Dear Phil,
Wow, your story sounds eerily familiar. I have been a vegan for about 6 years now, and it is even harder for me because I eat only whole/natural foods, and only organic. I suppose that this narrowness makes it harder on my IBS (or causes it???) especially when it comes to trying to find things that are higher in calories. I am about 5'10" and am hovering around 122 or so right now and fighting like mad to get between 2300-2400 cals a day, after years of being quite underweight. Not a good recipe for putting weight on.
I know that there is no way I could go back to eating meats of any kind, and I am really averse to even picking up the ovo-lacto again. Call me stubborn, but it feels extremely important for me...as long as I am in this world. I think there are options for vegans nowadays that were not around even when I started, but opening up to some of them (and paying for them) is tough!
I can also hear you on the fruit thing. I have been at around 6 servings a day, almost entirely dried fruit or juice, and now if I even look at juice I get an upset stomach; I actually added in bananas recently to try to get more fresh, but I am so sensitive to sweets anyway that almost all of it bothers me. I would love to eliminate it, but the calories seem crucial and are packed in fruit...catch-22. The problem with relying on veggies, of course, is the LOW calories. I am trying to work in more proteins, which I know I need, and which is tricky because beans are such a fiber killer. Oi. :-P
Anyway, not to ramble on with this. Thank you for your reply. It is nice to know that someone else has some experience with this same issue. And I would love any more info you might feel worth sharing. THANK YOU.
Be well. -Justin
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|