morning I throw whatever sounds good into a frying pan with a little olive oil. Lunch is usually salad or a can of progresso soup which I keep in my desk drawer. I try to bring in baggies of dried fruit and nuts to snack on so I don't go for the chocolate bar.

If you go meatless, but not vegan, you'll find life a little easier - less reading of labels and planning around things. I ignore animal products cooked into food that I buy.

[loraleena]

The B-12 in a multi vitamin will do nothing. It is not easily absorbed. You need to take it sublingually under the tongue. It is very hard to get enough as a vegan and you are already dealing with damaged digestive system as well.

[Jestgar]

The B-12 in a multi vitamin will do nothing. It is not easily absorbed. You need to take it sublingually under the tongue. It is very hard to get enough as a vegan and you are already dealing with damaged digestive system as well.

Not so sure I agree with this. When I first started taking B complex, it didn't turn my pee bright yellow. This has been changing over months. The only thing I can think is that originally my body absorbed everything and now it has less need.

[miles2go]

Not so sure I agree with this. When I first started taking B complex, it didn't turn my pee bright yellow. This has been changing over months. The only thing I can think is that originally my body absorbed everything and now it has less need.

Thanks for the replies...I've been on a vitamin B complex for quite a while until about a month ago when I started the multivitamins, was blood-tested then and came out well as far as the B's were concerned. I also have a lot of meat in the freezer and so don't want anyone to think that I'm just going to start tomorrow as a vegan. I really believe in changing things gradually, which means that the milk, eggs and yogurt will disappear first, then the honey and it's probably going to take an unbelievably long time to get through the meat and fish, since it's all vacuum-sealed.

I appreciate the heads-up about getting the B-12 in proper amounts. I can always buy more B-complex to go with the multivits. Does one buy the sublinguals at the health food store? I'm not familiar with them, but I love B-complex because they calm my allergies so well.

There seems to be some disagreement about amounts of protein in the diet among knowledgeable people. I've followed the macrobiotic way of not getting anymore than you need, which is a lot less than most American diets, whereas others seem to rely more heavily on the protein aspect of things and I've heard some on this board say they feel so much better with animal protein, so I guess that's a bit of a concern, but I can just try it and see how it goes.