VEGAN for 3.5 Months. Massive hair loss.

Originally posted by johnrobca

Originally posted by Serenity777
reply to post by Tripple_Helix

 

Here's my advice. The whole vegan diet thing is a complete SHAM. Most people I KNOW who are on it, are underweight, fragile, and losing energy. Its become a pretentious diet created by pretentious people who I've noticed tend to look down on others for their own personal choices.

Use your BRAIN and feed yourself.

Well clearly then your friends are not eating properly and this can happen just as easily with meat eaters as with vegans. Your adivce is based on ignorance of the subject of being vegan. I have been vegan for 23 years and have no health issues, quite the opposite, I am the healthiest person at work and in my social life. And as for yourt insult of calling vegan pretentious well that just makes you look like the idiot you are. Research the subject before giving cr*p advice.

edit on 15-6-2012 by johnrobca because: (no reason given)

I have to voice my agreement with this. Just because a person only knows vegans who don't know enough about nutrition to be a vegan doesn't mean it is an unhealthy choice. There is nothing wrong with being vegan whatsoever, except that it takes more education and discipline to do it right than what most people have.

There's a great website out there, I believe its nutritiondata.com where you can look up any food and get not just the "standard" FDA nutrient list, but amino acid profiles, glycemic index, etc, simply by searching for (example) "portobello mushrooms" - (incidentally, a great protein source.) anyhow, with that tool, you can easily calculate what you need to eat to meet your body's needs (adjusting for body specificity, of course, but as a general guideline, you'll be covered if you do that.)

reply to post by Tripple_Helix


Sounds like you have a doctor so he must have ruled out all other reasons for this to be happening, right?

Otherwise, only you know what you need to do, bud. I understand you have moral quarrels with eating meat and dairy but it sounds like you're doing your body a disservice.

I understand your moral quarrel with eating animals, but all that aside you are denying your body that which makes it what it is -- what we have become. If we didn't eat what we eat, such as other animals (as gross as that is starting to sound to a more civilized human), nothing that you see around you would be in existence. None of our achievements.

If eating a vegan diet could have given our bodies enough energy to grow larger brains and evolve to eventually start a civilization, we would have done that. It is far easier to forage than to hunt, and less deadly. But I honestly don't think that a vegan diet can provide the same sustenance that our bodies crave -- that your body is craving.

But who knows, maybe now that we've come to this point we can choose what to eat from now on. We'll just need a few hundred years for our bodies to catch up with our ideas.

Hope you feel better and you get to the bottom of this!


Cheers,

Khar

reply to post by Tripple_Helix


Since hair is basically a protein I would think that ommitting these protein sources from your diet could be the reason.
Protein is the most important nutrient for humans. There is a reason you have those pointy teeth on the side of your mouth. Its for tearing meat. You are supposed to consume meat. Your body needs it.
Now if you have moral issues with consuming animals ( including fish ??) you must have beans or other sources of protein every single day. Your body cannot store it. It needs a constant fresh supply in order to grow or repair.
My son does not eat meat but he does eat fish, eggs and dairy products so he gets his daily protein from these sources.
Protein is a building block. Imagine trying to build a house but the contractor never brings wood to frame it. He has the siding and the windows but no walls to put them on.

reply to post by abeverage


And that happy little bird friend is so tasty, too!

I follow a low carb high protein diet. I do not eliminate any food group but I severly limit sugar consumption including sugar in the form of simple starches like white flour, white pasta, white potatos.
I do eat whole wheat pasta or brown rice and I love quinoa. I eat fruit in the morning so that I can burn up the sugar in them during the day. I do not eat bananas.
The rest of my diet is good high quality proteins and veggies. I do not limit fat but will not use things like margarine or processed fats. I use butter, cream, mayo ( hellmans has the fewest chemicals). I am not over weight and I do not have high cholesterol. I am 55 years old. Female.

reply to post by Wiggly


Wasn't going to go there.

reply to post by johnrobca


My GI doctor studied nutrition. Blood tests showed I was fine but he insisted that there are traces that can not be picked up on blood test and that I needed more protein (had lost large amount of weight from a food poisoning episode).

Make sure you have good advice...

reply to post by Kali74



Quinoia gives many people severe stomach problems. LIke unbelievably bad cramps. The first time you try Quinoa or Amaranth or similar grain-like seeds, try a very very tiny bit of it first, just a few spoon fuls and check your reaction. Otherwise you could have a day of pain that you won't forget any time soon. I've known many people that coudn't eat Quinoa (who had digestive issues).

Once again blanket advice might sound nice to hide behind, but what works for you might not work for someone else. If you are so worried about what foods are natural or genetically selected than you'd have to cross out corn and potatoes and tomatoes, etc. Soy is just easier to pick on it seems...

