Going vegan & getting sick

[Jacqueline Rivera]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time posting on here, since I am new to the vegan lifestyle. I literally just went vegan less than a week ago & 2 days later I got sick. I thought it was my allergies, but my symptoms got worse. I “was” eating a normal, nutritious, vegan diet. Nothing out of the ordinary. Lots of veggies, fruits, whole grains, nuts & seeds, etc. Mostly organic & no oils. I felt great at the beginning! But now that I’m sick, I LITERALLY cannot eat! I force myself to eat but then immediately have diarrhea or feel nauseous (sorry if all their is TMI). I don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve tried medication for allergies, cold & flu, and for possibly infection. Nothing is making me better & I am losing weight drastically. My husband said I should just go to the doctor, but I know that they’re immediately going to blame my diet. I don’t really want to believe that going Vegan caused this, but then again Im new to this. So does anyone have any advice or similar past experiences? Any suggestions? Anything will help & is greatly appreciated!!!! Thank you so much in advance!

 

[amberfunk]

It's likely just a detox from the meat and dairy. Why not do a gradual transition instead of all at once and see if that helps you.

 

[Jacqueline Rivera]

It's likely just a detox from the meat and dairy. Why not do a gradual transition instead of all at once and see if that helps you.

Thank you soooo much for responding & I really hope that’s all it is. I have tried gradually transitioning but I end up right back where I started. It was a lot easier for me to just go for it over night lol. But I guess if I do not get better, I will have to try & take baby steps.

 

[Consistency]

For some of us; the proteins in legumes cause the break down of our muscle tissue and gluten causes the break down of our nervous system. The best advice I can give you is to experiment to see which foods work for you best.

Fats are essential unless you have plenty stored in adipose tissue. The heart runs exclusively on fatty acids.

 

[poivron]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time posting on here, since I am new to the vegan lifestyle. I literally just went vegan less than a week ago & 2 days later I got sick. I thought it was my allergies, but my symptoms got worse. I “was” eating a normal, nutritious, vegan diet. Nothing out of the ordinary. Lots of veggies, fruits, whole grains, nuts & seeds, etc. Mostly organic & no oils. I felt great at the beginning! But now that I’m sick, I LITERALLY cannot eat! I force myself to eat but then immediately have diarrhea or feel nauseous (sorry if all their is TMI). I don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve tried medication for allergies, cold & flu, and for possibly infection. Nothing is making me better & I am losing weight drastically. My husband said I should just go to the doctor, but I know that they’re immediately going to blame my diet. I don’t really want to believe that going Vegan caused this, but then again Im new to this. So does anyone have any advice or similar past experiences? Any suggestions? Anything will help & is greatly appreciated!!!! Thank you so much in advance!

You went vegan less than a week ago, and you're "losing weight drastically"? I find that hard to believe. If it's true, veganism is unlikely to be the cause. Maybe you have food poisoning. Maybe you have an E. coli, Listeria, or Salmonella infection. You can get those from animal products or from vegetables (you can only get them from vegetables if an infected animal gets into a field, or if the water gets infected, or if infected fertilizer is used -- i.e., always ultimately from an animal).

Not seeing a doctor because s/he might blame your diet is nutty. In fact, it's highly unlikely that a doctor would blame your diet for what is happening to you, since there is nothing in the vegan diet that should make you sick like this.

 

[Nekodaiden]

To be fair to the original poster, I find her story plausible. I have only been Vegan for around 6 months, and I still remember the first month. Even though I did ease into it, when I cut out all meat, dairy and eggs I had to go to the bathroom A LOT on a daily basis and for some time. It's normalized to typically 3 times a day now, but it was much much more in the beginning. I do not remember feeling nauseous, but I do remember becoming better acquainted with the toilet than in any other period in my life.

I also lost around 10 kilos in the first few weeks.

 

[Jacqueline Rivera]

For some of us; the proteins in legumes cause the break down of our muscle tissue and gluten causes the break down of our nervous system. The best advice I can give you is to experiment to see which foods work for you best.

Fats are essential unless you have plenty stored in adipose tissue. The heart runs exclusively on fatty acids.

Wow! Thank you so much for the info! Really interesting! I will definitely take that into consideration & try a variety of new recipes & foods next week!!! I am glad to say that I’m feeling a bit better today, even though I still can’t eat much! But progress is progress thanks again!!!!

