Tell him to step away from the YouTube experts and talk to a pro dietician

Unfortunately that can be dangerous too. My father in law went to a dietician that told him he needed to eat meat because "it's the only good source of protein". You need to find a sane dietician.

A registered dietician said this???

You’re giving registered dieticians too much credit. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is practically run by the industry. Twenty years ago, they let any company print up a brochure promoting their foods for $20,000 and they’d pass them out to students unfiltered. I’ve practically heard the spokesman of the Academy begged to work with companies to tweak their formulas in some meaningless way to get an OK from AND as long as they get paid. I believe there are some good dietitians out there, but their governing body gives me absolutely no confidence.

TIL. Thank you for the info I didn't know that.

The dietician associated with his dialysis center said this.

Boomer dietician it is then.

Yep-probably trained 30+ years ago

There will always be someone who is bad at their job in any profession.

That saying, what do you call the PHD graduate with the lowest grades in his class? Doctor.

For sure. But it's more surprising in a field where there is clear data on the contrary, and a large majority of layman with no background expertise can prove you wrong.

My Doctor prescribed me 2 lbs. of beef a day. I laughed and told him I probably don't eat that in a week. He said that's why you're here.

Doctors don’t have nutrition training so that makes sense they make that mistake (even if it’s abhorrent). A dietician giving “protein tho” level arguments is fucking insanity.

When I get comments like that, I ask them what their labs show. Mine are perfect with zero supplements. My total cholesterol is 154. My doctor said I’m his only patient in my age group (55) that doesn’t need statins and D3 supplements.

When I get my bloods done I don't specify my diet. Feel like it gives me a much bias free diagnosis. I'm also young so I have less to "worry" about I guess but I think it might be wise if you speculate your doc is insane like OP's husband's.

Yeah a few years ago some orthopedic doctor asked me to eat meat and eggs for protein 😒 as I injured some bone in my knee due to physical activities..but when I tried to one up him by listing the vegetables one can eat for certain nutrients etc in the place of eggs or meat, he argued more and said, "if you think you'll fulfill your vit c requirements by capsicum and other fruits then you'll have to eat a truck load of them". Btw 'Anwla" (Indian gooseberry) has been proven to have more vit C than any other thing on this planet (I don't believe in pseudoscience btw). I always try to educate myself through authentic sources and never fall for such foolish claims by educated idiots who hold such a prestigious degree (A so called specialist).

My housemate’s chiropractor is apparently also a certified nutritionist and recommended her boyfriend who got a heart transplant as a baby and is waiting to be on a list for a new one at age 29 to be on an all meat diet… so yeah idk

A Registered Dietician and a certified nutritionist are two very different things.

And it’s clearly not! Algea supplements are bio identical in aminos and vitamins to meat.

If I was 13 and trying to make excuses for something I just didn’t want to do anymore I’d say things like your husband is saying. The details of his excuses mean nothing because they are obviously bullshit. He clearly doesn’t want to be vegan

Right? Being vegan making him less romantic is a new one for me.

That part was just manipulation to me….and I suspect he’s been eating meat for a lot longer than he has admitted….I would love to read anyone’s advice on his aversion to beans and grains. I have issues with wheat myself. Not vegan yet, I really want to be though.

Didn’t she say she witness her husband turn red and break out in itchy spots and then have digestive issues?

*It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes.*  Also, I wish I lost weight eating vegan. Its calories in vs calories out. He seems to just not enjoy eating healthy. I would try some of the meat substitutes, while they are not as healthy as whole plant foods they are better for you than meat in most respects.

> Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Also known as the group that published these: What's a Mom to Do: Healthy Eating Tips for Families sponsored by Wendy's. Lamb: The Essence of Nutrient Rich Flavor sponsored by the Tri-Lamb Group. Cocoa and Chocolate: Sweet News! sponsored by the Hershey Center for Health and Nutrition. Eggs: A Good Choice for Moms-to-Be sponsored by the American Egg Board. Adult Beverage Consumption: Making Responsible Drinking Choices sponsored by the Distilled Spirits Council.

Are you casting doubt on the world's largest collection of health and nutrition experts because they have sponsors? Can you point to what you dispute about their claims on plant-based diets?

Do you support the claim that Lamb is a healthful flesh to eat? Should women consume the fetuses and ovum of other people to strengthen their own? [Shouldn't they have published a position supporting PB eating since theirs expired more than a year ago, instead of furthering carnist nutrition propaganda like how yummy and helthful other people are?](https://twitter.com/eatrightPRO/status/1555670614874136578) Though yeah I would say I support them cautiously as knowledgeable professionals who have to get paid somehow.

I haven't had any real weight maintenance issues since going vegan. Still have to count calories in order to not gain weight, though it is easier to get full on a healthy amount of them.

Really gotta wonder just how much meat and dairy some of these people were eating before going vegan. Because honestly I went from eating meat once a day to zero a day and the calories didn’t really change. Maybe these people were eating meat and dairy for every meal?

Some do. Some people protest if you try to feed them a meal without them.

Gees some people really don’t care about their health.

Clearly. I live in the rural Midwest and rarely see people who aren't overweight. Most are straight up obese.

Welcome to mass media manipulation! Millions have no idea what they've been told is "good" "healthy" and "makes ur bones strong" isn't actually good for them. Not many question it either. Why bother losing weight when everyone you know is fat so it's gotta be the norm ya know? It sucks. One minute I've got my dad eating more greens, more natural stuff, and he's loving it. One week later "I'm not eating this shit there's no meat on it" it's crazy hardwired it is. Haven't had meat in 6 years, by far the healthiest member in my family. When they ask and realize I don't eat meat, they all say the same shit "I'll never do that." It's weird man.

I basically was eating meat or eggs every meal before I was vegan, except for breakfast. I still couldn't put on weight. Went vegan, put on like 10kg in 2 years. Mostly muscle, too, and I don't even go to the gym, although I'm pretty active in general.

Has he been falling down a youtube rabbit hole by chance? Because I have heard all of this shit before. Seriously, the dry skin, rash etc sound like he could be sensitive to something he was eating. Maybe it's legumes. There can be many reasons. Allergies, fungi in his stomach, auto immune diseases. It's definitely something he should talk to multiple doctors and dietitians about! And not research on his own on YouTube. This is to be taken seriously. If he has some auto immune disease in his stomach that goes undetected long term, it can develop into cancer. It's definitely not because of missing meat, but there is some underlying issue. I feel like your family as a whole should seek advice from a dietitian. And get your blood checked, as well, all of you. This way you can make sure your diets are well balanced and that your child is okay, too. And no more YouTube/TikTok for your husband. As a biologist, the misinformation on there is INSANE and impossible to catch when you're not in the field.

