I Stopped Being Vegan After 6 Years and Wish to Share This

I loved being vegan, every day. However I want to share what I wish I’d known with all people who don’t want to eat meat or eggs.

Photo by Vinicius Benedit on Unsplash

Going vegan at about 23 years old, I felt an enormous burden lifted, feeling finally free to enjoy all of my meals without that strange cloud over my head. I never felt lacking and craved nothing, not even cheese.

6 Years of Being Vegan & My Health

My twenties were a wild ride and not in any fun way. Despite being a supplement nut and having regular blood work done, I encountered a multitude of health issues like:

• binge eating disorder,
• various digestion problems and frequent bloating,
• irritable bowel syndrome (IBS),
• severe depression and anxiety attacks,
• frequent exhaustion,
• immunity issues and frequent tonsilitis,
• brain fog, and problems with attention.

I do not claim to know which of my conditions were caused or worsened by not eating animals products. However, being quite the hypochondriac and having all these symptoms, I spent a significant portion of my twenties in the doctor’s office. But the doctors never found any underlying reasons for these problems.

During the long pandemic winter of 2021, my health issues broke out of control, especially my depression. I’ve reached rock bottom. I’ve been fighting like hell for my life ever since — trying everything from therapy and coaching to psychedelics and a 14-day fast. (Anything but anti-depressants, which I’m trying to avoid.)

All of this worked, and in half a year, I’ve seen miracles happen in my life. However, brain fog, binging, digestion issues, and depression always find ways to creep back in whenever I let my guard down. I know I’m not living anywhere near the full potential of a healthy human.

How Did I Miss This?

As the new year 2022 came in, what dawned on me was HOW is it even possible that I never considered my diet could play a role in all this. Something finally clicked in my brain, and I didn’t want to risk stalling my recovery anymore. I decided I owed it to myself to try and eat ‘normal.’ I mean, I already literally tried not eating for two weeks (which I consider a cool experience).

Fish & Eggs Only For Now

There was a lot of internal resistance, my first plate of eggs was a difficult task. It took me over an hour of staring at the plate and some crying, but I did it. It got easier very soon. Right now, I will go with eggs and fish only; that should get me a long way and show me whether the problem was veganism or not.

I am only two weeks in right now and so far happy with my decision. It is too soon to give judgments, but it has already happened to me a couple of times that I felt full before finishing my meal. This literally didn’t happen to me for six years — I was always eating, never feeling satisfied.

What I Wish I Knew

Of course, people constantly pointed to my veganism in regards to my problems. Unfortunately, with the same breath, they added ‘funny,’ condescending, half-wit remarks, making me not take them seriously altogether.

I wish to say the following things that I believe could have resonated with me in the past.

If You Want to Go (Or Stay) Vegan, Do It. But:

1. Always be on the lookout for any health issues and be suspicious. If you have any issues, however unrelated they seem, always suspect veganism first — Google the symptoms adding the ‘vegan’ keyword.
2. Read the subreddit r/exvegans. These people share the same values as you but had to reconsider being vegan. You may disagree with them, especially their sometimes angry sentiment, but this is priceless information. My problem was that I didn’t connect my issues to my diet. As stupid as it sounds, it happened to me. By reading through this sub, you should be able to avoid this.
3. Don’t rule out the possibility of eating animal products again. I have been too rigorous. Meat disgusts me, and so I never wanted to hear about eating it again. Not even from me. Well, there are always ways; there are free-range eggs at least. And there are also priorities.
4. You have to come first. Vegan or not, you know both sides of the coin now. As an ex-vegan, you will always care about minimizing animal suffering; no one can take that away from you — because you know. But evolution took a long, long time, and it is entirely possible that being vegan might not be feasible for everyone — not yet. I fully believe in an engineered solution for this in the future. But life is to be lived now; now is all we have.
5. If you stop being vegan, nobody will be mad, and you can always start again, soon, if you like.

All the best of luck ❤