New vegan: 2 weeks in. what to expect?

[sebelle]

Hi everyone.

I'm joining vegan forum for two main reasons. 1) I just transitioned to a vegan life style around a week and a half ago and I would like to share my experiences and learn from others 2) I am doing a a virtual forum research paper for my university (it will only be seen among my peers and my professor.)

I have a few questions regarding the body changes I should expect with the new diet. I realized I have been a bit more lethargic and low on energy, but I have also noticed some bloating. Are these normal reactions? I also am gluten free!

Thanks for any responses!

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Lethargic and low energy is quite common, but may be due to not eating enough. A plate of vegan food has less calories on average. Eat larger portions or more snacks (some even eat an extra meal per day). Either count calories or weight yourself regularly to make sure you are not losing weight, whichever you are more comfortable with.

Bloating might be normal - if you have added a lot of beans or new things google how to remedy this or cut back on this for a while. More gases/farting would be normal but as I say google remedies.

Good luck and it's great to see another new vegan!

 

[Mr. Vegan]

Yes along with not eating enough you may also be deficient in trace minerals and regular vitamins.

 

[Amanda Margaret]

My personal experience is that I've become way more gassy. At first I was concerned, but than I found out that farting more than 10 times a day is actually healthy. I don't know if it's because the beans or what, but being gassy is actually healthy (though undesirable) so just know that if you're farting a lot it's normal because you're eating more fruits and veggies and beans. It means you're consuming a lot of fiber which is good.

 

[veganteen1]

The gas will pass as your gut microbes adjust to give you a healthier microbiome that can digest beans. How you'd expect to change and feel depends on what kind of diet you already had. For example, if you were already eating whole foods with a little meat and dairy, now substituting plant-based meats and nut or soy milks, you shouldn't feel much different. Likewise, if you ate junk food before and switched to vegan junk food, you shouldn't feel much different. But if you were on an unhealthy diet and now eating only healthy vegan food, the transition will take more adjusting to and it'll take time to find foods you like and get used to healthier ones.

 

[sebelle]

Thanks so much everyone! This was very helpful I've been learning a lot on this forum and appreciate the responses

 

[veganteen1]

If you haven't found www.nutritionfacts.org yet, I highly recommend you check them out!