I became a vegan at age twelve...don't remember my original reasons...maybe to piss off my mom. My (rather acute) acne cleared up and I was sold. At different points in my life, I tried including a few animal products in my diet, but always returned to vegan (I only recently learned the term "vegan"....I always said "strict vegetarian".) I always had that vague fear that I was doing something wrong that would damage my health long term. But now I'm fifty and can no longer die young. What a relief! (Go ahead Doc....tell me I'm incurable! I dare you! Ha Ha...too late to die young!) I don't talk about my diet much...it gets strange looks and I don't like to argue. I would like to mention this....I've completed menapause without a hitch....hardly any symptoms at all! Also, my long time friends are all suffering from scary health problems and I'm not. I don't do anything fancy with food. A few years ago I was hospitalized for an injury. I told the dietition that I was a strict vegetarian and just bring me potatoes, fruit and veggies...this was fine for a few days..extra portions, please. This brought a lecture from my doctor! I just looked at him and said, "Don't you think I'd know what to eat by now?" After checking my bloodwork, he returned and sheepishly said, "You have the bloodwork of a young athlete...keep doing what ever it is you're doing". As for adjustment to a new diet....I remember losing too much weight at first...but I eventually filled out again. Any new diet will throw your system off for a while. There is one side effect you need to be aware of if you dicide to become vegan....you may lose your ability to digest animal products all together. In other words, you accidently eat a bite of cheese or burger and you're retchedly sick for a day and queesy for a week. (I had this happen recently)
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