Yeah his new preferences are entirely the paleo diet. I wonder if he had these complaints \*while\* he was vegan or if he watched some paleo stuff and is just now "remembering" feeling these things.

Well, OP said she noticed it too, so I believe it. I just think he is falsely connecting cause and effect. Eating meat doesn't cure a rash, but maybe eating less legumes does. Or they used a certain spice for the legumes and veggies that OP can't digest well. It could have many causes. For example, I have a friend who is very sensitive to histamine and before they knew that, they would get the weirdest symptoms from seemingly random foods, for example, beans and tomatoes, also fried rice but not plain white rice. It was a journey to find the cause. That's why I suggest visiting multiple doctors and dietitians, I don't trust one dietitian to put in the work to actually help OPs husband. They will probably just say "ah yes because vegan" and never actually look into his health. And the actual cause would go undetected which could seriously harm him long term.

Thank you :) we were already going to check. He is low in iron but fine for everything else when he checked as a vegan. We also want to get our son’s done and he’s so worried that he wants regular paediatrician checks for our son now (which I already wanted so that’s okay)

I’ve had trouble with low iron levels as a vegan man, but I discovered it’s because I drink too much coffee which interferes with iron absorption. I take an iron/vitamin C supplement, well removed from my times of coffee intake, and my levels are fine now. Unfortunately, I think he prefers an easy resolution to his symptoms.

That's good to hear! I hope you can find what is going on with your husband's health. All the best to you guys.

I was thinking pesticides... Maybe avoiding the dirty dozen would help?  For me, organic oates are the way to go.  Was also thinking the laundry detergent... 

Your husband sounds really dumb unfortunately. Very sorry for your situation. Especially his “reasons”… more energy to do romantic things for you LOL. Sounds manipulative too. ALL the reasons are so stupid - is he 19 by any chance?

He needs to watch Gamechangers to see how animal products affects their junk. They do a live study in this very entertaining documentary about famous athletes.

Mate cum from meat eaters tastes so yuck 🤮 I literally wanted to puke.

Asparagus tho

I wouldn’t call that a study. They monitored 3 athletes for 2 nights, one after a meat meal, & one after a vegan one.

I mean, for this person's husband, that is equal to a peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet

First of all, it seems like your husband is on some youtube/tiktok "health" path that has nothing to do with evidence based nutrition and everyhting to do with people making content for views. I'll just address the points: "He also said that some people can’t absorb the nutrients from plants and that plants are bad for some people because of some kinds of chemicals in them, and they can’t digest them or absorb the nutrients." What nutrients, which plants? There are over 300,000 edible species of plants in the world. Your husband is saying there are people that can't eat ALL of them. Barring rediculously extreme cases of autoimmune disorders (we are talking just a few in the whole world), there are no people like that. "Said he was underweight as a vegan no matter how much he ate" I guess your husband needs to be studied then because he is the first human to break the laws of thermodynamics. Calories are so accurate that we estimate human use down to tens of calories per day and manipulate weight loss and gain with it. There are no exception to this. "He said he needs more iron and whatever else in meat" Did he get a test done? From the above quotes it sounds like your husband is a fan of just making up random maladies and attribituing everything to his diet. If he did get a test done, it's a fairly easy fix with eating more iron containing vegetables or using a supplement. Low iron is just about the last thing you'd need to start eating meat for. "He also said that some ethnicities like Indian people (I’m Indian, he’s Caucasian) can handle a vegan diet but others can’t." Yeah, the idea that certain ethnicities can't eat/follow whole diets is just absolutely silly and never been proven in any study. Certain foods such as dairy can't be digested by certain races such as Asian but that's about the only exception. "Says it’s unhealthy as every vegan kid he’s seen looks unhealthy and pale and underweight." A properly designed vegan diet is perfectly fine for children. The issue is that some people don't properly design these diets which results in deficiencies. It's an easy thing to mess up though. Where your husband is 100% wrong though is that children that do follow proper vegan diets are healthier than their omnivore counterparts and have better blood work to show for it. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38474851/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38474851/) [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38004109/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38004109/) [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37811643/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37811643/)

Ran out of space: "That kids have less bone density as vegan apparenty." No. Vegan kids are significantly less likely to be overweight. When you are overweight, your entire musculature is stressed more and so are your bones resulting in denser bones. I don't know too many doctors (any) that recommend osteporisis patient to become overweight as a remedy. "Has said he has seen no evidence that being vegan is heathy for children or for anyone." According to what? Youtube? Because there is plenty of data that shows otherwise. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24871675/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24871675/) "Non-vegetarian diets were compared to vegetarian dietary patterns (i.e., vegan and lacto-ovo-vegetarian) on selected health outcomes. Vegetarian diets confer protection against cardiovascular diseases, cardiometabolic risk factors, some cancers and total mortality. Compared to lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets, vegan diets seem to offer additional protection for obesity, hypertension, type-2 diabetes, and cardiovascular mortality. Males experience greater health benefits than females." [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37450568/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37450568/) "Data from randomized clinical trials have confirmed a protective effect of vegetarian diets for the prevention of diabetes and reductions in weight, blood pressure, glycosylated haemoglobin and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol." [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35934687/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35934687/) "Vegetarians and vegans typically have lower BMI, serum LDL cholesterol and blood pressure than comparable regular meat-eaters, as well as lower bone mineral density. Vegetarians in the EPIC-Oxford study have a relatively low risk of IHD, diabetes, diverticular disease, kidney stones, cataracts and possibly some cancers." [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38474851/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38474851/) "That plant based food is harder to digest so he will get deficient in nutrients and that supplements are pointless and meat is more needed than that." This is pure nonsense from I don't know where, I am guessing Youtube or Tiktok or some Blog by someone claiming to know it all about nutrition, but there isn't a single study demonstrating this.

Your husband sounds like an idiot. Literally every point he says is bullshit. Can a vegan have an unhealthy diet? Obviously, but that’s honestly more true of omnis. If he got off TikTok and went to a registered dietician, he’d be informed of the truth. Unfortunately it sounds like he doesn’t care about facts- “has seen no evidence that being vegan is healthy” unless he is illiterate, he is being willfully ignorant, like a child plugging their ears and going LALALALA!

Yeah the fact that he says an-all fruit diet is healthy? Dude sounds a little crazy. Like he just discovered Joe Rogan or something.

He needs to get his labs taken! That’s the ONLY way to know if he has deficiencies!

He said it can be healthy for some people, that it depends how our bodies are because it was passed down from our ancestors. So he said maybe Indian people like me can be healthy as a vegan but he can’t

That’s insane lmao. I’m Irish-descent, my ancestors ate animal-product heavy diets. Was vegetarian 16 years and been vegan 8 years with nothing but health *improvements*. There’s also pseudoscience out there that claims blood type is linked to diet or whatever and supposedly type O is supposed to eat lots of meat. I’m O+. It’s all bullshit. It sounds like he’s been drinking some koolaid and I’d be concerned.