 

[Jacqueline Rivera]

To be fair to the original poster, I find her story plausible. I have only been Vegan for around 6 months, and I still remember the first month. Even though I did ease into it, when I cut out all meat, dairy and eggs I had to go to the bathroom A LOT on a daily basis and for some time. It's normalized to typically 3 times a day now, but it was much much more in the beginning. I do not remember feeling nauseous, but I do remember becoming better acquainted with the toilet than in any other period in my life.

I also lost around 10 kilos in the first few weeks.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience!!!! I’m glad to hear im not totally alone lol. I’m glad your bathroom issue got better! It gives me hope that so will mine! & as far as the weight, I can completely relate with you on that note! I have already lost 8 pounds! But i think it’s due to being sick & water weight & well my body basically adjusting to the changes. I’m sure it will stop next week Thanks once again!!!!

 

[Consistency]

You went vegan less than a week ago, and you're "losing weight drastically"? I find that hard to believe. If it's true, veganism is unlikely to be the cause. Maybe you have food poisoning. Maybe you have an E. coli, Listeria, or Salmonella infection. You can get those from animal products or from vegetables (you can only get them from vegetables if an infected animal gets into a field, or if the water gets infected, or if infected fertilizer is used -- i.e., always ultimately from an animal).

Not seeing a doctor because s/he might blame your diet is nutty. In fact, it's highly unlikely that a doctor would blame your diet for what is happening to you, since there is nothing in the vegan diet that should make you sick like this.

I lost weight drastically when I stopped eating animal products back in 2009. I felt amazing from being ketosis and physically active. I was basically eating a lot of beans, vegetables and very little oil & carbs. I was brainwashed with the belief that I needed a ton of protein. Then I tried the high carb/low fat diet and this caused my hormones to plummet. My skin looked like crap and I was having trouble keeping my weight up.

Now I eat low carb/moderate protein and enough quality plant fats to produce hormones and to basically fuel me.

The doctor isn't going to tell her anything valuable. Doctors are not biochemists. They are simply legal drug dealers.

There is many so called healthy plant foods with antinutrients that wreck our digestive system if they aren't prepared or cooked sufficiently and rinsed thoroughly.

 

[poivron]

I lost weight drastically when I stopped eating animal products back in 2009. I felt amazing from being ketosis and physically active. I was basically eating a lot of beans, vegetables and very little oil & carbs. I was brainwashed with the belief that I needed a ton of protein. Then I tried the high carb/low fat diet and this caused my hormones to plummet. My skin looked like crap and I was having trouble keeping my weight up.

Now I eat low carb/moderate protein and enough quality plant fats to produce hormones and to basically fuel me.

The doctor isn't going to tell her anything valuable. Doctors are not biochemists. They are simply legal drug dealers.

There is many so called healthy plant foods with antinutrients that wreck our digestive system if they aren't prepared or cooked sufficiently and rinsed thoroughly.

The idea that someone who has unexplained diarrhea and nausea for several days should avoid going to the doctor because the doctor might criticize her veganism is not something we should be promoting on a message board. It makes vegans look crazy and extreme. More and more doctors are realizing the benefits of a vegan diet and even advocating for veganism. There are major medical societies like Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (http://www.pcrm.org) that promote veganism. We don't want to go around telling people, incorrectly, that the medical establishment thinks veganism is unhealthy and dangerous. In my five years of veganism, I haven't had a single doctor criticize my diet; on the contrary, all my doctors have agreed that it's a healthy way to live, and that I'm in excellent health.

 

[Consistency]

I've had no need of an authority over my health in 9 years. Conventional doctors are the extreme ones that kill people.

http://nationalpost.com/health/insi...re-is-a-lot-of-lying-theres-a-lot-of-cover-up
https://hub.jhu.edu/2016/05/03/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death/

It is self evident that the medical industry is unhealthy and dangerous. There is nothing healthy about antibiotics(atomic bomb for both bad and good bacteria) and the various deadly drugs they prescribe.

Nobody is telling her not to take Vitamin B12, not to take Vitamin D and not to eat her vegetables for Vitamin A.

Real science. Vitamin A and D are required in conjunction to produce immune system fighting cells.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2906676/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3308600/

I’ve tried medication for allergies, cold & flu, and for possibly infection. Nothing is making me better & I am losing weight drastically.

Weight loss is also a sign of type 1 diabetes which is initially caused by a virus. Are you urinating frequently?

