I was 100% vegan in the past, and even 100% raw vegan for a year and a half. After several months of detox I felt amazing! It was as if my body became an instrument of light transmission. My senses sharpened. I felt connected with nature.

As opposed to this experience are my years of conventional eating. Dull, numb, disconnected, depressive living it is.

We are being convinced that we need meat for iron, and also dairy and eggs for B12 and sufficient protein. But actually both me and my friend we get most iron in blood when going vegan, which is peculiar, surprising and also not. For example, dairy inhibits iron absorption, so when removing dairy and eating legumes with green leaves (for folic acid) and with vitamin C (peppers, potatoes), you get a great iron intake.

There is protein in nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, cauliflower and broccoli. If one wants to build muscle mass, it was proven by 80/10/10 raw vegan guys (eating 80% carbs from fruits, 10% protein from nuts, and 10% fat from avocados and nuts and seeds), that muscle mass is built actually by training the muscles and getting enough calories a day, rather than consuming protein. There are also body builders who get their protein intake from nuts and seeds and grow impressive muscles. For normal people, who don't train hard, protein intake is seriously overrated.

If you're not raw vegan, combining whole grain (whole rice, for example) with legumes (lentils, chickpeas, beans) once a day gives sufficient full protein. So nothing to worry about protein at all.

The only thing left to take care of then if B12. For a while I ate organic free farm eggs because I didn't want to take supplements. But I changed my mind. There is no such thing as a better exploitation. Exploitation is exploitation, even if it looks better. So I take B12 supplements now.

Bones: good sources of calcium are green leafy vegetables, dried fruit like figs (sugar-free), beans, nuts and seeds, and tofu (organic, non-GMO). Calcium is better absorbed with vitamin D. Unfortunately, vitamin D is not present in vegan diet, so it is another supplement I am taking, especially in winter. Plus bones become denser with training, so jumping, walking and some 'weight' training are beneficial to bone density, which becomes important with ageing.

Another important topic is omega 3. There are plant-based options for supplements (from algae or flax-seeds, for example). Also seaweed, algae, chia and flax seeds and other seeds, walnuts, edamame are rich in omega 3.

Microbiome: souerkraut is a great pre and probiotic, almonds are a great prebiotic, banana too. Probiotic foods: vegan yogurt. And there are plenty of vegan probiotic supplements to help the transition.

Another thing that helps with physical detoxing is moving, sweating and weakly water enemas (of at least 1 litre). It can be a game changer.

For me the hard part is emotional and mental detoxing. Open wrote that it is important to remember that most of the stuff is not me, but the simulation fighting back. It helps. But also it is important to remember that often we eat to numb and suppress feelings and all this turns to negative energy and gets stored in body's tissues, especially fat. Often when going vegan all those suppressed emotions and energies begin surfacing and releasing. So it is a very welcome negativity flood. The important thing is not to look for someone or something to blame and not to give up the diet, but rather allow this flood to happen and welcome it as a sign of detoxing and cleansing. Fasting can help with this. I fast on water once a week, eating carrots and walnuts and sometimes oatmeal when finishing the fast. But you can fast on non-sweet juices or fruit and veggies smoothies if holding on without sugar and vitamins is tough. Also releasing emotional energy can help - talking to friends and therapists, dancing with some music fitting the emotion, writing in a diary (free-flow writing), crying, meditating, and just simply sitting with the feelings and all this negativity can help.

Being in nature is a great comfort.

And movement helps emotional detox too as it releases endorphins and helps alleviate depression, plus it helps with the warrior energy needed to overcome the difficulties with the transition - yoga, tai-chi, walking, dancing, working out (body-weight or weight training).

Watching informative, supportive and inspiring videos or reading helps a lot. I post here a 80/10/10 video that always gives me the inspiration. I love watching Karyn Calabrese, Markus Rothkranz and Cara Brotman's videos (they are raw vegan), there is another video with a guy who talks to doctors who promote veganism and cooks in between that also can inspire (I added it here). So apart from compassionate, vegan diet is amazing for physical, mental and emotional health as well.

Sugar - white sugar is an addictive substance that in my experience also helps numb and suppress feelings rather than unravel them and help process them through.

I think I got it all covered :)

Here are the videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucHEVNX2c9o&ab_channel=FoodnSportwithDr…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BLk3y1YEeQ&t=7852s&ab_channel=StashMov…

Note:

1)I know a couple of people who tried to go vegan and got some health problems. It turned out their bodies couldn't get iron from plants, in one case, and in another, couldn't get B12 from supplements. So it is important to do blood tests for follow up for the first couple of years and also pay attention to the body, not to confuse detox symptoms from deficiency.

2) I think the body remembers... The first transition is sometimes the toughest, but then even if getting lost for a while and going back to vegan, the body somehow remembers and it gets physically easier for the second, third, fourth time... Now I am one month into 100% vegan diet, about 80% raw, and I barely get any physical symptoms. It goes smoothly.

Good luck,

Yulia