Why is it so hard for vegans to acknowledge their plight?
After 3 years of being a fervent vegan, at the age of 22, I felt 85. I went from hitting the gym 5 days a week to languishing in bed unable to muster the energy for a stroll. My body felt heavy, weak, tired, and lifeless. Drinking water punished my fragile stomach. This had become the norm for me after 3 years of being vegan. Unfortunately, this state has also become the norm for many other now ex-vegans.
If you’re considering quitting veganism, know that you are not alone. In fact, you would be in the majority as research indicates that as many as 84% of vegans/vegetarians eventually abandon the diet (1). Even the most high-profile vegan YouTubers (Rawvana anyone?) whose entire online career and success have hinged on their veganism eventually quit. While there are several successful long-term vegan YouTubers, they are the exception, not the rule (2).
The health issues frequently experienced by long-term vegans are astoundingly similar and resoundingly dismissed by overzealous vegans. Take a look through r/exvegans and you’ll see the same complaints over and over again: fatigue, indigestion, insatiable hunger, low energy, depression, inability to digest food, and every gut problem you can imagine.
Yet when these issues are brought up by struggling vegans, they are dismissed and told that veganism is unfairly demonized for causing a litany of health issues. Vegans would be wise to acknowledge the very real health effects many people experience from being on a vegan diet long term.
Instead, vegans claim that anyone can be vegan and if you can’t hack it, “you’re doing it wrong” or “you never were vegan to begin with”. If you start having health problems months or years into veganism, you better believe its your fault. “It’s not the veganism,” they chant. They will attack you or accuse you of lying for even suggesting that veganism is not the panacea of health. I was in this camp and believed anything negative written about veganism online was conspiratorial vegan bashing from the meat industry. Until it happened to me.
As a devout vegan, I never touched an animal product after watching Earthlings and going full vegan the next day. My diet consisted of perfectly curated meals commonly seen in the What I Eat In A Day videos of ultra healthy vegan YouTubers. I scoffed at processed vegan food and consumed all natural whole foods, consisting mostly of grains, beans, vegetables, tofu, greens, nuts, seeds, and fruit. I was at the pinnacle of health I thought. And I was determined to prove all those who disparaged vegans wrong. In fact, nearly all my friends tried veganism at one point in large part to my influence.
But when my health turned south, the commonly suggested remedies from vegans such as taking more supplements did nothing for me. I only found effective help in the land of ex-vegans.
Low stomach acid (hypochlorhydria) and B12
One of the first things you learn when you’re a newly fledged vegan is that you need B12. Like need. The effects of a B12 deficiency are no joke (unless cognitive decline is funny to you). One fact about B12 is that sufficient HCL (stomach acid) is required to liberate B12 from food and later absorb it (3).
Meat in particular stimulates stomach acid. So when you stop eating meat, your body responds by producing less stomach acid. Thus not eating meat can snowball into a vicious cycle of low stomach acid production causing low mineral absorption, which causes low stomach acid. I do not believe low stomach acid will be a problem for every vegan. There are many vegans who never have this problem and I am glad. But it can and does happen to a significant number of people and should not be ignored. One thing vegans fail to mention is how a vegan diet is not only completely deficient in vitamin B12, it also can hamper the absorption of vitamin B12 through this process.
Stomach acid is essential for digesting food. It is required for activating pepsin to digest protein and for proper absorption of B12, folic acid, iron, magnesium, zinc, and more. One of the biggest causes of iron deficiency is low stomach acid.
As someone who was vegan for 3 years and developed hypochlorhydria, it’s not something that should be taken lightly. After eating a meal, it felt like food would fester in my stomach smoldering and bubbling like a witch’s cauldron. Despite being thin, I looked like I was 8 months pregnant after every meal. My belly was full of painful gas and undigested fermenting food. When it came out the other end, low and behold, I could see which meal had come out because the food remained mostly undigested. I repeat, stomach acid is essential for digesting food. I hope it goes without saying that digesting food is essential to being alive and that not digesting food can cause numerous cascading effects that wreck havoc on your body.