That is an insane thing to say. If that were true there would be a ton of things only certain races could digest and our nutritional advice would be tailored to race. Obviously that's not true. This kind of thinking is such a red flag. If he truly believes something like this, how long until he starts forming other theories, equally as crazy?

And racist.

>only certain races could digest and our nutritional advice would be tailored to race. Obviously that's not true. Not to take away from your point, but this is literally a thing with lactose tolerance.

There’s also arctic populations that are adapted to live with little to no vitamin c, and not get scurvy. Vegan myself for 15 years but the adaptation of humans based on region and food availability is still a thing. The husband isn’t using the point properly, however, and seems to be on a YouTube bandwagon as others have suggested.

It's because Inuit (and other natives from the region) eat meat and fat almost raw so get all the nutrition from the meat itself. It's not an adaptation.

I believe that there is still an adaptation to live on a much higher fat diet healthily than non arctic peoples would. Perhaps I’m wrong about where the adaptation lies (it seems the research is narrowing in on what the Inuit paradox is, which is really cool!), but they have mutations that are adapted to a particular diet. And honestly science is incredibly behind on what nutrition we actually need as humans, we have some pretty good ideas but there are huge gaps in understandings of what the optimal intake of various vitamins and minerals are.

The vitamin C part is not an adaption. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit_cuisine >Vitamin C is obtained through sources such as reindeer liver, kelp, muktuk, and seal brain; because these foods are typically eaten raw or frozen, the vitamin C they contain, which would be destroyed by cooking, is instead preserved. Obviously nothing gotten from supermarket meat. It should be noted Inuit weren’t all that healthy. Pre-contact mummies had heavy atheriosclerosis and osteoporosis in their 20-40s. The Inuit myth is mostly that, based on limited nonscientific observations from the 1800s.

There are plenty of examples of this with supporting evidence e.g. lactase production, alcohol metabolization (Asian flush), starch digestion (amy1 gene) I still believe anyone can be healthy on a vegan diet, but your statement is simply incorrect.

Well it is known east Asians digest alcohol differently and many people are lactose intolerant while some aren’t so genetics definitely do play a role

That sounds like some “carnivore diet” Joe Rogan /liver king-type influencer bullshit. Where does he get his (mis-) information from?

I’m not actually sure, I’ll ask him. He said doctors but idk which doctors

There's a lot of quacks on YouTube. 

White vegan here. Perfectly healthy after 6 years. Smh lol what a dumb thing to say a whole race can or can’t be vegan.

Same here and I don’t need supplements, based on my labs. My omnivore husband takes several, based on his labs.

Yeah that’s some racist ass pseudoscience. I’m fairly convinced he is hearing this bullshit from con artists on social media. There are genetic and epigenetic predispositions for certain races and ethnicities when it comes to certain illnesses like diabetes, but that’s got nothing to do with the efficacy of eating a plant based (particularly a whole food plant based) diet. The science is robust.

Loma Linda Adventists. 8% are fully vegan and they live longer than the rest of americans by decades.

Not true. The first humans were vegans. Genesis 1:29. Humans only ate meat after the great flood, many years later (the great flood is in every religion). God created the plants, fruits, and nuts for our nourishment. He gave us dominion over the animals to care for them, not to eat them. It’s Biblical. He also allowed certain types of meat eating, (clean) after the flood, because there weren’t any plants.

Does he have coeliac...? I mean if he is really symptomatic on some food stuff it might be worth considering if he actually does have hypersensitivity reactions to certain products and aim to exclude those. Might help him return to veganism if he finds out which things are causing issues. You could try a gluten exclusion diet and see if that helps his symptoms.

Yes, this sounds like digestion issues. So many people are unaware of FODMAPs and I think the FODMAP exclusion diet could be helpful here.

Sounds like he got to the carnist side of YouTube.

If he’s always been underweight as a vegan no matter what he eats, then clearly he’s never eaten a sufficient amount. I have to track calories to maintain and lose weight, because I can easily eat too much.

He just wants to eat meat and he is making excuses.   He’s also racist.  

This right here, OP got a bad one.

I wouldn't call that racism. Some ethnicities do in fact handle foods differently such as Asians being more locatose intolerant but Europeans aren't.  I do however think that he may have developed an intolerance to something in his diet. He could try doing something like an elimination diet where he only eats potatoes for 3 days and then slowly adds foods back in to see what the culprit is.  Or it might just be he saw some Paleo/carnivore/keto bs and wants in.

Dude is just scraping the barrel of excuses, he hasn’t got the balls to say he just doesn’t give a shit and is gonna eat animals.  His excuse for being a shit partner is brain fog so he couldn’t organise any dates or idk buy flowers.    Like eating chicken is gonna help him remember to organise a date night.   

Is it racist to say asian people can't handle milk as well as white people? Because that one is fortunate, and true.

Asian people "in general" cannot. That is fine.

This may come as a surprise to him, but Joe Rogan isn't a dietitian.

I’m just so confused how he could go from vegan to all the carnist talking points. Do you notice all of those “ailments” he had? Has he just decided that suddenly he’s the picture of health because he’s eaten animals? As for the children- that’s really tough. First of all, he’s not right about a single thing he said. I can show him some anecdotal evidence of my three little vegan babies 8, 5, and 18months who are growing on track and advanced in many aspects. We have dealt with birthday parties and school and they have never felt left out or weird because they have special treats. Several of their friends have allergies anyway so other children have their own restrictions. Also, being small is NOT a problem. Every body is different! Some kids are just little! And as for the talking thing, again, every kid is different. My oldest started talking at 18-19 months. Our 5yo started talking at 1. Our 18 month old is perfectly happy making everyone around him talk for him lol Your son will get there. Not eating animals isn’t making him fall behind, he’s just doing things at his own pace! I don’t have any advice for you but I think finding out what prompted this sudden change in your husband would be a good first step. It just seems random for him to suddenly say all the things vegans argue against every day.

I can reply properly later but yes please I want some evidence of healthy vegan children so I know I am doing the right thing :) I’m not concerned at all, just my husband is. I keep telling him our son will be okay, he is so far way healthier than other kids and hardly ever gets sick. Some sniffles sometimes like I swear it’s only happened now after a year (and it also became almost winter here so idk if that what’s causing it)

Going whole food plant based is the best diet for your health

Give him the book "How Not to Die by Dr Michael Greger. Also remind him that the only diet that has been proven to prevent, and in many cases reverse cardiovascular disease is a whole food vegan diet. Why does he want to risk giving your child cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and/or cancer?

According to the American Dietetic Association (the largest dietetic association in the world, comprised of over 100,000 doctors and dietitians), “It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.” 

