I haven’t done a personal update in a while so this is a good time to share with you the changes in my life.
I’ve split the post into two – this one deals with veganism and meat-eating, whilst the one to be released will be about the developments to do with the Mindfulness Center, coming travels and what I’m currently up to.
The first thing that I would like to share with you is a new development in my life which is about researching different kinds of diets and how they affect human health.
Shifting to more meat consumption
As a result of my research I’m changing my diet to include more animal foods and fewer grains and vegetables. According to what I’ve found out, vegetables and grains have many antinutrients.
Kale, spinach, radish and cauliflower are some of the worst offenders. Antinutrients make it difficult for us to absorb vitamins and minerals, of course.
Vegans have bloating problems and stomach pains because they can’t digest what they eat. They consume mainly carbs and grow candida in their bodies that feeds on sugars converted from carbs.
Candida is mainly caused by eating grains and sweets, and that’s what vegans resort to when vegetables fail to satiate them. Even starchy vegetables can cause candida.
So according to my research, the way to maintain a lean body and your health is to consume most nutritionally dense foods which are wild fish, grass-fed organic animal meats and organic dairy from grass-fed animals.
We don’t have the capability to assimilate nutrients from plants as much as cows do, because we don’t have the digestive systems of grass-eating animals. By eating nutritionally-dense meat and dairy we get vitamins and minerals that are made bioavailable for us.
It’s very important to eat nutritionally-dense foods for health, because if we consume empty calories, we will gain weight and the body will keep craving nutrients, forcing us to eat even more. Large portions are only required if food is nutritionally poor.
Supporting a local mini-farm
Listen to “My Diet, Veganism, the Ethics of Animal Killing and More | Simona Rich” on Spreaker.
For around a month or so I’ve been consuming much more animal products than I was used to. Even when I was in India the last time, I started incorporating meat into my diet, but only I would eat some beef or fish once a week or so.
Now I started eating meat every day, though my main food source is dairy, because I find it to work for me. I’m consuming organic dairy from my neighbors’ goats, though I’ve never experienced any negative reaction from a store-bought milk either.
I consume organic eggs too, which I also get from my neighbors. Just for your information, they only charge me €1 ($1.11, £0.86) for a liter of organic goats’ milk, and I pay €1.50 ($1.66, £1.30) for 10 organic eggs.
Do you see why it pays off for us to either have our own farms or support local ones, without the interference of any middle-man? The costs are drastically cut then.
Instead of supporting some faceless corporation causing unecessary suffering of thousands of animals, I try to support people who really care for their animals.
The goats of my neighbors have healthy living conditions and eat all sorts of vegetables and grasses. The lady owner walks them daily through forests and she loves them dearly. Their chickens range freely all over, and even go to the forest sometimes, and then come back evening time.
I live right next to them, so I see her always doing something for the animals, like walking or feeding them.
Vegan and vegetarian deterioration
I consume a small amount of wheat because I like to make cottage cheese pancakes with it. I find that I don’t much react to Lithuanian wheat, but when I used to live in the UK, I would get an itchy scalp from it.
Before slowly starting to incorporate meat into my diet a few months ago, I had been vegetarian for around 13 years. Only when I started watching ex-vegan videos did I realize that I experienced many of the same health problems that they did, though not in that degree because obviously I was getting more nourishment in the form of dairy.
(No longer vegan after 25 years – listen to this woman’s experience.)
For example, I would experience dizziness and would hear pulse in my ears after suddenly standing up; I did not understand why it was happening at the time, but now I know that it was the sign of low blood-pressure due to insufficient iron.
Since starting to more seriously consume meat I have not yet experienced such a happening.
I’ve also experienced painful knee and finger joints. Since the reduction of grain and vegetable intake and the start of meat consumption I’ve never experienced such pains again. I would also get bloating, stomach pains, and I would sometimes even wake up with pain in my belly. Again, since the change in my diet I haven’t experienced any painful digestion.
