I've read a lot of theories that circled around why vegans love their new way of eating, the vegan honeymoon. This is what keeps them going while their health collapses.

I understand because I loved carnivore! Now, I can still love carnivore! Now I know why the symptoms ceased when I added plant food. Because that stopped the runaway oxalate dumping symptoms. I can correct it, and go back to what works best for me.

This makes me sympathetic to vegan feelings.

But switching from the SAD to vegan is not because "whole foods have more nutrition." I'm running across arguments, such as in Toxic Superfoods and Vegetarianism Explained, that what going vegan actually does is put the body into fasting mode.

That's where the euphoria and short-term improvements come from. These two books conclude that most people can't get much of anything from a plant-based diet. It works as a calorie restricted fast.

Which must come to an end, with plants, because we see what happens with calorie restriction, like those mice who lived longer. But they also live on seeds, people!

I believe this is a plausible hypothesis. It takes time for any damage to occur from a particular diet, so when committed people discover their WOE isn't optimum, it can be too late depending on how long they've been "committed" and age at discovery. One of the reasons I still enjoy very low carb, protein emphasis, and producing ketones during non-eating windows is that I end up eating less (fewer calories), because I'm able to sense satiety and reach satiety sooner than my previous carb-focused WOE days. It has worked for me, and while I know we all don't respond the same, there are many people who are similar to me who have experienced the same result. Bottom line, I continue to learn how to adapt as my dietary needs slowly change over time, and it's enabled me to keep an inquisitive and open mind as I travel this journey.

One thing I'll say about vegans is that they stick to their guns and don't "cheat." I've never heard of a vegan saying, "Ohhh, I was so BAD last night, I ate a whole pork chop before I even knew what was happening!"

Lol, you've never met my vegan SIL! We went out for dinner together in London recently and she actually had a steak! I nearly fell off my chair in surprise!

Time for a classic:

We Must Reclaim Human Health, Sustainability, Environmental Justice, And Morality From The Birdseed Brigade



They cheat.

I suspect that many vegetarians and probably even more vegans, because they fancy themselves as morally correct in how they choose to eat, are more likely to hide their meat eating transgressions.

I have seen DH do better on a food plan that includes steel cut oatmeal, at a level of fat that would have me adding half a stick of butter. (I get “fat hunger,” but then, I lived through the low fat craze.)

I have him eating chuck from the French oven, but I dip mine in sour cream and horseradish sauce So I’m comfortably sure everyone has to find how to get off the freeway, and where to stay.

But vegans are, one way or another, under the sway of a belief system. The 10% who stick with it show how many others must be cheating.

That's because it is against their religion to admit it. Many do keep animal products out of their homes, but how did that Wendy's Baconator wrapper get in their car? I was a vegan for ~2 years of my >50 years of dieting, in the early 1990s and it was like any other diet or way of eating. Occasionally (once every couple of months) I lapsed and it often turned into a 1-3 day binge on foods not on the current diet. Just long enough to top up my B12 until the next lapse. It was full body exhaustion that persuaded me to become a born-again carnivore.

One thing I've done since then is allow myself to go off plan but I must log what I eat. It is fascinating to see that my body does seem to keep eating until I get enough protein (~100g/day, though typically I aim for more to increase satiety), whether it comes from steak or Reece's Peanut Butter cups. I still consider myself a sugar and legume avoider even though I occasionally slip up and know how they make me feel lethargic & in pain afterwards.

I think most people who are vegans do so because either:

1) They don't think eating animals is good
2) They believe the hype that it's healthier

There are 7 important nutrients vegans cannot get without dietary supplements - that tells me we should be vegan

We have the alimentary canal, teeth and enzymes of an omnivore, that tells me we should eat both plant and flesh

Anyone who isn't a vegan and calls themselves a vegetarian, is simply fooling themselves. In reality, they are omnivores. (What plant does an egg, or piece of cheese grow on).

When we discover the vegetarian religious sect who set up the whole "accredited dietician" thing back in the 1920's or so? Long time, anyway. Gave them a monopoly on it.

But none of them know that. They feel virtuous, get to eat a lot of junk and feel good about it (the amounts of sugar in vegan products is horrifying) and care more about the animals.

In their minds, it all comes from happy meadows.But cows use a fraction of the water almonds do, apparently. Which much more bio-available nutrition.