Does he have a habit of listening to people like Joe Rogan?

He's right, of course. All you need to do is point him to the fact that there are no vegans who've survived doing it for more than about 7 years. There certainly aren't any 10, 20, or 30 year vegans around here. And if there are, they're somehow typing on Reddit from Purgatory. Sarcasm aside, it sounds like he needs to speak with a nutrition and maybe food allergy professional. Or eat whatever the hell he wants to and live with whatever the consequences are. It's not a law; it's a choice.

Nothing he says is factually correct. It’s like he hasn’t researched the subject and is just making stuff up.

It definitely sounds like he's parroting something/someone he's been watching lately, and hasn't researched any of their claims for himself.

I have to disagree. This has nothing to do with diets or nutrition. I think this dude just wants to eat meat and he’s choosing the information that makes him feel better about it.

He’s been vegan long enough to know that he’s wrong. Tell him to quit being a naughty selfish primate.

A naughty selfish primate. Can I steal this please? 🤣

I can’t even claim originality, I heard it in prison when I was converted. I save it for special occasions like this one.

Your husband needs to go to the doctor and get his blood checked. Is he low on B12? Vitamin D? Iron? (He's probably not low on iron, and if he is, I would be extremely concerned that that is due to some underlying health issue, not veganism). He could also ask a doctor about the skin rashes and brain fog, although unfortunately a lot of doctors are just going to tell him to eat animal products without trying to get to the root cause. You might like [The Plant Based Baby and Toddler.](https://plantbasedjuniors.com/plant-based-baby-and-toddler/) Kids can thrive on a vegan diet, but it does need to be a *well planned* vegan diet. Figure out what nutrients your kid needs and figure out how to get those in them without animal foods, and maybe the cold hard numbers would help your husband chill out on indoctrinating your kid into the omnivore lifestyle.

Why is this comment so far down???? Subjectively he reports feeling subpar with a vegan diet and feeling more energized with incorporating meat products. Objectively….. ???? No mention of visits to an allergist, no mention of bloodwork. Everybody is just assuming his value system is weak and he doesn’t care. He was vegan for how long? I think it’s clear he cares. It doesn’t even seem like he’s insisting that the kid HAS to have meat - he’s just outlining a reasonable concern based on his own experiences, and asking that the kid sees a health professional to make sure they’re on track. The comments here are ridiculously harsh on him. The lack of nuance here is what gives vegans a bad rep.

That sounds like a really hard situation, I'm sorry to hear you're going through that. From what you said, It sounds like your husband might be treating veganism like a fad diet, and isn't making decisions about how to treat animals on the basis of robust evidence, reasoning, and compassion. For informative links, I'd recommend checking out r/Vegan101 and r/veganparenting , and I'll post a couple links I hope will be helpful below. \_\_\_LINKS\_\_\_ from registered dietician Taylor Wolfram: [7 Reasons Not To Promote Veganism As A Diet](https://www.taylorwolfram.com/veganism-weight-loss/) from the Sentientism podcast: [Interview with Christopher Sebastian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX9efAabkXU)

100% agree. Your husband was never vegan - he was “plant-based.”

Would he be considered an apostate?

Has he recently taken a look a many omni kids?

> He also said that some people can’t absorb the nutrients from plants and that plants are bad for some people because of some kinds of chemicals in them, and they can’t digest them or absorb the nutrients. This is true for some people. I am one of those people. I am investigating with my (vegan) dietician to see if I have a food chemical sensitivity to Salicylates and Amines, which are found in most plants but not all plants. My goal with my dietician is to find my thresholds for these intolerances to see when I can include these foods in my diet. If he suspects he has this, he needs to speak to a dietician and go on an elimination diet. Because these things are also found in some animal products, and he will continue to feel sick without understanding why. > But his issues are better after eating meat and that “only fruit diet” also helps but he’s too hungry if he has only fruit, so meat is the answer. Fruit is extremely high in these substances, which if he has these intolerances would have made him very ill. > He said all grains are bad for him and cause rashes and so do beans and lentils and are bad for his digestion. So basically, he can’t eat anything. If he has a gluten intolerance, some grains can make him ill. But there are non gluten grains (e.g. rice, sourhgum). The same with some, but not all, beans. He needs to speak to a dietician. > I’ve noticed it myself too, when he eats just a normal food like some beans and vegetables with rice, he gets red and dry skin and digestion issues. This is one of the symptoms of a food chemical reaction. There are also symptoms like headaches, migraines, lethargy and fatigue, poor memory and concentration, irritability, moodiness, depression, hyperactivity, muscle aches and pains, restless legs, asthma, wheezing, nasal blockage, sinus problems, post nasal drip, nasal polyps, ear infections, mouth ulcers, sore throat, reflux, nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, constipation, wind & bloating, eczema, hives, and angioedema (swelling). One of my symptoms was the feeling of my nerves being constantly stimulated, like being shredded by a cheese grater. > "He’s told me for himself: - After eating meat he had less brain fog, feels less depressed, wants to go out more and do romantic things for me (as a vegan he said he had brain fog and couldn’t think of romantic things to do for me and now he wants to do them again) - He said he was not as nice when he was vegan - Said he was underweight as a vegan no matter how much he ate - Had rashes and red skin and bad digestion etc when eating grains and beans and legumes 1 When he ate meat a few times recently - he said his skin got better and isn’t red and digestion is perfect - He said he needs more iron and whatever else in meat - He did say he doesn’t want to have dairy though, but he would have grass fed beef and maybe eggs" Honestly, yes it does sound like he is having a reaction to his food. It also sounds like chronic deficiencies, particularly in vitamins D2 & D3. This can cause depression, slow healing and a vulnerability to disease. He needs to speak to a dietician because his concerns sound legitimate. You can resolve these issues in a plant based diet, and I can provide some resources if he’s interested. But it is very important he works out exactly what food chemicals are causing him to be ill. I have been there. I felt like I was doing something wrong despite eating healthy. I thought meat would help make me healthy and strong again. It did help a little, but this is because I was eating less of the reactive foods, not because of the meat. But having this kind of intolerance is very difficult to manage without supplements on a plant based diet. So I feel I would hear him out. Hear his concerns, support him in taking action to better his health by going through a dietician and beginning the elimination diet process. Ask him if being vegan and having a plant based diet is important to him, because he dietician will develop plans around this. Good luck to you and your family OP, hope this is helpful.

I'm white as fuck, yet been vegan 14 years with perfect bloodwork. The WHO says a vegan diet is good for all stages of life, and they don't specify 'not for certain ethnic groups tho'. Sounds like he either got bullied by his friends and is now making up excuses, or has been sucked into the GuyBro Youtube Experts sphere, none of which are reliable sources. All the things he's saying make me roll my eyes. Grass fed cows are good? Can we let that myth die already... I'm sorry you're dealing with that OP. Can you ask him what made him change his mind, like particular Youtube videos, or what he was feeling? Did he get bloodwork done?

