/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I am a biochemist and former vegan (for two non-consecutive years). Allow me to preface this by saying- I feel a huge amount of compassion for animals, and I've cried more than once about having to kill to eat.

When I was a vegan in 2008, I felt extremely weak after about a month, and by the end of the year, I felt like death every day. I was 13 at the time but I knew the one thing I'd changed was my diet, and I was craving meat severely, so I went back to an animal-supplemented diet for several years. Better armed with nutritional knowledge, I attempted veganism again for a year when I was 19. I hit my macros, took D3 and B12, and supplemented with EFA/ALA's. By the end of the year, I was unable to function. I couldnt think straight, lost all physical stamina, was constantly exhausted. I saw my physician, did some labs, and found out my cholesterol was in the toilet. We did more labs and that was the only level that was off.

Unfortunately hypocholestemia is not studied because it is virtually unheard of- you have to be a vegan to get levels that low. After exhausting all the diagnoses that could explain why I couldn't function, I started eating meat and butter again. Within a week I was back to normal, could think clearly, felt strong and well. Though the mechanisms are not entirely understood yet, the human body requires cholesterol to function. It is known that low cholesterol correlates with depression. I wasn't getting adequate omega-3's either, and my brain had nothing to repair itself with- so it stopped working. Veganism is not a viable option for people who wish to retain 100% of their capacity to function. You can get by on a vegan diet, the body is designed to survive starvation and poor conditions for a very long time- but if you want to LIVE, to THRIVE, to not be depressed and sluggish and weak, and have your brain working at half-capacity, you have to consume animal products