This almost sounds so cliche by now but after watching the documentary “What The Health”, my family went full blaze mode and changed their diet drastically. They started question and worried about my 90% protein (meat) and 10% healthy fat such as avocado or veggies such as baby arugula intakes. After my mother’s plea to try go vegan for one month, I gave in.
Pre vegan: I was 185 pounds, worked out often and eaten clean the 6 days of the week. My immune system was crappy since I was a child but I had chickenpox which resulted shingles at young age. It was once or twice a year incidents for me. Everything in my blood works came out great. I avoided workout supplements due to “natural flavors” and “added sugar” such as maltodextrin or other chemically known names.
1 month of vegan: I was 180 pounds, still worked out but my muscles just felt flat most of the time. My face was no longer puffy but my girlfriend noticed that my stomach was getting softer. I noticed that most of vegan diets allowed them to have complex carbs/whole grain stuff so I ate them moderately too.
I’ve eaten high protein veggies such as broccoli, edamame and potatoes. I’ve also made sure to eat avocado and healthy fats by eating nuts. I wasn’t miserable as I’ve gotten used to eating carbs by this time. I avoided eating meat substitutes since the ingredients in the back had so many chemical stuff in there.
Here’s where things went wrong. I’ve had shingles almost once every week and my immune system was shot even with ginger/lemon/kale etc juicing at home. My blood work showed I’ve had elevated blood sugar and though my cholesterol almost remained the same, my HDL actually were lowered.
After one month, I stopped and went back to my meat driven diet again. I’ve eaten almost strictly carnivore diet and oh boy! I missed red meat! Back in two month of my meat diet, my doctor said my HDL had been high and I was back to average. Also, immune system felt better. I try turning the table on my mother but still no luck. It’s just so hard to sway someone’s eating habits after they’ve been brainwashed for so long.
