Is it possible for me to become vegan?

[Soyeah_Sauce]

Hello,
I've always been interested in the vegan lifestyle but only recently have I really wanted to become vegan, after I saw a video on animal cruelty.

The only problem is:
I have food allergies. A lot of food allergies. I'm allergic to seafood (not a problem if I want to go vegan) but I am also allergic to:

Life threatening:
- Hazelnuts

Life threatening in big quantities:
- Walnuts
- Pecans
- Pistachios

Not life-threatening but very uncomfortable to eat (headache, nausea, throat tightening, etc.)
- Every raw (I can eat them cooked) vegetable except lettuce
- Every raw fruit except watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, grapes (though I do have a barely noticeable reaction to them), all citrus and a couple more I can't remember right now.


So my question is: is there any way possible for me to become vegan with all these allergies and still be healthy? Or should I just limit my consumption of non-vegan products as much as possible and keep it at that?

Thank you for any suggestions.

 

[SapphireLightning]

Well it is totally possible to be vegan and nut-free, but since it is only certain nuts that makes it easier. Cashews, almonds and peanuts are very convenient snacks, and useful in recipes for things like almond milk and cashew cheese.

Can't eat raw veggies except lettuce? Yup, I generally do not eat much in the way of raw veggies. Different veggies have different changes in nutritional value based on cooking method. Some increase bio-availability of certain nutrients, other methods decrease other nutrients. * See note at end

Can you drink juices? I also must admit I do not have a good relationship with fruits myself. Not that I don't like them, but I never seem to crave them enough to eat as much as I should. Bad me! Anyways, yes that shouldn't be a problem.

Now the * note at the end: Use cronometer (the web site) to put together some meals and see what nutrient values you get, This will give you an idea of what foods help carry the nutritional load. Like they say, eat a wide variety (and your restrictions wont make it too too hard) and don't forget the flax meal and nooch! (and a b12 sup if you aren't getting it from supplemented foods, or certain sun-exposed fungi).

 

[Soyeah_Sauce]

Well it is totally possible to be vegan and nut-free, but since it is only certain nuts that makes it easier. Cashews, almonds and peanuts are very convenient snacks, and useful in recipes for things like almond milk and cashew cheese.

Can't eat raw veggies except lettuce? Yup, I generally do not eat much in the way of raw veggies. Different veggies have different changes in nutritional value based on cooking method. Some increase bio-availability of certain nutrients, other methods decrease other nutrients. * See note at end

Can you drink juices? I also must admit I do not have a good relationship with fruits myself. Not that I don't like them, but I never seem to crave them enough to eat as much as I should. Bad me! Anyways, yes that shouldn't be a problem.

Now the * note at the end: Use cronometer (the web site) to put together some meals and see what nutrient values you get, This will give you an idea of what foods help carry the nutritional load. Like they say, eat a wide variety (and your restrictions wont make it too too hard) and don't forget the flax meal and nooch! (and a b12 sup if you aren't getting it from supplemented foods, or certain sun-exposed fungi).

Thank you! And yes, I can drink juices.

 

[SapphireLightning]

Thank you! And yes, I can drink juices.

Oh and don't forget that you can cook with fruits as well Pineapple is good as part of a sweet and sour dish for instance.

But yeah, you shouldn't have any specific trouble going vegan due to your stated dietary restrictions.
For instance: I haven't eaten any of the nuts you listed since I was a teen (I turn 40 this month)
I cook most of my veggies
I don't consume much fruit, not even in juice form, but do eat it cooked now and again (not heavily cooked tho).
I am still kicking after 7 years as a vegan, so by coincidence we could have similar diets

 

[Soyeah_Sauce]

Oh and don't forget that you can cook with fruits as well Pineapple is good as part of a sweet and sour dish for instance.

But yeah, you shouldn't have any specific trouble going vegan due to your stated dietary restrictions.
For instance: I haven't eaten any of the nuts you listed since I was a teen (I turn 40 this month)
I cook most of my veggies
I don't consume much fruit, not even in juice form, but do eat it cooked now and again (not heavily cooked tho).
I am still kicking after 7 years as a vegan, so by coincidence we could have similar diets

That's great! Now to convince my parents... ?

 

[Hog]

If I can go vegan, anybody can go vegan.