Short-term memory loss is another very common occurrence in vegans because the only way for them to get bio-available B12 is through animal foods. You can even watch videos of vegan influencers who have to cut their video clips multiple times because they are not able to be articulate. Sometimes they sound illogical, or they forget what they were talking about.
Here’s a runner who made a video shortly after quitting veganism of three and a half years, and you can feel that he’s unable to be as articulate as he wishes to:
My memory from the beginning was bad, so it got much worse as a result of being vegetarian for so many years. I always would have to look for receipts and emails for me to determine exactly when this or that event happened.
My short-term memory is gradually improving, as at least in the evening I’m able to remember what I was up to from the moment I woke up, whilst in the past I was unable to do so.
I’ve also been a sugar addict for the thirteen years of being vegetarian. I just had to have large amounts of sweets without even reflecting on why that craving was there. Now I know that that was because my body wasn’t getting enough nutrients so it craved fast fuel to replenish itself as quickly as possible.
I’m very grateful for my strong genes that weren’t that much damaged after such great abuse. Sugar damages genes and causes early aging. And I’m even more grateful that now I understand the cause of sugar cravings which I mentioned in the previous paragraph.
When I started eating much more protein from animal sources, my body was satiated and therefore did not desire sugar. Out of habit I still take a couple of sweets a day, but that’s nothing compared to the amounts I used to consume.
Since consuming animal fats and meat, I find my energy levels normal all day, and only before sleep they drop. Whilst as a vegetarian I would experience days of total tiredness, and some days – of too much activity. Now my energy levels have normalized.
In addition, there was a change in irritation levels. I’ve noticed that vegans and vegetarians get very irritable, even if something small happens. Lierre Keith, whom I’m hoping to interview soon, told in one of her interviews that when she was vegan she would forget where she would put her wallet at home and this would make her so stressed that she just would sit on the floor and cry.
Since I was only experimenting with veganism but never committed to it fully, as a vegetarian I experienced less severe irritability, but music and certain sounds did annoy me. Since I started eating more animal-based foods, my irritation levels went down, and now I’m much more tolerant if I hear unwelcome music, though I still prefer isolating myself from it.
What happened with my body after the age of 30
Second row – meat has been incorporated into the diet, aged 33, you can see
more alive eyes and the skin is more rosy due to sufficient iron.
(I don’t wear any foundation in these photos.)
Click the image to enlarge.
Another unwelcome development as a result of my meat-free diet was the loss of collagen on my face after the age of 30. That is very upsetting considering my mom (who eats meat all the time) kept her good looks into her sixties. Nobody could ever guess her true age.
My hair quality also decreased – my hair is thinner and less shiny now, but since I’m doing a lot to grow it back, many new hairs are regrowing. If you want me to tell how I’m regrowing my hair, let me know in the comments below.
When I started consuming quality meat on a daily basis I’ve noticed a change in my skin and face in general. The skin started looking plumper, and I hope that the repair will continue.
Animal fats are essential for brain health
I now consume a good amount of animal fats too. Since fats are essential for our brain (the brain is almost 60% fat), fat-free vegan diets destroy people’s ability to think. I’ve recently watched a Vegan Deterioration video in which it’s clearly shown how the skull of a vegan is slowly shrinking. The video is embedded below.
Seed oils aren’t healthy for us as they’re a new invention. So instead, I buy the best quality butter that I can find. I’ve heard that the best vegetarian oil is coconut oil, yet it’s not nearly as nutritionally valuable for us as butter and other animal fats.
Frank Tuffano, whose liver health was ruined by mainstream doctors, have spent years researching healthy eating options, and here’s what he has to say about olive and other seed oil nutrition:
(Forward to 2.03 mins for the table of the most and least harmful vegetable seed oils.)