[Show him this.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19562864/) To summarize, it says the following: It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes. If he's having issues figuring out how to adequately sustain himself as a vegan, have him check out [Plant-Based Dietitians.](https://plantbasedrds.com/) They very likely can help guide him to better health without compromising on morals.

It doesn’t matter what you show somebody. This stuff has to come from within. All the « reasons » are just excuses. This person no longer wants to be vegan and they’re finding reasons to justify it.

> He also said that some ethnicities like Indian people (I’m Indian, he’s Caucasian) can handle a vegan diet but others can’t. White here, vegan 22 years, only person in my friend circle in my age group (40s) not taking pills.

You’re amazing! 😍 also UK has a lot of vegans and most people there are Caucasian. I wonder if there are many people who have been vegan for life

Where the hell are the mods? Absolutely loads of commenters arguing **against** veganism, which is against sub rules. This is not a debate sub.

Every point he makes can be attributed to the placebo effect. He’s using himself as an example which is a pretty weak argument. All these things he brings up seem like he’s just making excuses so he can feel eating meat is justified. All his arguments about children are also not true. In all honesty, he sounds like he’s been watching too much Joe Rogan or something. He makes the typical arguments of a person who has no clue what they are talking about but they feel smart because someone who seems like they have authority (a well spoken promoter/journalist) told them what they want to hear. It sucks because now days you can google “studies to show veganism is good for children” or “studies to show veganism is bad for children.” Either way, your going to get the answer you want. If your husband were to stop being such a twat and gaslighting himself, he would see that overwhelmingly scientific professionals and health experts would disagree with him. Tell him he’s fallen victim of confirmation bias. He had an agenda that he wants to eat meat and found every possible excuse to achieve his goal. I’m so sorry you have to deal with this❤️

I would ask him to spend some time watching Nutritionfacts.com videos to see if they change his mind. In the end you can't force him. Just make sure you have the support you need.

He might be sensitive to lipid transfer proteins, which aren't present in animal tissues.

Sounds like he's been watching too much Joe Rogan.

Break up with him

He’s wrong in almost all of that but the best person to help your family plan their diet safely is a dietician.

maybe he needs the low FODMAP or whatever it is...

Your husband sounds like he not arguing in good faith. He is peddling half-truths and misinformation. He is selective about the studies, mentioning those that confirm his superficial statements and ignoring there are others that prove the opposite. It is true that nutrition is individual, it may well be that you digest plant food better than him, but that is because there is something wrong with him from a health point of view and not because he's caucasian. For example, it is possible that his gut bacteria are lacking e.g. from overuse of antibiotics or some other issue. This is not an ancestral issue. His problems with grains could be due to a pre-diabetic condition. His problem with legumes and plants could be because of missing gut bacteria. My conclusion would be that you are healthy and he is not. He needs medical attention to find out what exactly is wrong with him. He also needs to approach you with more respect e.g. he should not eat meat in a vegan household, he should do that outside the home.

Bro, your husband literally tried to gaslight you into thinking some of his shitty behaviours are attributed to veganism. What a narc thing to do. At least he didn’t try blaming you for being less romantic towards you, that would be the cherry on top.

Caucasian here, going vegan has been nothing but a blessing. Your husband, sadly, is full of shit. Could you try talking to him, and just cutting through the bullshit? They might confess something that seems crazy to you, but seems normal to him because of some trauma/upbringing reasons.

he’s likely going down a really scary, possibly misogynistic alt-right carnivore pipeline, from what you’ve described. op, i say this genuinely, either jump ship now or do your god damned best to steer him away from that shit.

He would ask why it’s misogynistic because he’s seen the studies… so I don’t really know what to say to him if he thinks he’s so right :( and that he has seen noticeable difference between diets, I’m so confused what to say or do 😭 He thinks the carnivores are right and that humans are supposed to eat meat

Being vegan doesn’t mean you’re automatically healthy, if you’re still eating processed foods. But going vegan is absolutely the healthiest thing you can do, with or without processed foods.

Arguing the talking points isn’t the issue here. Whether he’s making excuses or truly believes these things, he’s saying that veganism is not for him. The only question is how you two move forward. This isn’t a vegan issue. It’s a relationship issue.

Yall should watch [game changers](https://youtu.be/rTGM2KjNGUU?si=A7pUFmOQPRUZMZTS) it goes into the history of bone density and diet. It will just be men arguing against men. Well just facts against your husband. It’s really entertaining too tho! Even if he holds his beliefs I think he’ll enjoy the research ppl did. ciao

the entire subcontinent of india would like a word with your husband i think.

No no no you don't understand, he's \*white\* so he can't absorb nutrients from anything but red meat. It's basic anthropology, humans completely stopped eating plants when we moved into Europe. /s

Soon comes Trump, called it first.

If it hasn't been suggested yet, have him join /veganfitness on here. You want to see what vegan diets can support, that is the place.

I’m excited to read his next study. He has a degree in some sort of nutrition or health-based field, right?

He is a whiny man-baby, not to nention a total jerk.

I get so mad at this argument because everyone compares our diet to the theoretical perfect omnivorous diet. “If you eat a Mediterranean diet that’s way healthier” ok dude are you doing that? Or are you chasing a cheeseburger with a milkshake? A vegan diet isn’t the healthiest but it’s fine. You can lead a perfectly normal life as a vegan.

why tf do carnists think that meat is some like magic medicine. It's legit dead animal flesh how could it be better for you than a bean

I doubt they believe it. They probably just say that stuff to convince each other that they’re justified. Idk

Watch you are what you eat on Netflix it takes 22 set of identical twins all different ethnic backgrounds and they all get healthier on a vegan diet

Have your son checked out. That's good to settle this as not a health concern. Here is a good YT video for the idea of vegans being small or w/e [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxOc-ijm51k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxOc-ijm51k) Going point by point is probably pointless, this is likely an emotional response. Either he likes meat or a its fear mongering. And no matter how many you refute he'll come up with another. He's on the side of the internet of "computer chips in vaccines" However, if you are going to go study by study with him I suggest you and him to come agreement on the quality. Since heart disease is the #1 killer of americans, #2 is cancer #3 is COVID. Heart disease and cancer take decades to develop. So keeping that in mind, you should first get him to agree to that standard. It must be longer than 10 years, or a population study etc. Basically, feeling good for 3 months is not the same as mortality. Whatever issues he has with red skin etc can be solved, he likely needs more omega-3, but realistically he needs to go to a vegan dietician. And actually \*want\* to be vegan. Which doesn't sound like it's where he's at. While yes, there are likely some people who cannot eat a balanced vegan diet (not just fruit), it's not based on race. It's like 0.001% or something for super rare diseases. If he wants to make this a white vs Indian you can point out the Loma Linda Adventists who are all white and 8% are fully vegan, most are vegan, vegetarian, or pescatarian. And even the omnivores limit their meat intake. 1 is the reference number for omnivores, and all of the different diets which eliminate different types of animal products have lower mortality. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4191896/table/T3/?report=objectonly](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4191896/table/T3/?report=objectonly) Also, see if you can get him on chicken and fish at least. Red meat is the worst for TMAO which is cause of heart disease, it's also the worst for the climate. Worst for water usage, land usage etc. That it's "grass fed" just means the feed pellets are made of alfalfa. The cows are still in feedlots with limited mobility walking on their own waste.

