What should i do about my friend?!
What should i do about my friend?
i'm a vegetarian and my friend is a vegan. she's been a vegan for 5 months now, and i'm starting to get really worried about her. she's 5'4'' and only weighs between 95 and 100 lbs.
recently she's been getting leg cramps, headaches, having troubles sleeping, and being tired all the time. those are all signs of anemia. they are also all signs of protein deficiency.
we-all of her friends- are very worried about her health. we have tried to talk to her, but she just thinks we don't understand where she's coming from. how can we get her to put herself before the animals and go back to being a vegetarian?
Answers:
You didn't say how old she is. If she's an adult, she is too thin. Her BMI would be 17.2 at most, and anything under 18.5 is underweight. If she's still a teenager, then she's not necessarily too skinny..yet.
I don't think trying to get her to be a vegetarian again is the answer. It doesn't seem like she's gone vegan for her health, she's done it for her ethics. What you should do is talk to her about improving her vegan diet so that she's healthy. You didn't say what she eats, but I'm concerned she's become a "potato chip vegan."
She might not be taking in enough calories. She might have a lack of protein. She needs to make sure to eat 2 servings a day of beans, lentils, tofu, tempeh, nuts, seeds, quinoa, etc. She also needs to take in plenty of iron in the form of green leafy vegetables (kale is perfect), dried fruits, kiwis, etc.
Is there a possibility she has an eating disorder? Cause that could be something else causing these problems.
Check out these websites for more info on a healthy vegan diet.
Source(s):
http://www.pcrm.org
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/f...
http://www.americanvegan.org
http://www.peta2.com
http://www.vegweb.com
First of all, that's not that unhealthy a weight for someone her size. Just wanted to get that in.
Ok, so what you may want to do is show her some medical articles about iron deficiency. Those are symptoms, and she may be anemic from not getting her iron through the right veggies. Use credible sources and articles, and tell her how you feel.
Have her go to the doctor, but she doesn't have to give up veganism because of anemia. If she gets the right meds and takes an iron supplement or something else her doctor recommends, she'll be just fine.
Hope she gets better. It's great she has friends like you guys.
set up an appt for the both of you to go to a nutritionist. In the same way that you can not eat meat and supplement it in your diet with other things, if she eats correctly she can be a vegan and live very healthily!!! but she should hear from an expert how inportant it is.
you could also get some books on veganism and do some more research with her so she learns on her own.
If i wanted to help sick people I'd have to go to school to do it, in the same way, if she wants to help animals she should learn the best way to do it. doing it this way just screws her up and makes the people around her think that it's a stupid idea.
there is nothing you can do for your friend except stay friends, her body belongs to her and not you
maybe you could all buy clothes for her funeral?
Let her die. One less vegan makes the world a better place.
Now that I'm done being snarky, you need to put some tofu in her. Get some silk tofu, some fruit and sugar, and make a smoothie for her. Tofu is an excellent source of protein without the digestive problems associated with beans.
You can't make her be a vegetarian, just like she can't make you be a vegan. You don't understand where she's comming from, you're just trying to make her be like you. Let her be who she wants to be & you be who you want to be, what you eat has nothing to do with what kind of friend you are. It's such a dumb & minor thing to focus on. As for your concerns, suggest that she takes a daily multivitamin with iron.
It might be easier to just get her to eat other types of protein. There are plenty of plant produced proteins. Nuts, peanuts, soy products, and beans.
Vegetarians are no more prone to protein defiencies than vegans. Besides, protein obsession is a Western mental illness that has been linked to cancer (The Atkins 'diet', anyone! Fancy smelling like urine?).
Tell your friend to start taking a supplement and to use a web site such as the vegan society to check her nutrition. When people change their diet, whether it's from a vegetarian diet to a vegan diet, or from an omnivore diet to a healthier omnivore diet, people are more prone to defiencies as they are not used to their new diet, as in, they forget to replace some of the nutrients they have omitted with new ones. The range of food is healthier, but they get stuck in their old ways.
Also, you're automatically assuming this is diet related. I had similar symptoms back when I used to eat meat. I don't have them anymore. I can't remember what the cause was.
< vegetarian, then vegan.