This did not occur overnight. It took years for this to develop and take hold. Now imagine not digesting food for months or even years on end. I had no energy despite being young and active. I continued to ignore these painfully obvious symptoms because I could not fathom that it was because my diet. It had to be something else. This was the sacrifice I was making for the animals.
I scoured the internet for answers. And horrified, I had found so many vegans and now ex-vegans online with the same issues. I could’ve written their experiences myself.
If only B12 was the only nutrient lacking in a vegan diet, then maybe it would be an acceptable diet. Heme Iron, Calcium, Omega-3s (specifically DHA and EPA), Zinc, Vitamin D3, Creatine and more are just a handful of nutrients lacking in a vegan diet (4, 5).
Vegans will claim you can get all of these nutrients from a vegan diet, failing to mention how low the bioavailability of these nutrients are in plant foods.
Just to quickly go over three nutrients lacking in plant foods:
Vitamin D
There are two forms of vitamin D. Vitamin D3 is only found in animal foods, and vitamin D2 is found in plant foods. Vitamin D3 increases the blood level of absorbable vitamin D much more efficiently than D2. The best sources of vitamin D3 are fatty fish and egg yolks. This is especially problematic for young girls who decide to go vegan because vitamin D is essential for bone health and density and the majority of bone mineralization occurs before the age of 25. Hampering this process by getting inadequate vitamin D levels can put you at increased risk of osteoporosis later in life. Not to mention that vitamin D is essential for brain health, mood, and staving off depression.
Omega-3s
Similar to Vitamin D, there are three types of Omega-3s: ALA, DHA, and EPA. DHA and EPA are essential omega-3 fatty acids that is critical for brain health and function. But what about chia and flax seeds ? Not so fast. They only contain ALA. ALA found in plant foods can be converted to DHA and EPA. However, the conversion is extremely inefficient ranging from a 3–8% conversation rate. In fact, vegans and vegetarians often have lower levels of DHA than meat eaters.
Iron
Spinach has a lot of iron right? More than meat even right? That’s what vegans will tell you. However, spinach and other high iron plant foods only contain non-heme iron. And maybe you’re noticing a pattern here, but non-heme — surprise surprise — is poorly absorbed. Heme iron, found only in animal foods, is much better absorbed and even increases the absorption of non heme iron. In fact, absorption of non-heme iron can be further hindered by antinutrients naturally found in plants such as phytic acid.
Conclusion
As someone who went vegan for the animals and not for health, it was difficult to reconcile my failing health with my desire to end animal suffering. I am fully aware of and condemn the abuses of factory farms. Yet, I eat meat almost every day now nearly guilt free. I value my quality of life more than the life of animals. Valuing one’s survival above others is a decision almost every animal makes. Humans are no exception. Any species that continued to put another species survival above its own would’ve died out a long time ago.
I wanted to be vegan, but at what cost? Why put myself in a self-induced state of chronic fatigue and constant pain? I was not willing to sacrifice my health to end animal suffering. If you take veganism to its logical extreme — do not harm animals — the best course of action would be suicide. Nearly all animals would be better off if humans weren’t around. Humans are destructive to the environment and animals in so many ways beyond animal consumption.
There are many successful long-term vegans, and I commend them. There are people who go vegan and it has a miraculous effect on their health. But these same vegans deny the health issues others experience on a vegan diet. Rather than write them off and call them fake vegans, they would be wise to acknowledge the experiences of struggling vegans. It’s great that veganism works well for some long-term vegans, but they are most likely the exception given the high recidivism rate. I can acknowledge the health benefits experienced by some who switch to a vegan diet. It would be nice if vegans could provide that same curtesy and acknowledge the very real health benefits people experience from adding meat back into their diet. I started eating meat again because I felt like absolute sh*t after years of excluding it from my diet. I am not alone in that and I cannot help my biology. Nutrition is complex and not fully understood. People all have very individualized bodies. A diet that works for one person may not work for another. Let’s respect that.
