Why did I stop eating vegan diet? While I do believe that the emphasis on plant foods that the vegan diet endorses can be extremely effective in reversing skin disease, I don’t think that the elimination of all animal products was a sustainable solution for me. I now see the full vegan approach as a sort of fasting tool.
Although I do believe that animal products can be a very nourishing food source, they are not really a healing food. Not to mention most of the animal products you find are overly processed and contain harmful hormones and antibiotics. By refraining from eating animal products for a certain period of time, you are simplifying your healing approach and are putting a focus on the healing power of plant foods.
Why I went vegan in the first place
Shortly after graduating from college, I found myself struggling to enter the next chapter of my life as my skin disease and overall health had reached an all time low. I was having uncontrollable psoriasis breakouts everywhere on my body and my low energy levels made it difficult to function at an efficient level.
I was fed up with making frequent trips to the dermatologist only to find little relief in whatever medication they prescribed and so I decided to start looking into natural remedies. I soon decided to take my first steps in changing my diet and attempting to follow a healthier lifestyle.
Being a naturally slim individual, I never had an issues with fat gain and therefore I grew up eating whatever I wanted or whatever was in front of my face. Needless to say, these years of poor nutrition did not do my health any favors.
As time went on and I became more disciplined in implementing proper nutrition and healing practices, I began to see results and eventually reached the point where my skin was almost completely clear for a couple of years. I was still not as committed to a healthy lifestyle as I am now, but nonetheless, it was a blessing as I felt like I had taken my life back.
After years of good discipline and fairly clear skin, I grew comfortable with where I was at. I then decided to start eating large amounts of meat, pasta, and just food in general in an attempt to put on some more muscle. I also started to take a couple commonly used weightlifting supplements.
It didn’t take long for these decision to summon the worst psoriasis breakout of my life. I could not believe that I was having such a severe breakout years after years of hard work and dedication.
This was the last straw for me and I decided that I was going to start following a fully vegan diet. I had done some research and had experimented on and off with a plant based diet prior to this breakout, but never fully committed.
I began following my own idea of a detox protocol consuming large amount of vegetable juice, fruit smoothies, and just fruits and veggies in general. After a couple weeks I began introducing some other plant foods into my diet and eventually built a long term WFPB diet.
This approach resulted in me healing the worst breakout I had ever had in just a couple months. Not only had my skin cleared, but my overall health had reached a place that I had not experienced since childhood. Following such a positive experience, I decided that I was going to stay plant based for the long haul and completely eliminate animal foods from my diet.
The decline of my vegan diet
The first six months or so were great. My skin was glowing and I felt that my entire being had taken on a new enhanced vibrance. But as time went on, I started to notice these positive results begin to fade. My energy levels were not so great and I was losing weight despite eating around 4,000-4,500 calories a day.
At first, I wasn’t too worried about the weight loss. I have always had a hard time gaining weight and I just kind of figured that I was losing the little bit of excess fat that I had left as I was starting to take on an even leaner tone.
Then, the weight just kept getting lower and lower and I kept eating more and more. I remember thinking that this was no way to go through life. Who wants to constantly be shoving food down their throat all day everyday? It eventually got to the point where people close to me were starting to notice my weight dropping. They began to comment on how my arms appeared to be smaller than they were and my cheeks pointed had become more pronounced.
To coincide with the weight loss, I started to notice my strength declining. Honestly, I tried to ignore this at first as I really believed that I was eating the right diet and that I would eventually start to put on some more muscle. As I continued to work my ass off in the gym with regressing results it became impossible to ignore the fact that I was missing something.
Loss of energy was another issue that began to come into play. I felt as if I could never get enough sleep and I began to take frequent naps after I got home from work. This is where I really had to start questioning if I was really eating the “perfect diet” that I was. If this really was the right diet for me, shouldn’t it be making me feel energized and strong rather than weak and lethargic?