You're probaly not taking the right kind of vegan food... not healthy enough!

Look for stuff with a lot of amino acids & minerals, and quality proteins. Almonds and quinoa are the best stuff all around, but ORGANIC root vegetables (parnships, carrots, potatoes, "Jerusalem" artichokes, etc) and greenies like chards and spinach are also great nutritional stuff... as long as you stay away from those GMO frankenfoods with little nutritional value. If everyone would swap lettuce (low nutritional value) for chard (full of goodies) in their meals -even hamburgers- would make the people a lot healthier.... as it's way more tasty as well!

If you're in America, there are also very nutritive native plants all over the place, as long as you're sure they aren't contaminated... do a search on the net about it.

Adding to that regular doses of lemon, for better digestion, and fruits, for energy, and cayenne pepper helps a lot too. Beans and grains aren't so great, as opposed to the more mainstream view. They are often tough to digest and some -like soy- will mess up your body if you take too much.

reply to post by Tripple_Helix


Dates are loaded with sugar which is really a poison to the body. Spinach and other dark greens are good sources for iron. If you are in your reproductive years ( still getting your friend every month ) you should have good sources of iron in your diet. Brocolli is a good source of iron too.
Do you like quinoa ? It is a grain but it has a good amount of high quality protein in every serving. It is also loaded with vitimins. It is very tasty and lower in carbohydrates than other grains.

Originally posted by johnrobca

Originally posted by Serenity777
reply to post by Tripple_Helix

 

Here's my advice. The whole vegan diet thing is a complete SHAM. Most people I KNOW who are on it, are underweight, fragile, and losing energy. Its become a pretentious diet created by pretentious people who I've noticed tend to look down on others for their own personal choices.

Use your BRAIN and feed yourself.

Well clearly then your friends are not eating properly and this can happen just as easily with meat eaters as with vegans. Your adivce is based on ignorance of the subject of being vegan. I have been vegan for 23 years and have no health issues, quite the opposite, I am the healthiest person at work and in my social life. And as for yourt insult of calling vegan pretentious well that just makes you look like the idiot you are. Research the subject before giving cr*p advice.

edit on 15-6-2012 by johnrobca because: (no reason given)

I have to voice my agreement with this. Just because a person only knows vegans who don't know enough about nutrition to be a vegan doesn't mean it is an unhealthy choice. There is nothing wrong with being vegan whatsoever, except that it takes more education and discipline to do it right than what most people have.

There's a great website out there, I believe its nutritiondata.com where you can look up any food and get not just the "standard" FDA nutrient list, but amino acid profiles, glycemic index, etc, simply by searching for (example) "portobello mushrooms" - (incidentally, a great protein source.) anyhow, with that tool, you can easily calculate what you need to eat to meet your body's needs (adjusting for body specificity, of course, but as a general guideline, you'll be covered if you do that.)

reply to post by davjan4


Hmm. You're a nurse, and I appreciate your story of personal recovery. However, Dr. Dean Ornish would beg to disagree with you. A sensible, smart vegetarian diet is absolutely the best way to go. The Ornish diet is primarily vegan, or veganish.

During the past 35 years, Dean Ornish, MD and his colleagues have conducted a series of scientific studies demonstrating —for the first time- that integrative changes in diet and lifestyle can:

Reverse heart disease
Turn on health-promoting genes & turn off disease-promoting genes
Lengthen telomeres, the end of chromosomes that control aging
Slow, stop, or reverse the progression of early-stage prostate cancer

These research findings are published in leading peer-reviewed medical journals.

Again, this diet suggests ruling out all meat products and dairy products. Dr. Ornish has numerous years of clinical experience directly treating patients successfully with this diet. Thus, your statement that a vegan diet is dangerous is simply false, and Ornish has the clinical and research record to prove it.

Originally posted by problemsolvr
I am a male vegetarian (vegetarian for over 10 yrs.) I will give you my input, though it may be different since you are a girl. As a strongly built male (I was a linebacker in high school) who lifted weights, I decided to go vegetarian for health and moral reasons. The issue for me was to get enough protein for my strong built body. As a vegan/vegetarian, you most know nutrition. I use protein supplements when needed from soy, whey, and sometimes casein. Do not listen to those who say that being vegan/vegetarian is abnormal, it is the most ethical and healtiest lifestyle IF you know what you are doing. You get stereotypes that all vegetarians are skinny and unathletic, I am proof that you can be strongly built, as are people like NFL player Ricky Williams, Sprinter Carl Lewis, etc..

