totally. its gonna be DEDICATED to you, gurl.

For those of us with compromised digestion, a healthy vegan lifestyle can be tough (of course if you just ate white rice you’d be fine, but who wants to do that?!??!) Please feel free to get in touch with me if you wanna talk more about how to work veganism and a shitty tummy. It can be done!

This project is a great idea! I honestly don’t get mad at people for quitting vegan, I get mad at the excuses and looney claims that are made in defense, like someone saying they immediately felt nourished after eating three bites of tuna, or their cells pulsing or whatever. My hetero lifemate gave veganism a go and after a few weeks I told her, “You know, if you ever stop being vegan you can just say that. You don’t need to make excuses to me and I don’t want you to think you have to avoid talking to me if that happens.” And it did and we’re still friends.

The only time i’ve gotten really upset at someone quitting veganism, and I didn’t say anything to them but I mean I was personally upset, was someone who had done fundraising for Farm Sanctuary and all kinds of other stuff, and they stopped being vegan after many years and went full on junk food omnivore, so it wasn’t even vague health reasons and it wasn’t ‘cage free eggs and free range chicken’ twice a week, it was a total 180 from who they had been and they immediately cut all of their vegan friends out of their life, online and off.

I will try not to make this too long :)

I’m super excited to hear about the site! I went vegan 15 years ago, and have really struggled with health issues in the last few years; some diet related and some not. I would love to see two things on the new site: well researched info not just on a healthy diet, but about correcting the deficiencies and problems that can come with serious health problems and/or long term veganism.

I would also love to see advice on talking to your doctor about being vegan, and what needs to be watched closely. You talk in the video about doctors brushing you off. I’m obese, and I know that’s part of the problem, but I begged my doctor for a long time to check my B-12 and got sideeye. By the time they checked, my B-12 stores were gone (they think I may have a problem in addition to diet, but it might have been nice to know that sooner). I was also not aware that as a fat person, i could be diagnosed with low cholesterol…until I was.

Thank you – I have to admit – this has been the first webspace where I have felt comfortable enough to “out” myself as an ex-vegan (evidenced by the fact I’ve now logged in rather than signed in as “Looby_Lue”!). The comments have all been really positive and this feels like such a safe space. I’m looking forward to exvegan.org and will definitely be joining in :)

I love this post and I’m looking forward to reading more. I too feel passionately about it; I am a former ex-vegan and am determined to not become an ex-vegan again. My previous attempt at veganism failed because of orthorexia and choosing veganism only for health reasons. But eating animal products never sat well with me because I knew too much about the abuse involved in their production. This time I’ve returned to veganism purely for ethical and environmental reasons, and made sure that my orthorexic tendencies were resolved beforehand. I’m determined to make it a lifelong love affair :) Sorry for my babbling on.

Love, love this whole post but I have to stop and comment about this awesome specific convo. I too am raising a little vegan and I continually remind myself that she is not my vegan purity project, but a human just like me with decisions, opinions and conclusions on her own. While I always bring vegan options along when we are out, there have been times when she’s helped herself to another child’s cheddar bunny or something else non vegan at a relative or friend’s house. I don’t want to appear stressed about my food or hers so I let these things go. I know the most important thing I can do is to lead by example and meet her where she is developmentally in her understanding. I feel like it is good preparation for both of us should she decide to make different choices when she is older. Long time reader, first time commenter (I think). Thank you SO much for being so open about this topic!

Really looking forward to the thoughtful, courteous, continued discussions. This topic greatly interests me, as I am an ex vegan…I still eat vegan about 98% of the time, but in my research, I’ve come to the conclusion that I, as a humanimal, evolved to eat animal proteins, as do cows, elephants, blue whales, etc. (insects, tiny fish and krill); I feel it is part of the circle of earth life, and I do not want to beoutside of that circle. I do not judge others for following their conscience; I applaud and support it!
I do not kill for food, of course, but I do eat an egg about 1x a month. My goddaughters are both vegan, and my kids and husband are all vegetarian.
I have not “outed ” myself often, because I’ve seen the rants some vegans engage in on other blogs, forums and various websites…..if I’m completely honest, it is part of the reason I remain ex-vegan…I have a stubborn nature that can’t stand to let haters “win”. ;o)There can be a whole lot of holier-than-thou ‘tude in this world, and vegans, being human, do not avoid it entirely.
So, Sayward, I thank you for creating a safe place for this topic to be discussed in a non judgmental way.

