The FastDay Forum

Why has he told you not to eat gluten? Has he diagnosed coeliac disease with a biopsy?

Veganism, gluten and tea is a lot to be giving up all at once.

Hi everyone. Here's the thing. When I was vegan I was really obsessed about ingredients, eating out, etc. Now that I have to worry about gluten, and I've also started alternate day fasting, I truly believe I will sink into full blown neurosis if I have to stress over vegan/vegetarian eating as well. Like I said, my health is my #1 priority right now over all.

I bought some really good books that are popular here in the U.S. (Gluten Free Eating for Dummies and Gluten Free Cooking for Dummies) to educate myself. They are wonderful.

No, I don't have anemia, thank God. Being fat, exhausted, having gluten intolerance and protein deficiency, high cholesterol and blood pressure are enough!

As far as the question about tea, my doc said just go off it and see if it helps. I can't just have one cup and call it a day. I'm the type who likes to pour a few mugs and sip them all day. I started doing that with black coffee and low and behold, no stomach burning. It really must have been that tannic acid in the tea. I really love my doctor; he's been so helpful to me. Taking niacin instead of statins really appeals to me. Aside from everything else, the statins were giving me horrible side effects, so I'm grateful to be on a vitamin instead of statins. As time goes on and I find weight loss success, I hope to stop the blood pressure med as well.

Thanks again for all your helpful posts.

Tara, yes I've had the tests, and gluten is off the menu now.

Sorry, didn't mean that you shouldn't stop being a vegan if that's what you want, I fully understand that with so many other restrictions it might just be too much, I just meant that being a vegan or not is your decision, not your doctor's, and medical professionals should be supportive of this.

You sound like you are making a lot of changes at once, how about doing 5:2 or even 4:3 instead of adf while you get the hang of the gluten free thing? Also is your doctor sure that the protein deficiency is a result of what you were or weren't eating? I'm asking because I've read that certain digestive problems can cause protein not to be absorbed.

[carorees]

Re tea...have you tried redbush tea (rooibos)? It its caffeine free and low tannin and tastes a lot less like dried leaves in boiling water than other herbal teas and is nice with milk too.

Have you worked out how much protein you're eating? If you trackyour food on one of the calorie counting apps it will tell you how much protein, carbs and fat you're having. Divide the amount of protein (in grams) by your weight in kg...if the answer is ovIer 0.8, you should not be protein deficient and should have more investigations.