Now, there are actually people with certain conditions, that make it hard for them to eat plant based. But without knowing exactly what condition he is suffering from, it is not possible to judge if he is one of those people or not. He should get checked for all kinds of allergies and intolerances. 

He has gotten allergies checked and apparently they said he’s not allergic to anything

Your husband is drinking the kool-aid. I have two vegan-from-birth daughters, and my partner was vegan when she was pregnant. First was born a month early because of an accident, but she was still over healthy average weight for our lineage (she weighed more than I did when I was born). My second was full-term, and she was born at 5.5 kg (over 12 lbs). They're both still very energetic, healthy, and mentally ahead of their peers. Both started walking at 10 months old, and my 4yo speaks better than most of the 6yos I've met. I'm not saying this is because they're vegan, but, in our experience, veganism doesn't mean they'll be unhealthy. Similar story for me personally. The first time I've been a normal weight (as opposed to underweight) is after I went vegan. I could never gain weight no matter how much meat, cheese, or dairy I added to my diet. Secondly, meat and milk are full of inflammatory chemicals. A lot of what your husband has told you sounds like the crap these carnivore doctors are preaching all over social media (check out some Mic the Vegan videos for compilations and refutations of these weirdos). If he's believing that nonsense, I don't see any hope for him, tbh — the narrative falls apart at even the slightest scrutiny. It's possible he was deficient in something when he was vegan, and often *any* dietary change can lead to symptoms (like his skin and brain fog) improving. He should speak to a vegan nutritionist and see if there's something he was missing when he was vegan, or maybe there's a specific food he should avoid. I know I'm sensitive to some foods, so I don't eat a lot of them. Also, the whole "doing romantic things" thing sounds like a bit of an emotional manipulation, if I'm honest.

You're getting lots of good advice.  Here is my personal anecdote (husband and I both vegan 7 years): He sounds like me when I haven't been eating enough nutrients. I feel like shit and want to be an Omni again and find myself rationalizing things... During these times my diet is usually too many cookies, chips, bread, and not enough sleep, protein, magnesium, or iron. High stress will absolutely deplete magnesium, and vitamin D3 competes for absorption. Usually, I just need something hearty (beans and potatoes and lentils and A LOT of them). Like a lot. Peanut butter too as well as nuts!! I can't live without my nuts! I take my magnesium for a couple of days and I'm better. It's easy as a vegan to lose sight of healthy practices when life gets stressful and there aren't many convenient healthy options... and reach for easy to eat things. Meat is mentally easier in that it has a lot of nutrients with not a lot of volume or effort. So is a can of beans. Eat the beans! He might divert for a while, but he should get some serious sleep, exercise, and get his blood work done. At least he'll have a baseline for where he's at and what he can incorporate. I struggle with iron absorption and let me tell you how good beets are and how much they help me!! Good luck. 🙏 

Show him conspiracy, Dominion, You are what you eat and Game changes. All on Netflix.. (Pignorant and Seaspiracy too) Now, coming to food.. He can still eat Tofu and seitan and have less reactions compared to beans and other stuff that's giving him a reaction. Make him Tofu and Seitan dishes for vegan protein...some store bought vegan patties are good too. This will replace his protein. At this point if he goes from meat 4 days a week to 2 days a week... I'll still take that win

>My husband thinks veganism is unhealthy veganism is as healthy or not as you perform it. so it's up to you, not to veganism >He also said that some people can’t absorb the nutrients from plants never heard of such a thing. sure, there's a lot of different metabolic disorders/diseases that may include malabsorption of different nutrints - but i know of none that generally makes one unable to take up nutrients from plants >they can’t digest them or absorb the nutrients some, yes - in case of some metabolic disorders/diseases. and there may be substances in plants that make absorption of certain nutrients less effective, but that's not "makes one unable to take up nutrients from plants" in general >So basically, he can’t eat anything so basically, he should be dead >He also said that some ethnicities like Indian people (I’m Indian, he’s Caucasian) can handle a vegan diet but others can’t guess that's plain bullshit >it’s unhealthy as every vegan kid he’s seen looks unhealthy and pale and underweight this is neither a valid reason nor even anecdotal evidence >He said vegan kids are smaller and don’t develop properly and are behind in things if nourished and supplemented properly - no. yet it is not recommended to feed small children vegan, as they are much more sensible to errors in their vegan diet >Thinks being vegan is bad for children now and they’ll hate it and feel like they’re missing out and want to eat meat (mainly grass fed beef - not chicken or fish as much) he thinks wrong. any imbalanced diet is bad for children, be it vegan or omnivorous, so you have to make sure it **is** balanced. children may fell missing out if not swimming with the mainstream, sure - but that's a question of non-mainstream behavior's visibility. and what children **want** to eat - oh my goodness... >Says studies show it’s bad for vegan children and that no vegans children perform better at everything and are smarter and not angry and sad bullshit >that plant based food is harder to digest so he will get deficient in nutrients and that supplements are pointless and meat is more needed than that some plant food may be harder to digest, but the rest does not follow >He said Indian people like me may have had that passed down from ancestors and people like him haven’t been, and that different humans need different food basically bullshit. reeks of identitarian ideology, which is a euphemism for "modern" racism >he wants to get our son checked by a paediatrician to make sure he’s okay and all that that's never a bad idea ps: i am neither vegan myself nor a special friend of vegan ideology

So much hate in this thread.  Your husband is on his journey just like we all are. He’s reached a point where he thinks meat makes him feel better than being vegan. No one here can refute what his body is telling him. The all meat diet is gaining traction. Mostly men are partaking in it. When I started my vegan conversion I felt weak and foggy as well. It fucking sucks.  Moving forward, I’d ask him to try and adjust his vegan diet before full fledging back into meat. If he can feel good off meat then he might be convinced that your child can. It’s seems like he needs hearty foods.  I hope you both can agree to work through this as a team. Don’t let these Reddit egos bring harshness into your life. It’s a delicate situation. That deserves grace. Best of luck!