Thanks to Sayward and the positive comments on here, it’s great to “see” people being real. With that being said I’m having my own struggle with veganism. Actually after reading a blog post about “being a vegan” I decided that even if I follow a vegan diet I don’t want to say I’m vegan anymore,because yea people are judgemental and we have our own realities that may or maynot be ideal. But then on the flip side it’s just easier to say I’m vegan when not eating at home to get the point across that I don’t want to eat animal products. So anyways, when I got pregnant I developed a sensitivity to soy. If I ate anything with soy in it I would experience the most intense bloating for two days. After I gave birth the stomach problems with soy aren’t as intense but I still can’t consume anything with soy in it (sometimes soy lethicin is ok, but it still makes me bloated.) Also since I currently breastfeed my infant is very sensitive to what I eat. He was colicky when he was first born until I eliminated everything from my diet that made him upset. Which is: beans (which includes hummus and anything made out if beans), onions, broccoli, cauliflower (any of the cruciferous veggies), coffee, chocolate, anything spicy, and anything with caffiene in it. So I can’t eat all of that (which beans were a big staple), plus soy, and of course no animal products, so then what is there left to eat?! (I know there are options, but the same few things gets really old.) So I have dabbled with animal products here and there because I’m so sick of eating quinoa and veggies all the time.
I really could go more in depth but that would take up a lot of time and room. And the times I do eat animal products I don’t feel good about it and they never taste as good as they used to. I like vegan food, and hopefully when I’m done breastfeeding I can eat all those essentials foods I’m missing. One of the hardest parts is seeing vegans post all their soy based meals online and gloating about how being a vegan is so easy and shames others. Well of course it’s easy if you can eat basically whatever you want! I know I’m a little jealous of soy-eaters, I just get bummed when I can’t eat over half of the recipies in a cookbook because they have soy and then the soy-free ones have beans or broccoli or whatever! *sigh* Thanks for listening!
Oh real quick! Something that bothers me is the promotion of cruelty free beauty products but at the same time those products are filled with nasty chemicals that can kill you. I received some face masks from a well known beauty and food product distributer, and they had some funky ingredients in them along with parabens! We need to look out for ourselves too, just because a product isn’t hurting an animal doesn’t mean it’s not hurting us. I love the EWG’s Skin Deep website to make sure I use chemical free products as well. :)

Hi Sayward, I’ve been a longtime fan of your blog and I *love* that you have opened up this discussion. I myself am an ex-vegan, for reasons pertaining to medical conditions, but I fully support humans evolving toward a more plant-based diet for many reasons. I utilize your how-to’s and recipes often, and point people interested in veganism toward your site often. It’s fabulous! However, I want to respectfully admit that your enthusiasm over Marla Rose’s piece, which is clearly about Jordan Younger but does not name her, troubles me. It bothers me that women are out there trashing other women for their choices; as an eating disorder specialist who will happily work w/ vegan diets, and someone who treats an awful lot of orthorexia, Ms. Younger has been an inspiration to many of my teenage patients due to her courage in discussing this very hidden issue. Whether or not someone agrees with her conclusions or choices, to assume she is doing this for publicity and to trash her without the courage to openly name her is very unkind. There is room at the table for all opinions and choices. I understand the activism part of veganism, but this kind of public slamming is *exactly* what silences people struggling with balancing their veganism and their health. Please keep up this dialogue, because it is a very necessary one, but understand that your endorsement of that piece sends a mixed message at least to me. Public ex-vegans do not discredit the vegan movement as a whole. I am no longer vegan, but I proudly love and support my many and varied vegan friends. Not everyone can nor will embrace veganism, but the perception of extremism sends many running for the hills who could be allies in promoting more plant-based diets. My two cents.

Here you go!

http://superstrengthhealth.com/ex-vegan/

I was an ex-ex-vegan for almost a decade but now identify as a vegan not-vegan (e.g. I live the lifestyle but avoid the identification). I use the terms veganish, plant-based, strict-vegetarian to describe myself but the only time I use the word vegan to describe myself is when I need to order off a menu (or buy shoes).

I should stress that I gave up on veganism not because I want to experience a “bacon-gasm” but because I believe the intolerance of a minority and the silence of
the majority has made it a liability to the AR movement. And it’s telling that many animal rights organizations
now use “veg” or “vegetarian” instead of vegan.

Thank you so much for sharing these posts, it’s a really impportant issue and we do need to talk about it :) This is my own story- http://recoveryjournalistk.wordpress.com/2014/10/15/why-i-was-nearly-an-ex-vegan-but-stayed-vegan/

Hi Noel, I’m so sorry to hear you’re dealing with this. I have not ever written explicitly about the foods I ate in order to heal, but in general I just included a lot of plant-based saturated fat. So coconut oil, coconut butter, coconut milk (canned, full-fat style), and cocoa butter. I ate both coconut and cocoa butter multiple times daily. Other fats are good as well, like avocados, nuts and seeds, olive oil, and hemp oil.

For protein I focused on lentils and beans and lots of them! Also tofu and tempeh. I made sure to eat concentrated protein (soy, beans, or lentils) with every meal. If you can do gluten then seitan is great as well. For variety, quinoa and buckwheat are also great plant-based protein sources.

I hope that helps, and good luck with everything! Please check back in and let us know how it goes. ♥