Vegans lose sex drive
Because veganism is a starvation diet, the body stops producing hormones as there are more important things to do to keep it running. Therefore women lose their periods and men – masculinity. Fortunately, hormone levels normalize once people start consuming animal products again.
We have to eat meat to survive
For us to survive and thrive in this world it’s important to consume meat. Sometimes meat consumption is demonized as being unhealthy. Meat consumption is only unhealthy if you buy typical store-meat full of antibiotics and hormones. Then indeed you may experience adverse health effects.
Malnourished weak vegans are as bad a sight as too much redness, early hair loss and weight gain from bad-quality meat. However, meat health dangers can be avoided by consuming grass-fed organic animal meat.
The ethics of animal consumption
I would also like to touch upon the topic of the ethics of animal consumption. Unfortunatelly, this is how our world works. You either eat other beings, or they eat you. When you die, you will also be eaten – maybe by elements (fire), maybe by worms and bacteria.
For us to survive we have to take the lives of other beings. We did not create this order, it was already there when we were born. So it’s not our fault if the world works this way.
We see from vegan deterioration the proof that the vegan diet is unsustainable in the long term. Also, even vegans kill beings as everything is alive, even plants. Plus, many animals die in fields when crops are harvested by machines.
Is it a good idea to allow domesticated cattle roam free?
Cows would not survive as wild animals because they are domesticated. So if farmers no longer kept them due to not being able to consume them, cows would become pests, living near humans to consume waste materials.
I know this because that’s how it is in India where in many states beef is not consumed. Cows also get diseased and may attack humans. I was once attacked too, but I escaped. The place on the stomach where the cow’s horn hit me was painful for a long time.
People watching Cowspiracy and similar movies who were never really in touch with nature apart from city parks don’t have a clear picture. If you are courageous enough, do watch the below video to see how cows can turn on humans. Warning: some footage is disturbing.
Animals kill other animals – that’s the only way some can survive
I was recently talking with my neighbor about this issue. I asked her if she didn’t feel sorry for killing one goat in a year. And she said that she did, but that’s life. She really loves her goats and the goats love her.
This is the cycle of life. Some animals have to kill for food. Humans have to do it too. Cats aren’t evil for killing mice, and were they bigger than us, they would eat humans too. Cats know they are weaker, that’s why they are kind to us.
The same applies to dogs; they can be very nice, but if you meet them at night in a pack, it can get very dangerous. The very same dog that was friendly daytime can suddenly turn against you in a pack. You can actually be killed by them. Ask anyone from India and they will tell you about it.
I know that vegans love animals very much. I do too. But it’s important to understand that animals are animals, and they can turn against you if they are hungry or upset for some reason. That’s just how life works.
Bhagavat Gita about killing
Bhagavat Gita puts it very well. If you understand that you’re in the stream of life and that in this particular life you find yourself in a body doing a certain thing… if you understand this, you don’t incur sin by any action, even killing, because you know that you’re not the body doing it.
I know this can be misused, but many now understand that we are not our bodies, and that due to karma movement is taking place and life goes on this way. If we understand this, we don’t get soiled by karma anymore.
Going back to old ways of farming
It’s not that animals are killed with hatred. They are killed from the necessity for us to survive. We can develop much compassion if we understand that someone needs to die for us to live.
I think it’s best to go back to how we used to live, when people did kill some of their farm animals yet there was no nature damage because it was not done in factories in disproportionate amounts.
Because factory farm animals are fed empty calories, people need to consume large amounts of meat and they still feel hungry. But if we raise our own animals or support local farms which give them sufficient nutrients by feeding them a diverse grass and vegetable-based diet, the meat would be nutritionally dense and much less food would be required for us to survive on.
The result would be much fewer animal deaths, them being raised in happy and humane conditions, and us being leaner and healthier.
The way out of this mess
I personally experienced the negative effects of a meat-free diet which are now disappearing as a result of me starting to eat good quality meat. I believe that many people who refuse to eat meat have made a religion out of their diet and categorically refuse to consider any other option but vegan or vegetarian.