This is when I started to do some research on other people who had negative experiences with the vegan diet long term. I found many people who just like me had seen great results early on but had eventually developed certain deficiencies. Honestly, I could not believe how many negative stories I found. It was if I had discovered a whole other funnel inside of the internet that I had never come across.
The decision to leave the diet that had worked so well for me in terms of healing was tough. I didn’t want to stop eating that way as there was I time where I really thought that this was the answer. If you would’ve asked me 2-6 months into my completely plant based lifestyle if I would ever eat meat again I would’ve told you no.
The fact of the matter is, you have to separate yourself from all of the propaganda and opinions of others and look at what is best for you. You have to realize just how complicated nutrition is. Certain diet approaches can bring about great results fast, but that does not mean that they are going to be best for you long term.
What do I eat now?
I currently still am eating a diet that is very rich in plant foods. I am following a very similar template as I was before but I have added in some quality animal products. If you are going to include animal products in your diet, it is important that you go about it in the right way. There is a certain way you should go about incorporating them into your diet and you can really negatively effect your digestion if you don’t take caution.
For instance, considering that I am currently still following a high carb diet, I need to make sure that I do not incorporate too much fat. For that reason, I have been sticking to only eating fish and lean meats for the most part (I have been eating some fattier meats on occassion. This is because there is really only two approaches that you can take in order to maintain good skin health: High carb low fat and low fat high carb.
Now, if you ultimately decide that you don’t think that high carb low fat is what is best for you long term and decide that you want to take a high fat low carb ketogenic approach, then you will be able to consume a lot more animal products and fattier meats than someone who is on the high carb low fat. With that said, you will not be able to enjoy a lot of the healthy starches and fruits that someone following the high carb approach will be able to.
The reason why you don’t want to be high carb and high fat at the same time is because it mimics the disease causing dietary choices that probably led you to the point of obtaining skin disease. You can have both healthy fats and carbs in your diet but you just can have an abundance of both. I would say that if you are eating high carb, you should keep your fats under 30% and vice versa.
If you want to see an example of what I am currently eating in a day click this link to read my blog post on a full day of eating for healing psoriasis. In this article I give a breakdown of my entire day and give you an idea of what a day in my life looks like. This includes commentary on my daily activities and several examples of the foods that I eat throughout the day.
Do I still think the vegan diet is a good skin healing approach?
Considering the fact that I am still sticking with a pretty plant based approach, I think that it is clear that I still do believe that a vegan diet can be used as a great skin healing tool. With that said, I do believe that there comes a point when you will have to take all factors into consideration and decide what you think is going to work for you long term.
My advice would be to take a month or so and follow a plant based diet that is based around the consumption of whole plant foods (fruits and vegetables especially). I recommend the plant based approach as sort of a first phase healing method due to the fact that this is what worked for me and also because I believe fruits and veggies to be the most powerful healing foods on the planet.
In the first month or so of the healing process, you do not need to put a focus on macronutrient consumption. Macronutrients are obviously a very important factor to consider, but micronutrients and antioxidants are what you really want to focus on in the beginning stages. Early on, it is not so much about building a body as it is about breaking it down and ridding yourself of anything within your body that could be contributing to your disease. I will be developing a step by step three phase process in the near future.
As I said, I believe that this is the best healing approach to take. With that said, if this is not working for you, then don’t be afraid to do some additional research on a ketogenic approach and see if that is ultimately a better option for you. There are people out there who have healed their skin following keto as well.
Why don’t I follow the keto approach? First off, I want to state that I am a student of natural healing and of health in general and I try not to put one specific diet approach on a pedestal. One thing that people need to remember is that there are several different ways of living that can all assimilate to good health. In the internet world, you see way too many people promoting the one diet that worked for them as if it is the word of god. It’s not.
With that said, I may experiment with a keto diet someday or I may not. Who knows. I am currently feeling great following a mostly plant based approach with the addition of some quality animal products. But I fully understand that I could probably feel great following another approach as well. At the end of the day, eating whole foods and moving your body on a consistent basis is what is going to heal your skin disease. You just need to have a plan and that plan has to make sense.
