"You should be vegan since you own farm animals"

[NHMountainMan]

Nerd out!

My whole family is filled with a bunch of nerds!

My brother is a chemical engineer and quite blessed in the brains department. He has researched plant based diets a long time ever since I got sick.

My doctor is a specialist and is quite blessed in the brain's department as well... He is so fascinated about how plant-based has truly helped me and it blows his mind every time he sees me. Me going on plant-based was just a random thought that crossed both of our minds pretty much at the same time at an appointment several years ago.

DH thinks I'm superwoman because of what I've overcomei don't see it that way, but I'm the one living it. I don't see myself from the outside like others.

There's a lot to my story, but I live and breathe the plant based lifestyle. I'm 32 and look maybe 24 if that. People are blown away by how much I've changed since I became plant based. My body just thrives on this diet. My husband is a Paleo eater and he thrives on that diet, he literally looks like he lifts weights but he doesn't! He's just built from working and from eating Paleo.

I say that everything happens for a reason and I believe that I am plant-based for a reason. It's actually helped my oldest son because he has become allergic to dairy so he has to eat a lot of plant-based stuff like I eat... He used to make fun of me for eating plant basedbut now he does it! I used to eat vegan Ben & Jerry's and he used to tell me how disgusting it looked, but now he eats it every week He's actually the one who asked if I would grow meat chickens for him because he understands what goes on in the chicken industry and meat industry. He's a very smart child, he's blessed like my brother with the brains! He's in all advanced classes at only 14. He was taking college classes in 8th grade... I'm lucky if I can do a math problem without a calculator

Graves disease is tough. In my journey through cancer, my thyroid was destroyed and I needed to have a total thyroidectomy. Until we figured out the right hormone replacement levels, I swung from sleeping 20 hours a day to staying wide awake for 3 straight days.

I have an unsupported perspective that many of the dietary issues we have is that our bodies haven't evolved nearly as fast as our brains and society. Paleo, Keto, Atkins, Mediterranean diets all effectively bring our diets more in line to what homo sapiens ate before the industrial age, and closer to hunter gatherer. The common thread in all is to cut carbs, increase plant based calories, and reduced animal proteins. All of the gluten allergies, dairy allergies, etc (one of my kids has sensitivity to gluten and dairy) etc indicate that we just don't process those nutrients efficiently.

Nerd out...

 

[FortCluck]

Graves disease is tough. In my journey through cancer, my thyroid was destroyed and I needed to have a total thyroidectomy. Until we figured out the right hormone replacement levels, I swung from sleeping 20 hours a day to staying wide awake for 3 straight days.

I have an unsupported perspective that many of the dietary issues we have is that our bodies haven't evolved nearly as fast as our brains and society. Paleo, Keto, Atkins, Mediterranean diets all effectively bring our diets more in line to what homo sapiens ate before the industrial age, and closer to hunter gatherer. The common thread in all is to cut carbs, increase plant based calories, and reduced animal proteins. All of the gluten allergies, dairy allergies, etc (one of my kids has sensitivity to gluten and dairy) etc indicate that we just don't process those nutrients efficiently.

Nerd out...

One thing that has always bugged me is that we are drinking milk from animals that produce milk for their young. Humans are supposed to drink human milk, it is always boggled my mind about the dairy industry... I actually had to go to a dairy farm and castrate bulls with a veterinarian I worked for, it was interesting.

So many people are getting dairy allergies that to me dairy is not something humans should be eating... My son got severe dairy allergies at the age of 13, it's so bizarre. Just one day his body was fed up.

My brother actually has a dairy allergy too and he got his when he turned 34. So crazy, it blows my mind.

I had a thyroidectomy too at Dartmouth Hitchcock in Lebanon, I know you know where that is. They wanted to give me radiation, but realized my thyroid was past the point of it working. I have to take a thyroid medication for the rest of my life now.

I lost 70 lbs in a month. My body was literally in overdrive! I haven't slept much lately because my body feels cranked out, I think my levels are off. I see my Dr in a week so he will check me out thoroughly.