Humans were hunter-gatherers from the very beginning. Agriculture is a later invention. We see from the research of Weston Price that when people started consuming grain foods and stopped large consumption of animal foods and dairy, their bone health started deteriorating. This, to me, proves that we must consume meat and dairy for us to thrive as humans.
So the way out of this mess, in my opinion, is to stop supporting commercial exploitation of animals which only gives us disease-producing quality of meat and dairy, and have our own farms based on old non-exploitational ways of farming which allows animals to freely graze and have happy living conditions.
Another option is to support local humane organic farms, as farmers are in a big problem now, being abused by large corporations and getting nothing for their hard work. Investment in small organic farms would encourage more farmers to transition from slaving for faceless corporations and spraying their crops with chemicals, to restoring land through organic farming and grazing.
I believe that by living according to the natural cycle of life where only some animals have to die for others to survive, we would correct what careless corporations have done to the world with their mass slaughter.
For the world to change, each of us have to strive to make a personal change. What’s your plan about contributing to the good of nature?
I hope to be able to make a change too, by creating the Self-Sustaining Mindfulness Center. The land was always organic here, so all I need is to start the wheels of the farm going. But about that in another post.
I was eating meat daily, but I RESTARTED veganism over a month ago, just to experiment. Seems fine–I even made a new personal best in weightlifting.
I have a knee injury(smashed against a sharp boulder on top of a mountain 2 weeks ago) that’s recovering too.
Perhaps if I were vegan for too long, I would not be able to recover or improve as a vegan?
Either way, I think water and emotions are huge; for our bodies and our food. Imagine blessing your plants from seeds unto ripened fruits and veggies; how their juices/waters attune to your intentions and grow beautifully….
So what of that Dave Asprey article on “antinutrients” being plants evolving to fight us? More research is needed on such a young theory. My own experience says many plants are sensitive and nutritional. Can we lovingly sacrifice some life force for another? Can plants do the same?
At least we know from experience that meat and dairy are healthy. Plants are healthy too, at least for me.
Thanks for sharing your take, Todd.
Woops, I still eat honey, and I don’t know where the B vitamins in my cereal come from. So I guess I’m not entirely vegan…
Anyway, between comments on this webpage, I made an even better personal-best weightlifting. I also just got back from a jog and some sprints; my knee is doing amazing! I’m still vegan(besides honey and cereal).
I think my improvements are much due to mindful prana, faithful emotions, striving to be honest, and really good local waters; how do these factor-in with scientific research on nutrition?
IF CHILDREN WERE IN MY CARE, I WOULD PROVIDE MEAT AND DAIRY IN THEIR DIET. I too will probably eat meat and dairy again sooner or later.
By the way Simona I hope you and your man from India can be together whenever and wherever.
Thank you, Todd.
I’m an omnivore again! I’m going to be focusing on guitar and singing for a while….Also I should be more open to dating, even if the women drink or smoke…I feel my physical health would benefit, and there’s always something to admire and learn from a human face to face 🙂 I dunno…at least back to music though.
May you all have plenty of pleasant surprises on your journeys!
Thank you for letting me know, Todd:))
As far as your ethical reasonings and justifications, it is sound. I am a gnostic so I view this amoral and predatorial universe as an unfortunate trap from which we must do our best to curtail and minimize suffering while having no other choice but to work with it’s system, unethical as it’s design actually honestly is.
It’s when people embrace or justify unethical mores wantonly with no conscience enjoying even gratuitous harm or exploitation just because they know they exist temporally in a universe that allows it that is evil and there are many examples of that in society in various forms/acts that stem from greed, lust, selfishness and ego. They are going to have a rude awakening of their own once they leave this depraved lower-level universe that rewards essentially sociopathy and is based on suffering to realize not all universes are the same and they will NOT get away with that disgusting type of values just anywhere AND WOULD BE PUNISHED FOR IT IF THEY DID SO IN A MORE ETHICAL UNIVERSE. I had an NDE which showed me better and more ethical universes/worlds than this one.