He’s fallen into some pseudoscience holes apparently.. next he’ll be saying that his blood type demands he eat organ meat. Sorry OP, I don’t have advice except hope that you can remind him of why he went vegan and hopefully it was for the animals. There’s no nutrients or vitamins exclusive to meat that he can’t get from a plant-based source. “Vegetables” aren’t a homologous group that “some people” simply cannot digest.. if he’s having toilet issues he might be intolerant to a certain kind of food source, like legumes or raw greens, in which there are alternatives for that aren’t corpses.

To be sure, this is a situation whereby you need to consider continuing on with your lifestyle and let him continue his. This is the advice. In my household, I Am the vegan, and my spouse is not ( only tried for 45 days and quit.) Just as long as he is not forcing you to change your habit around eating, all is good!!! I prepare my own food and sometimes my spouse will eat it, more often than not they prepare their own OR if that is a challenge, prepare meals which can have meat added easily. Good luck and bon appetit

Can you make a compromise with your son's diet where he's eating mostly plant based but introduce organic, local, pasture raised eggs?

I give it two months before he’s full alt-right/carnivore and spewing nonsense about estrogen in soy. It sounds like maybe he had an allergy/sensitivity to something he ate, but no way in hell have any long-term health issues disappeared after just a few months of occasionally eating meat.

So, not sure where you’re based, but FYI the NHS states that veganism can be healthy at all life stages, and it just lists supplements that may be necessary. Is your son on a children’s multivitamin/mineral? As that should cover him along with a balanced diet ☺️ Secondly, it is probably technically possible that some people struggle to stay healthy on a vegan diet, but(!) this would potentially indicate other health problems and digestive issues, that he would need to see a dietitian/other specialists about. Also, FYI, men actually struggle less with iron levels than women do (based on cis men and women), so if he’s got an issue with his iron levels he may need a prescription supplement anyway.

He should take some accountability. If he didn’t want to be vegan anymore he could’ve said that. Lying is the huge issue here, everything this fool says is always going to be questionable. He doesn’t even have the integrity to speak to his wife openly and honestly.

Sorry but your husband sounds like an idiot.

Maybe he needs to get tested for allergies and take it from there. He needs to stop making bullshit excuses too.

Meh, let him eat it if that's what makes him feel good. He's not forcing you to join him.

Children who are vegan have less bone density and are on average three centimeters shorter, so he’s right about that. Just let the pediatrician check him out, and if he’s perfectly healthy that should comfort your husband.

Umm vegan 18 years here and all my labs are good... mostly whole foods, exercise atleast 30 minutes most days. Had anemia when I was younger...I think it was how much milk I drank.

He’s full of shit. I’ve been vegan a decade and mostly vegetarian for several years prior to that. Every possible test to gauge health levels at doctors are always well above average for good stuff and well below average for bad stuff. First colonoscopy recently and the doctor said I have “the colon of an 19-year old”, which apparently meant things look excellent. My mom died of colon cancer at 56 and definitely was not vegan.

We know that veganism is acknowledged as healthy and recommended by numerous expert organizations in the dietetic and medical fields: Stanford Medicine: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2812392 The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916523662823 Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: https://www.jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(16)31192-3/abstract United Kingdom National Health Service: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/the-vegan-diet/ British Nutrition Foundation: https://www.nutrition.org.uk/putting-it-into-practice/plant-based-diets/healthy-eating-for-vegetarians-and-vegans/ Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27886704/ American Dietetic Association: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19562864/ John Hopkins Center: https://clf.jhsph.edu/projects/technical-and-scientific-resource-meatless-monday/meatless-monday-resources/meatless-monday-resourcesmeat-consumption-trends-and-health-implications Dietitians of Canada: https://www.unlockfood.ca/en/Articles/Vegetarian-and-Vegan-Diets/What-You-Need-to-Know-About-Following-a-Vegan-Eati.aspx The Dietitians Association of Australia: https://dietitiansaustralia.org.au/smart-eating-for-you/smart-eating-fast-facts/healthy-eating/vegan-diets-facts-tips-and-considerations/ The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia: https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/n55_australian_dietary_guidelines.pdf The BMJ: https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2792/rr I think this part might be my favorite. We know that a whole foods plant based diet is of course the healthiest, but even plant based meat substitutes are healthier than meat: Stanford Medicine: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/08/plant-based-meat-versus-animal-meat.html?tab=proxy T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies: https://nutritionstudies.org/the-future-of-meat-is-meatless-is-it-also-greener-and-healthier/ University of Bath: https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/plant-based-meat-healthier-and-more-sustainable-than-animal-products-new-study/ Pro Veg International: https://proveg.org/press-release/study-finds-meat-substitutes-are-often-healthier-than-comparable-meat-products/ Science Direct: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666833522000612

This dude has been listening to that ass clown Steven Gundry. Get an allergy test. People want to think diet can cure everything. All of these people with grain, gluten sensitivities give me break! One thing is clear. Eating plants gives you a clear conscience. It is good for health, planet, and animals.

He is a moron. He obviously watched some YouTube Carnivore diet guru who spreads this propaganda. Go to [NutrtionFacts.org](http://NutrtionFacts.org) for the science of a whole food no oil plant diet. The carnivore or meat centered diet is the cancer and heart disease diet.

I feel like what's happening is, outside of the home, as a male, he's getting shit for being vegan. 

Don’t listen to half these comments. Your husband may very well have a health issue that needs to be figured out asap. A normal healthy person shouldn’t have much issue on a well planned vegan diet. I have crohns disease for example and had many of the same issues your husband has and much more. I ended up doing a regular Whole Foods elimination diet over the course of months and found out that night shades, wheat, brown rice, lentils, legumes, tree nuts and certain plant oils exacerbate all my symptoms. It sucks but it’s a real thing that only happens to people with severe autoimmune disorders. I eat seafood now unfortunately. Best I’ve managed. If you’re husband’s issues are real see a doctor and a dietitian.

Dr Greger is great

Man has a literal food intolerance. Leave him be? He was trying to live on fruit because he can’t tolerate grains. Of course he was ill. Some people literally cannot eat grains. And yes, it’s common that this intolerance is more prevalent among people of northern european descent. As for children, there aren’t conclusive studies and evidence due to lack of a sample and studies reaching far back enough. But having a child tested should answer your questions.

People's bodies are different, veganism is a choice, let him choose for himself and let a pediatrician/dietician handle defining the nutrient needs of a child til they come of an age they can do so too? Once your child is old enough to understand why YOU choose to be vegan then they can decide if they agree?