 

[NHMountainMan]

Are your still being treated at DH? My endocrinologist is the dept. head - they have been great. I lost a similar amount of weight. I did get the radiation as I had metastatic. But I can say that DH was the best. When the Dr find in and says "this will not be your cause of death. Well get through it" it was so reassuring as I'll admit I felt so crappy it was hard to stay positive.
I do still need tweaks to the meds but so much better now.
Hope your are too!

 

[FortCluck]

Are your still being treated at DH? My endocrinologist is the dept. head - they have been great. I lost a similar amount of weight. I did get the radiation as I had metastatic. But I can say that DH was the best. When the Dr find in and says "this will not be your cause of death. Well get through it" it was so reassuring as I'll admit I felt so crappy it was hard to stay positive.
I do still need tweaks to the meds but so much better now.
Hope your are too!

I was being treated there... I'm in Virginia now and go to VCU, they're truly a blessing in my life. I have treatment I never thought was possible. Right now they are treating me with rituxan every 6 months. I go in for a infusion then I go back in two weeks later for another, then I don't have to do it again for 6 months. the side effects are brutal, but I would rather that than my heart be racing out of my chest and losing way too much weight. Most of my weight that I had lost was all muscle and it took me probably 4 years to get it back! I couldn't really lift anything and it would frustrate me to no end.

I also give myself subcutaneous shots of methotrexate weekly...

 

[NHMountainMan]

I'm glad you're getting great care. I know that weight loss - I think I had a total of about 15 surgeries in the first two years, and I agree - I lost all muscle as mentioned in another thread. I'm glad I'm healthy and I feel well, but I lost so much muscle that I just feel weak. But I'm working on it!

 

[FortCluck]

I'm glad you're getting great care. I know that weight loss - I think I had a total of about 15 surgeries in the first two years, and I agree - I lost all muscle as mentioned in another thread. I'm glad I'm healthy and I feel well, but I lost so much muscle that I just feel weak. But I'm working on it!

It will take a while to build it up, but it will happen! I try to lift a lot of things by myself just doing chicken work and everything like lifting 5 gallon buckets I'll do curls with them it works! I also do squats while I'm cooking.

 

[Duck_life]

It will take a while to build it up, but it will happen! I try to lift a lot of things by myself just doing chicken work and everything like lifting 5 gallon buckets I'll do curls with them it works! I also do squats while I'm cooking.

You sound like a confident person

 

[BDutch]

For all of human existence, humans have been omnivores. Our forward facing eyes indicate that we are predatory omnivores. I eat plenty of animals because I love the taste. That said, it is possible to meet all your nutritional needs as a vegetarian (even a vegan) though it is more difficult. After seeing @BDutch claim on the environmental impact of the meat industry vs growing vegetables I went looking for any peer reviewed study that would support her claim.
I don't believe news articles - there's always an agenda. I want to see source material. I couldn't find any.

So- can anyone send me a link to a peer reviewed research case study that might support the claim that a 100% vegan diet is actually better for the planet and could actually provide balanced nutrients and calories for the almost 8 billion people on the planet?

Have been elsewhere for a day. I didnt read after page 4 but her a reaction for info from a goverment site in the Netherlands (translated by google)

Meat
Meat causes 40% of the climate burden by food from the average Dutch person. Meat has so much impact because the production of 1 kilo of meat requires around 5 kilos of vegetable feed. Eating less meat is therefore good for the climate.

In the Netherlands we eat around 40 kilos of meat per person per year (beef, pork and chicken together). That is more than twice as much as 50 years ago. In addition, we also import and export a lot of meat. The livestock industry that produces all that meat emits greenhouse gasses, consumes a lot of water, needs a lot of space worldwide for growing livestock feed and can cause a manure problem. Eating less meat is the most effective way to prevent that.

source: https://www.milieucentraal.nl/milieubewust-eten/vlees-vis-of-vega/vlees/

If I find a paper of a research in English I will post this later.

 

[BDutch]

Sorry I bumped in to the discussion about diseases and needing medicines an to go on a diet. Good luck to you all.

 

[FortCluck]

You sound like a confident person

A lot of people say this... I think it's just because I give everything 110% even if it hurts because in the end all that pain will be worth it. Always push forward even if it's a quarter of a step!