Amen.
Nice and informative article Simona. But I don’t understand this, Russians and Chinese eat meat daily for 365 days in all the 3 meals most of their life and they are the ones who are suffering most from hepatitis c and cancers of many kind. Since I am into pharma trade business, these are the countries from which huge demand of anti hepatitis and anticancer medicines comes in. And also most research and general sociological studies attribute the high number of cancer cases in West especially America and Europe to their high intake of meat in their daily diet throughout their life span. So very confusing for me at times what to eat or not to because on internet you will get everything against and in favour of every food in equal measure.
Thanks
Hansa
Yes, Hansa, it’s easy to get sick from cheap meat and that’s what most people consume in large amounts. That’s why in the post I mentioned the importance of consuming organic grass fed meat.
Simona which meat is better to eat offal or just muscle meat? Does it make a difference if it’s game meat or domesticated? Is any particular animal healthier than others to eat?
Hi Nick, I’m not an expert but from what I’m reading organic grass fed animal red meat would be more nutritious than white, and wild ocean salmon is the best.
Dear Simona,
Have been a vegetarian (not a vegan) for the past twenty years or so. I drink milk.
Take supplements like fish oil. Marmite has been part of our diet since childhood. At home we hardly ate meat even when we were small. In fact I don’t remember eating meat at all.
I suppose it depends on the land where you grow. You live in Europe where you have genetically developed an adaptability for meat whereas we in South Asia are used to rice/grain based meals.
So I feel we should go by the culture of the land…
I suppose your long stints in Asia deprived your system its natural demands and now you are back in base.
Thank you for bringing out an important point of looking at what your ancestors consumed.
A spiritual person who eats corpses. Yay!
I kept checking this blog out on occasions but I’m not going to anymore. You are not worth wasting any time on.
You just used the talking about of s3vinge and I cringed really hard at the pseudoscience nonsense in it. You are a follower of reverse scientific method.
You don’t know shit about researching and never care enough to, as last few years have shown. Now, excuse me as I take my b12 instead of feeding it to animals then eating them. You can’t take criticism, you like to censor everything that’s said to you and you never learn. Bye bye.
Irritation and anger sometimes are signs that your body is nutrient deficient. Just check out other angry vegans on YouTube. I don’t watch s3vinge, by the way, though I did see that he’s big in the carnivore movement.
this is a difficult topic. factory farming..and growing produce with pesticides..is immoral. there is a reason i feed my children as much meat and dairy as they like, even if i abstain. it is a moral issue but the facts cant be denied. dizziness, low energy, hair loss, collagen loss, and irritability, even depression and anxiety, go along with veganism. morally it feels worth the sacrifice. but would i kill an animal for my children to eat so they are healthy? yes. i love animals as much as anyone. i hope you can have a nice little farm where the animals can live a good life, as opposed to a hard life in a cage.
Thank you for sharing, Ashley.
you made so many good points. sorry i dont know how i feel about the issue so i cant choose a side. but maybe you can tell how it goes after your experience and study.
I’m sure I will, Ashley.
Dear Simona, thank you for your courage in addressing nutrition in both this post and in your life. Many years ago as a young person I was a vegetarian, at that time, it just meant you did not eat meats. I chose this for all of the basic political reasons. Like diet for a small planet, to address world hunger, etc.
I did not know how to balance and eat for proper nutrition, I was 97 lbs and very pale and quite neurotic and stressed. I went to a Dr. Who told me my blood count was 40 percent of normal, he proscribed alfalfa tabs and iron, after 7 yrs no meat I began cooking beef for my 6ft 4 in fiance, pretty soon I was eating meat again. Although I still will not eat any pork, i grew stronger and my hair began to fill out again, I feel now that my genetic potential was activated by a better diet.