I agree that is definetly not an unhealthy weight for her size. Just be sure she is getting the proper nutrients in her diet. Becoming vegetarian has nothing to do with it. Eating properly has everything to do with it. What sort of foods does she eat? That would be a better key into understanding where her problems lie. If you really want to help your friend, first off you need to respect her decision for wanting to be a vegan. This is not an unhealthy lifestyle by any means so long as she is taking proper care of herself. Help her to research veganism a bit more and the foods she should be eating in order to stay healthy.
It is practically impossible to have protein deficiency if you are not starving yourself. Some of her symptons could also be related to detoxification from the diet transition. One major breakthrough in the vegan diet is GREENS. They are actually a great source of protein--after all that's where the cows get theirs--and iron. The best way I've found to get enough(the experts suggest one to two large bunches per person per day) is in green smoothies made of 1/2 fruit(bananas work best in a regular blender but the Vitamix can handle anything), 1/2 greens(spinach, kale, lettuce, etc.) a couple of dates and some water. Sounds kinds weird but they are totally fresh and can do amazing things for your health. The reason for blending them is that this pulverizes the cell membranes releasing the nutrients in a way that our jaws and teeth cannot--unless you are a cow. You can cook 'em of course but raw is way better.
My first thought is she has an eating disorder. Could that be possible? - Unfortunately alot of people chose a vegan diet to eliminate many foods from their diet to cover up their ED. I hope that is not the case - but it could be possible.
In reality unless you aren't eating enough calories or eating a severely limited vegan diet you will consume enough of the nutrients you need. Although a good vegan multi vitamin couldn't hurt.
Why should she go back to being a vegetarian? Veganism is a healthier choice. If shes not healthy, she just needs to discover healthy vegan food. Theres no need for her to abandon her ideal for this.
There are many healthy vegans, I'm one of them. I used to be a vegetarian for a long time, and I can tell you that veganism makes me feel even better. Maybe ure not worried about her health as much as you want her to be like you. Now youre using this health issue as an excuse, but this is a wrong place for support, because there are many healthy vegans here.
How do you figure that dairy and eggs are healthy for you? I'm not criticizing you, you're better than an average meat eater, but you're wrong if you think that dairy makes you healthy.
If your friend has a problem at all, (and theres a possibility that its just in your head) either help her by finding some good vegan recipes,(maybe even help her cook )or dont help at all. A vegetarian should be able to understand better than an omnivore, that our values cant be compromised. You should respect your friends lifestyle like you want others to respect yours.
It sounds like your friend has an eating disorder and its not something that can be solved by switching to an ovo lacto diet. She can still be vegan, but she needs to get some serious help. Why don't all of you start keeping food journals. When you get together and compare, if it seems like she's starving herself, maybe she'll be able to see that. Does she have family you can go to? There are plenty of vegan protein sources. You need to respect her beliefs and be supportive in other ways. Most active females need at least 50 grams of protein a day. You can get this easy from legumes, soy products, and protein enhanced foods (shakes, luna bars, etc...) Make nutritous vegan foods and invite her and all your buds over. Have cooking parties so she can explore a better variety of dishes. You and your friends will probably enjoy them too.
Eating a vegan diet can be very healthy, however, it can be hard to get adequate nutrients is you don't eat a variety of food.
I was anemic as a meat eater, but am not as a vegan. As a meat eater my diet consisted of chicken and fish and the standard american-type salad. You know, iceberg lettuce, a little carrot, a tomato wedge and a ton of dressing.
It is very important to eat healthy, because you can be an unhealthy vegan if your diet consists of vegan convience foods and junk foods.
But my question to you is, why would you want to get her to go back to being vegetarian? Wouldn't it make more sense to support her and try to make sure she is eating properly.
A vegan diet can be a very healthy thing if done correctly. Her health issues may have nothing to do with her diet. She could just be sick. I had similar symptoms as a meat eater way back when. Many blood tests later and they never found out what the problem was.
Making her go back to vegetarian diet is not the answer. She is going to become defensive about the issue. You need to suggest she go to the doctor to check out the symptom, not mentioning her vegan diet.
She could have symptoms of a number of illnesses, these symptoms are not just for anemia/protein deficiancy. She needs to see a doctor for a diagnosis.
Other illnesses:
insomnia
hypoparathyroidism
lyme disease
etc( just to make a point)
She needs to get blood test to figure it out.
make her eat tons of beans. that should help. but i think you should get her help from a nutritionist
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