The FastDay Forum

Nicky, yes, some nationalities love their meat.

To be honest, I don't know how people live without meat either but not because they would drop dead (ROFLMAO!!!) but because meat is used in my favourite junk food.

Having said that, when I had my iron and HT problems, after trying to fight them with supplements and lentils and spinach and having no lack, I understood the benefit in meat. It took only 2 weeks of eating liver and meat everyday (yeah, I know, not pleasant at all) to do what everything else couldn't. After that, I appreciated meat a little more than I did (but still don't eat it often, LOL)!

QUESTION: Is it only tea that doesn't agree with iron or is it coffee too?

It's the tannin which causes the problem, I thought it was only in tea but I've just read that there is tannin in coffee too!

Good to know! Thanks so much, this thread is full of useful information!!!

Well here's my 2 cents worth. I have been a vego for 24 years. When I was about 3 yrs in, I met a young woman who was VERY bitter about the fact that she was a vego (for not too many years) and she had B12 defiiciency which led to nerve damage. She could no longer drive (couldn't feel the peddles) and sometimes fell down when walking. Once there is nerve damage there is no going back. So I made it a point to get my B12 and iron (& other stuff) checked yearly...now it sometimes stretches to 2 years. I took spirulina for many years and have rarely been B12 deficient. There was a time when I was and got B12 injections, but seem OK since. I also read early on that cooking with an iron skillet was excellent for iron - I have done this for 20 years and my iron levels have always been good (as my bro-in-law the blood Dr once told me I had the iron levels of a 25 yr old) - so I keep doing it.

What is vego? I googled it but all I get is photos of cars and motorbikes.

So can you actually get nerve damage from not eating meat??? Oh boy, if my grandmother knew this when I was growing up she would make absolute horror stories to scare me and eat meat 3 times a week (that was the only acceptable meat-eating frequency for her), LOLOLOL!!!

Vego is Aussie vernacular for Vegetarian...and NO TML13 u can get nerve damage from B12 deficiency NOT from not eating meat! I haven't eaten meat for 24 years and do not have B12 deficiency or nerve damage. That is like saying icecream gives u diabetes

I thought I read that the only natural source of B12 is meat, so I gathered that if you don't eat it you will lack of B12 unless you take supplement. I'm not insisting though, since I don't have any serious vitamin knowledge, I only know stuff about iron because I had all this adventure with my HT and low iron.

Can also get good source of B12 from dairy products, egg yolk, soya and yeast if I'm remembering rightly.

Yeast... bread... ice cream cone!!! Yeah, I know where I'll get my B12 from!!!

hi all bad news I was diagnozed with cancer so Im not shure if i can still fllowe 5:2diet next week apoitment with chemioterapi specialist brrrr
but Im still jogging and sitll on 5:2diet Wojciech

[janeg]

Oh, Wojciech, how awful for you! I do hope that things work out for you. We'll be thinking about you. Best wishes and, I you feel like it and are able , it would be good to hear from you. Stay strong x

Just wanted to echo what Jane said Wojciech. Hope everything works out for you and please pop in and tell us how you are doing if you can.

(((hugs)))

Hang in there, Wojciech. It's more than amazing to consider the number of people who are able to recover from different cancers these days. I know a number who have come back to vegetarianism too. Keep positive and consider meditation exercises if that suits your nature. I had a friend who successfully overcame a brain tumor and he accounts that dramatic change to his use of meditation and imaginative exercises (a la Louise Hay and Hay House).

I am vegan and doing the 5:2. Have lost 6kg so far since January. There is an excellent source of vegan B12 and that is nutritional yeast, also known as 'nooch' here. I make vegan cheese sauce with it. As I have coeliac I need to make sure I obtain all the correct nutrients and my blood tests tell me I am. The brand of nooch we have here is Lotus. It's sort of a savoury yellow flake.