I could no longer claim to be Buddhist or cruelty free, but I was strong enough to have a super healthy pregnancy about 4yrs later. My anemia did not return. My bones were stronger and my blood was thicker.
I’m just saying.
..and please give my regards to the young man from this post, he is courageous and beautiful, a credit to our collective species. Also check out the work of Alex grey, an amazing American artist who began training as a medical illustrator. The sacred mirrors…
Thank you and be blessed in all.
Thank you, Glynis, for sharing your experience. I think when vegans who are in trouble read such testimonials they are encouraged to try to introduce meat back into their diets. I, by the way, also never ate pork since I moved out of my parents’ home aged 19. Also, I don’t know the guy, and I guess you mean Frank. He looks stunning, and his sister has the same good looks though all were born with some deficiencies. So it just shows that nutritionally-dense diet can correct even childhood deficiencies.
Dear Simona, many thanks for sharing and for writing about such an important topic 🙂 Your article is really helpful and informative. Indeed, it can be a sensitive topic for many. However, it is my impression, too, that humans thrive best when they consume high-quality animal products. Most vegans don’t look healthy, really.
My recent experience showed me that when I reduced the amount of protein and red meat in my diet, I started to lose more hair with every wash and my sleep got really bad. Recently, I reintroduced more meat, and sleep better again.
I think though that some plant foods can be beneficial if consumed moderately and prepared adequately. For example, sometimes I like to consume lentils or quinoa. When they’re soaked in water for a day or two before cooking, a lot of the antinutrients (phytic acid) can be neutralized. A similar thing happens if you lightly steam or sautee vegetables such as spinach or broccoli (it reduces the oxalate content). So, I believe that in moderation these are fine.
Other plant foods, such as berries, lettuce, tomatoes, etc, I feel to be beneficial because of the high flavonoid and antioxidant content. Also, we need good amounts of fat (such as from animal products, or avocado, nuts, coconut oil). I feel of all the unsaturated plant oils, olive oil is still the best because it has hardly any Omega 6 fatty acids – these are inflammation-inducing and omnipresent in processed foods. However, olive oil is not good for cooking as the unsaturated fats oxidize with the heat and become harmful. For cooking, saturated fats, such as coconut oil or ghee are best as they’re more stable. (edit: just watched part of the video on oils, and it’s highly informative!)
With regard to animal products, as you say, it’s a great approach to become more mindful about where it’s coming from. It’s still a challenge for many, understandably. I tried to eat lamb from places where the animals mostly live and feed on pasture, as well as fish, organic eggs, etc. Kudos to you for growing some of your own food! Also, it’s awesome that you have access to fresh goat’s milk and eggs 🙂
Thank you for sharing this, Isabel, you clearly are widely read about this subject.
“I think though that some plant foods can be beneficial if consumed moderately and prepared adequately.” – very true, and thank you for bringing this up. Anti-nutrients can be neutralized to a great degree through proper preparation like soaking, fermenting and cooking. I made that comment because I see many vegans on YouTube encouraging the consumption of salads and raw vegetables.
Thank you, Simona 🙂 Yes, it’s been an interest of mine for years. Sometimes, things can become a bit confusing because many experts out there have contradicting views. However, listening to one’s body’s reactions really helps a lot. I’m glad to hear you already know about proper food preparation methods. Looking forward to more articles/videos of yours on food and nutrition! 🙂
Thanks, Isabel, and I think that some influencers on both sides may be funded by corporations, so indeed a lot of research is required to get to the truth.
Oh God !!!
🙂
They’re all sick because the soil is extremely nutrient/mineral deprived. It doesn’t matter If it’s organic, if it’s not nutrient dense then you’ll suffer. Also, most vegetables and fruits are hybridized. I recommend researching Dr. Sebi. You can achieve optimum health on a vegan diet, if you are extensively researching and applying critical thinking.