The Unveganization of my Life
Nutrition and well being do not always adhere to what mainstream wants
I do not know how many of you remember the food crisis in the 1990s in Europe. Probably not many. At that time, Mad Cow Disease was on everyone’s mind. There were many outbreaks recorded and everyone was nervous about food safety. It was also the time of the emerging size 0. Super skinny actresses were the role models of many teen girls. Like Sarah Michelle Gellar, Portia di Rossi, Calista Flockhart, and Keira Knightly are the ones coming to my mind as being overly thin and some of them clearly have admitted they were suffering from severe eating disorders like Portia in her book “Unbearable Lightness”.
Based on all of that I decided in my late teens and early 20s that becoming first a vegetarian and then vegan was the way to go. It was the easiest to find excuses not to eat at family gatherings as Germans clearly put meat in everything. And a sausage salad is indeed counted as a salad and … it also does not have a second dirty meaning for many Germans. It is just food you eat.
I did what many do today. I disguised my disordered eating under the umbrella “vegan” and “environment” and “sustainability”. I now can openly admit, it was all a show. Firstly, to be socially accepted by my peers who all became vegetarian and environmental conscious around the same time. Secondly, it was a path towards avoiding foods and pushing towards the goal of being as skinny as all the idols on TV. Thirdly, it was me trying to show my moral superiority. I was better than all the meat eaters. I could control myself. I was in control.
I was only a set of rich parents away from becoming the Greta Thunberg of my generation. Maybe not. But my attitude was clearly in the same line.
Little did I know that it would change my life to restrict my eating. And not in a positive way. If you center your life around food restrictions, you essentially obsess over everything. You plan and time your life around food. What to eat when. Where to eat what. It is essentially growing an OCD driven form of disordered eating. Not healthy for any growing mind.
What I did not know, though, is the effect on the body... Being vegan and not eating nutritionally well ruined my teeth. I did not have any cavity until age 24. And then… I basically had 20 in one sitting after just one year from eating balanced vegetarian to going extreme vegan. I essentially deprived my body of essential vitamins and minerals that are obtained from animal products. And I did not have the foresight to compensate with plant based foods for what my body was missing. I also do not believe now based on reading sufficient literature not he topic that my body (primarily with Scandinavian and German. ancestry) would have been happy with a pure vegan diet. As a descendent of vikings I believe that I strive mostly with animal fats, organ meats, and fermented foods. If you are interested in reading how I came to this conclusion, these are my favorite books:
All these books challenged my thinking around food, nutrition, and my body. As a marathon runner I rely so much on my body that I used to follow conventional wisdom. Reading about over hydration and the importance to cut sugar changed my approach. And I can proudly say that my best performance was achieved without the reliance on gels and drinking water throughout the course. These days I hydrate with electrolytes and salt water (yes!) instead of Gatorade or other sugary drinks and gels.
For the longest time I listened to “the authority” and “the experts”. Whoever they were in the official media narrative. As if the counting of nutritional value in our foods categorized into carbs, protein, and fats is helpful to us. I believed the nutritional pyramid that favored breads and cereals and vilified fat. As if my ancestors hunted sugar and grains and relied on bread-stuff throughout the year alone. I also tried inset based foods. Yes, I did. And I do not mean bee’s honey. I mean I ate crickets.
I forgot that even in Germany, the old foods unlike the ones today are not solely bread based but include a very large variety of slow cooked and fermented meals including all sorts of fat, meat, and vegetables. Preservation techniques are vast from canning to fermenting to pickling to dry curing all to survive the winter with the food grown and raised over the summer. What else is a sausage? It is a way to preserve the meat so you can hang it in the attic / pantry to enjoy for a long time.
I stopped first being vegan and then also abandoned vegetarianism. I felt better. My teeth sensitivity went away (thanks to also supplementing heavily for a while with all fat soluble vitamins like A, D, K).
But what about the environment? What about animal welfare?
Hard questions. Easy answers.
I buy from local farms that I know. I eat meat and other animal products when I know the animals are pastured and well taken care off. I cook and do rarely rely on highly processed foods. I cut cereals out of my diet. Am I perfect? Not in the slightest. However, I feel if I eat well the majority of the time, I will be better off than not.
I have gone further.
This morning I put bison tallow with honey on my face. I buy it from this company But there are others doing the same. So it is a question of preference. Up to last month I was under the impression, if I cannot eat vegan without negative consequences to my body, I should at least stay vegan everywhere else? Later I realized that my assumption was not well informed. Why would I put things on my face that I do not know how to pronounce and that are of questionable benefits. Why is the assumption that vegan is superior still so stuck in my mind? There is a difference between being vegan and being against animal testing. You can be against animal cruelty without being vegan or vegetarian.
I have not put sun screen on myself in a long time…. it has been years. And yet, as a red head I barely get the sunburns I suffered from in the past. Even when doing long runs outside. Do I sunbath? No. I still hate spending a day at the beach in summer when it is hot. But I spent a lot of time outside. I cannot prove it, but I feel that since I am more natural in how I eat and ensure I have sufficient vitamin D in me, my skin is less sensitive. My skin and mental health thank me for the sun rays, apparently. I always hated the feel of sunscreen. And I am happier without. The last time I used sunscreen was in the Galápagos Islands. I am not immune to sun burns, I just careful when and where I apply it. I felt the direct equator sunlight was a good reason to be careful.
What my journey taught me are a few things:
Do not trust what the mainstream tells you; always think for yourself!
Eat real foods and avoid processed foods (and yes, bread is processed even for a German).
Enjoying food is normal, we are meant to enjoy food.
Look at the ingredients even in your skin care; go simple with ingredients you understand.
Do not trust influencers; avoid them instead.
Listen to your body!
That’s all for today.
… and yes, I read a lot. I have about more than 700 books in my virtual library. Not counting anything I have an actual book on the shelves.
One of the things that grimly amused me was learning that increased food hygiene has led to an increase in malnutrition and associated diseases in devout (brahmin) Hindus. The reason is that in the past their effectively vegan diet was not in fact anything of the sort because of vermin in the rice and so on. Now we no longer have maggots in the rice, caterpillars on the cabbages etc. and so they no longer get the critical trace minerals and vitamins that those pests provided in the past
I have had a very similar trajectory - even down to being a redhead who used to burn in minutes, but after improving my diet I found I am not nearly as sensitive to the sun (although I still don't sunbathe; but I am outdoors a great deal hiking and biking).