You might want to get a free PETA Mentor. They will hold your hands while you make the transition. PETA says that going vegan does not need to happen overnight. Take it slow and easy.

 

[Hog]

Lou, a member of this form, is also an encyclopedia of vegan knowledge.

 

[Emma JC]

I agree that you can still go vegan, with those allergies and still get all your nutrients.

Lots of potatoes and sweet potatoes, rice, whole grain pastas, with lots of lentils and beans, cooked veggies and greens of all kinds. Cooked fruits like berries and pineapple and apples go beautifully on pancakes and steel cut oats. So many amazing foods that you can still eat!

Good luck!

Emma JC

 

[Lou]

Lou, a member of this form, is also an encyclopedia of vegan knowledge.

?

 

[SapphireLightning]

Here is a random day of food I set up in cronometer that fits the OP's dietary restrictions, just so they can have an idea.

We start the day with some overnight oats, with flax meal in soy milk, topped with blackberries and sunflower seeds.
Lunch is a whole wheat wrap with some refried beans (the lard-free ones!!) lettuce and tofu crumble cooked with nutritional yeast (and some spices such as taco seasoning maybe?) added. With orange juice and a side of baby carrots and hummus.
Dinner is whole wheat spaghetti, marinara sauce, with some spinach cooked in (which I really like what it does to tomato sauces!) and soy milk for a drink. This is only 1500 Kcal, so there is still plenty of room for snacks during the day, but I never plan those, I just like to have a few things I can snack on around.

The only nutrient not really hit is potassium, but it is very common for most to not get anywhere near 100% RDA of it. You could always double the amount of spaghetti sauce, or add No-Salt (which is a salt replacement made of potassium chloride).

The Omega 6/3 ratio is 4:1 which is considered a good ratio.

All of this was done in 5 minutes of just plugging stuff in to cronometer, and is only one of many meal sets that one could eat and be hitting their targets.

 

[SapphireLightning]

Lou, a member of this form, is also an encyclopedia of vegan knowledge.

Oh? He may have some competition in that respect. *ebil grin* >: )

 

[Lou]

Oh? He may have some competition in that respect. *ebil grin* >: )

Your meal plan is fantastic. nice job. one question, tho. How did you get it to post it here. I've tried and I always had to break it into two screen captures. Looks like you used some other technique. Please teach me Obi-Wan.

Also double bonus points for hitting all the targets without a supplement. While staying below 1500 calories. Oh wait. it says you met your energy requirements but with an 800 calorie deficit. That can't be right.

I have the same issue on all my daily menus, too. Way too much Vitamin A. Vitamin A is not water soluble and can become toxic. So I worry about that. However, the first sign of Vitamin A toxicity is your skin turns orange. So far I'm not orange. However last week I was hiking and an entire bunny family started following me.

 

[SapphireLightning]

Your meal plan is fantastic. nice job. one question, tho. How did you get it to post it here. I've tried and I always had to break it into two screen captures. Looks like you used some other technique. Please teach me Obi-Wan.

Also double bonus points for hitting all the targets without a supplement. While staying below 1500 calories. Oh wait. it says you met your energy requirements but with an 800 calorie deficit. That can't be right.

I have the same issue on all my daily menus, too. Way too much Vitamin A. Vitamin A is not water soluble and can become toxic. So I worry about that. However, the first sign of Vitamin A toxicity is your skin turns orange. So far I'm not orange. However last week I was hiking and an entire bunny family started following me.

I took 2 screen shots and put them together in GIMP, so basically the same as you.

Yeah, I kinda ignore the energy requirements thing, that being a CRON diet site, it is big on the low calorie bent, and once you take in to account my daily activity and the fact I set it to not change my weight, it outputs like that. (Wow that was some sort of sentence...) If I was sedentary, it would make more sense. The CRON in cronometer refering to Calorie ReductiON.

Not much of a need to worry about beta carotene consumption. It is the Retinal and Retinol that are dangerous at high levels (the type found in animal products), beta carotene is converted to Retinal and Retinol as needed. I will look in to this more though.


Edit: Here is a good start: https://www.nutri-facts.org/en_US/nutrients/carotenoids/beta-carotene/safety.html and https://reference.medscape.com/drug/lumitene-provitamin-a-beta-carotene-999912 not definitive, but gives some info on the difference between beta carotene and other forms of the vitamin.