Do you have taste of feces in your mouth? This is a sign of bad bacterial infection. If yes, a couple tablespoons of vinegar mixed with your own saliva will kill bad bacteria by making your gut more acidic.

 

[Sax]

A lot needs to change about the medical industry. Keeping people and populations sick shouldn't be profitable. But why throw the life-saving baby out with the bath water? There's plenty about the industry that's good, and I'm thankful I have modern medicine, for all its shortcomings, instead of the health care available (or not) to every previous generation. I might not be able to walk today if it weren't for some very talented surgeons.

I doubt people facing life threatening infections give a damn about good gut bacteria.

As for the OP, a vegan diet won't make you sick. Have your symptoms cleared? Sounds like it lasted longer than typical "food poisoning", but washing your produce well is a good idea. Meat can be crawling with bacteria and not get you sick once you thoroughly cook it; not so much with fresh fruit and veggies.

 

[gab]

Hi Jacqueline,

Are you getting similar effects from eating potatoes and carrots ... like boiled potatoes and carrots with a bit of salt ?

I am asking because fruits are kinda tricky, in that they ferment really fast and cause the symptoms that you are describing, unless eaten on an empty stomach and not followed by anything else for at least a couple of hours.

Could you quantify what "losing weight drastically" means for you ... 1 lbs a day ?

 

[Forest Nymph]

I had a question about your diet, even though you said it's a normal vegan diet - what is the ratio of raw to cooked foods? If you're eating too much raw foods, especially vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, or cauliflower, it could make you gassy, and overload your system with fiber.

I would suggest you eat more warm, cooked foods - try eating tofu or seitan or tempeh instead of beans for a few days (some people cannot take bean overload if they aren't used to eating a lot of beans). Have foods like sticky rice or plain white rice, warm soups like miso, tomato or even the very smooth-blended split pea (if your stomach can handle split pea) with plain toast. Eat apple sauce instead of whole apples. Have a peanut butter and banana sandwich instead of whole nuts. To me it sounds like raw and/or fiber overload, or an overload of cold foods.

Also, though, you could have a virus. When I first went vegan I went to the bathroom 2-3 times per day for a couple of weeks, but I don't remember ever being as sick as what you describe. Of course, when I went vegan I already had been vegetarian and ate a lot of beans. Also, I didn't eat a ton of raw foods, it was late fall and I remember eating baked or boiled potatoes with vegenaise and herbs, quinoa pasta with a nutritional yeast "cheese" sauce and cooked broccoli, bean burritos with refried beans and guacamole, vegan ramen (I love ramen, and I don't care what anyone thinks of it, I get the plain rice ramen and make a sauce of peanut butter, hot water, lime juice, Bragg's aminos and Sriracha and yes sometimes I eat the salty Top Ramen in the Soy Sauce or Chili flavors which contain no animal products). Also things like mashed potatoes made from potato flakes, soy milk, Earth Balance and salt can be comforting with a side of cooked green beans.

Your body also could be detoxing. When I had been vegan for about six weeks I caught a terrible respiratory flu. I could still eat but it was a very, very bad flu in terms of upper respiratory...now that I've been vegan for several years I very rarely get sick, it actually helps my immune system.

I hope you feel better soon.

 

[brownmetalhead]

I got proper sick for the first time since going vegan. Turns out it was strep, I had to just force myself to swallow whatever food I could. Stupid antibiotics didn't help with the nausea

 

[Nicky]

I had similar symptoms, which I attributed to veganism, back in the early days. I went straight on to a whole food only diet - lots of veg, beans, nuts, seeds - because it sounded healthy but also because I wanted to be totally sure that everything I ate was free from animal products. I found that the only way to settle my stomach was to eat (brown) bread and pasta - I'm not sure why, maybe I've just eaten too much wheat over the years!

 

[Danur]

You are most likely experiencing an allergic reaction due to some food items you may have eaten in the past few days. It may also be possible a natural detox may be taking place , which although is uncommon but observed in few individuals.
I have been a vegan all my life and would like to welcome you to the realm of Vegan(ism) , a journey of thousand miles starts with a single step.
xx

 

[Dreaming]

Make sure it isn’t because a salad was unwashed. I got very very sick and I also found it happened after I had carrots, cucumber and. Tzatziki dip. The dip (think it had dairy?.)...never felt so sick in my life.

Maybe some food just doesn’t agree with you. I also found when I vomited it came up with capsicum from my vegan wrap I bought. Check ingredients for allergies.