For you, I would think of a calcium and protein supplements.Also think about your iron levels since you are a female and have changed your diet.

Ricky Williams could teach you how to get the most out of that certain "plant" to improve overall oneness with everything.

And I thought for sure Carl Lewis liked the "other meat".



Just playing, both were great athletes, arguably still great. Ricky was a rare over-30 running back. Not sure if he's playing this season or not.

Cravings are your body's way of telling you "I NEED THIS MINERAL/VITAMIN/PROTEIN!!" That's why people have salt and sugar cravings. It's how the body gets us to go eat something that it needs.

Humans are omnivorous. Deal with it. Our bodies are not meant to consume only plants.

We're all animals. Stop trying to be so righteous. If you have a problem with the cattle industry (it is appalling), go hunt your own food. A couple deer can feed you for a year. Raise some chickens, or buy some from a local farmer if it's not possible to raise your own.

If you live in a city and none of that is possible, well then you're just gonna have to deal with all of those moral implications, or move out into the country.

Originally posted by Wiggly
reply to post by abeverage

 

And that happy little bird friend is so tasty, too!

DUDE!!! step AWAY frum da nuggetz!!!

reply to post by Tripple_Helix


Hair loss can be attributed to lack of protein and omega 3 fatty acids. Many people think that on a vegan diet you will not be able to consume as much protein compared to a meat consuming diet. That is not necessarily true, you can consume all the protein you need from the vegan lifestyle. A plant based source allows more than 90% of the protein you eat to be absorbed directly into your blood stream where as when you eat meat you would only be able to absorb 40% of the protein from it. If you eat fruits, seeds, nuts, legumes and vegetables (especially leafy greens) in abundance you will be able to get more than the minimum 10% of your calories in protein. When starting the vegan diet many people tend to eat the same portions of fruits, and veggies they ate before and add extra pasta and other grains which can be a huge mistake. Your body needs to intake way more fruits and veggies. An example of 10 % of your calories in protein from a day would be 2 pounds of leafy greens which is about 3 heads of leafy greens in your day. Many people form a stigma of how much fruits and vegetables they should eat in a day in contrast to how much they ate before they became vegan but it is an absolute must to eat more fruits and veggies on this lifestyle. Your body can digest them way easier and your body will let you know when you have over done it. Some good sources for Omega 3 fatty acids on a vegan diet can be found in Nuts and beans flax seeds and leafy greens.

Studying to be a nutritionist/ dietitian and have been a Vegan for about a year now.

Originally posted by OrphenFire
Cravings are your body's way of telling you "I NEED THIS MINERAL/VITAMIN/PROTEIN!!" That's why people have salt and sugar cravings. It's how the body gets us to go eat something that it needs.

Humans are omnivorous. Deal with it. Our bodies are not meant to consume only plants.

We're all animals. Stop trying to be so righteous. If you have a problem with the cattle industry (it is appalling), go hunt your own food. A couple deer can feed you for a year. Raise some chickens, or buy some from a local farmer if it's not possible to raise your own.

If you live in a city and none of that is possible, well then you're just gonna have to deal with all of those moral implications, or move out into the country.

How do you explain the cravings of a pregnant woman called pica? Research indicates that pregnant women with pica lack iron, but crave things like moss, chalk, and clay... none of which have iron in them.

Cravings are just that cravings.

reply to post by Furbs


What about pregnant women who crave pickle juice? Never understood that one. Could be sodium deficiency. ~$heopleNation

reply to post by Tripple_Helix


You mentioned anesthesia as a possible culprit.

Years ago, I suffered from a bout of hair loss. I was totally freaked about the whole thing. My hairline receded and it's a good thing I could find a stylist who could work around it.

I did a lot of research, and it turns out a shock to your system...such as a drug, or anesthesia could cause a hair shed....and it would take 2-3 months to manifest....thus making it difficult to pinpoint the cause.

During this time, I had also make changes to my diet, but I went low carb instead of your route.
I have my doubts it is your diet.

The shed may just have to work itself our of your system.
Perhaps is you found a hairloss site, you would find people who are going through a similar thing?
This is the site I used to frequent.
www.hairlosstalk.com...

okay got through the first 3 pages and then just looked for responses from the OP which i found none.

i didn't read though all the other posts so i don't know what all has been mentioned.

most vegans who eat right (which it seems the OP does) do not have health problems.

the hair loss could be TOTALLY UNRELATED but just a coincidence that it started to occur now. people who eat meat also suffer from hair loss.

it could be thyroid, could be hormonal. i'd have a blood test done for vitamin deficiency and for hormones. the OP seems to be eating better than most meat eaters so i don't know that that is the culprit. i'm wondering if it's hormonal.