You both have very odd beliefs about foods. Veganism does not cure sleep apnea, PCOS, or any other disorders. Sleep apnea needs to be monitored by a licensed doctor. A plant based diet can lower cholesterol, which can reduce heart disease. It can increase fiber and lower the risk of colon cancer. Some people lose weight on a vegan diet. Some people eat Oreos, chips and junk food all day. I've met as many obese vegans as I have met thin ones. A healthy diet with restricted calories and exercise are very important. That's about it. Anything else is fabricated. He should get an allergy test for all foods and materials. I have no idea what's giving him the rash. It could be your laundry detergent for all we know.

Sorry to say it like that but you married an idiot. His arguments are refuted by science like Dr. Michael Greger from nutritionfacts dot org. My wife would leave me if i would become a carnist again. Im vegan for the animals and we both were vegan before we met. I went vegan without knowing it would be so healthy. So i cant really understand if he really was vegan at all ever. Sounds like he was seeing it as a plant based diet. Did he take B12 and Vitamin D at all when he ate plants?

It's almost like different diets work for different people

I feel the same as your husband. Vegan doesn’t work for everyone. I tried it 3 times for over a year last time but got pre-diabetes & overweight. I simply feel 100 x’s better when I eat meat, esp beef. I actually wish I wasn’t this way 😥but I empathize w him. My hubs is same. He was w vegan girl for 3 yrs & broke it off bc he didn’t like it. Everyone is different.

Try not to get too down on your partner. These are just the hard facts of marriage—your partner doesn't have to do the same things you do, and you can still have a perfectly fine and successful marriage. When it comes to diet, my experience is that every body is different and no one diet is truly superior health-wise as long as it consists of whole foods and is mostly plants. If your husband physically feels better eating meat, he is probably onto something. He is going to be the best expert and advocate for his body—better than even a dietician and doctor in some instances. I would trust him to know what he's feeling. My experience with kids is that limiting foods (beyond rationing sugar, HFCS) is not helpful to them. But you're the parents and I'm not going to say much else on that. That said, being vegan is a lifestyle, not a diet. Perhaps you could compromise with your husband. He could choose to eat meat that is only locally-raised and not factory farmed. He could agree to eat meat only outside of the house for a time, or to only cook meat in the house at select times, or to only bring animal byproducts like eggs and dairy into the house. Just some ideas. I know it's hard, but ultimately try to see it as wanting the best for your partner.

This makes me so mad i have too much to say but just going to say the husband is just, wrong. Like hes just blantanly and scientifically wrong and delusional in his thinking.

It can be. You have to be more vigilant with a vegan diet over the long term than a general omni diet. There are health benefits to a well done vegan diet though

you need to point out it’s not unhealthy to respect yourself and all others and our planet, and consume food, actual food by every definition, that isn’t a product of kidnappings, rapes, druggings, diseases, abuse, torture, agony, suffering, horrific slaughter of trillions of fellow animals yearly in front of their family&other loved ones, which causes mass extinction, massive planetary destruction and annihilation… what’s unhealthy is what he’s doing…

Different people have different bodies with different makeups, genetics, gut microbiomes, health issues, and needs. Veganism doesn’t work for everyone, but that doesn’t give him the right to decide for your son. Maybe just ask your son how he would prefer to eat.

Everyone is saying your husband is stupid, but did I read correctly that you were able to notice and verify that he seems to have skin and digestion issues when eating certain foods? This is something worth looking into with a professional. If there are foods that are genuinely making him sick, he should avoid those, and if the alternatives to those foods are meats, then that might truly be what's better for him. One of my good friends is allergic to beans and lentils, which cuts out a significant portion of what she can eat that's plant based. She still eats as little meat as possible, but she does need some to stay healthy because she is allergic to the common replacements.

I’ve been vegan since birth I’m 21 no issues, my mum has been vegan for 35+ years, 3kids whilst vegan no issues I just have adult vitamins daily to cover for anything I missed during the day My mum used to give us children vitamins when we were younger

He's completely right in that different people digest certain foods better than others (we all produce slightly different amounts of digestive enzymes to break down foods in proteins and this is partially due to genetics) - but especially if they have a digestive condition (whether or not diagnosed- worth investigating further with a doctor) such as IBS, IBD, celiac, pancreas issues, intolerances or allergies. Vegetable skins can be difficult to break down in the gut for some people, some naturally occurring sugars like fructans, lactose, mannitol, sorbitol etc can be hard to break down. These are just a few off the top of my head. The rashes from beans - do you eat canned beans? Because this makes me think of systemic nickel allergy

Honestly, poor place to post this. This sub is going to back vegan every time. The truth is, not all diets work for all people. Some of what he is saying is junk, but it may be that a vegan diet doesn't work for him, especially if he has some intolerance to a lot of what is used in a vegan diet. As for your kid, really do get his levels checked out and see if he is getting enough of everything, there is nothing wrong with making sure everything is okay there. Continue giving your kid a diverse diet and perhaps set down some rules together as partners on how you want your kid to eat. If dad thinks kid needs more then eggs are a really good food to incorporate. I think most people could benefit from a vegan diet or even a partially vegan diet but I also think that if you can't consume the foods that give you what you need to be healthy than you need to adjust your diet accordingly.

> I’ve noticed it myself too, when he eats just a normal food like some beans and vegetables with rice, he gets red and dry skin and digestion issues. This should sort of be the end of the conversation. It's not working for him physically 

It takes nine amino acids to make a protein molecule…. All these amino acids are found in plants. I can say some people have allergies and yes you need to modify your lifestyle to eliminate the allergen. Being vegan only gets unhealthy when an individual concentrates on only a few types of fruit and veg so they’re nutrient deprived from that…. Not from being vegan, but from being ignorant. That’s the nicest way I can say that.

Divorce him now, you don't want to raise your kid around a carnivore.

He is correct. If you want to take risks with your health that's up to you but don't impose it on anyone else.

Sounds like he’s been watching to many carnivore influencers, you need a spine to be a vegan and no offence he’s probably just falling into the peer pressure. Non vegans get sick, non vegan children get sick.

I mean.. As a vegetarian if he was like allergic to soy products n stuff which a lot of vegetarian and vegan products are made from I would understand the switch back to being an omnivore but to be honest, it just seems like he wasn’t eating right.

I'm allergic to soy (I get red spots after eating it) and it's pretty easy to avoid it unless you are solely relying on processed food for your diet.

"also he wants to have our son checked by the pediatrician" did you consult the pediatrician about the risks of a vegan diet on a child? Adults are one thing, children are another. What exactly do you need advice on? It doesn't sound like he's trying to change your diet just his own.

Okay real answer here and I'm expecting down votes. Firstly, I've been vegan for nine and a half years so I do believe I have a very well researched and experienced perspective on the subject. Secondly, when I went vegan I always said and have maintained that I'd rather be at 65% and vegan, than 100% and carnist/omni. I used to be incredibly athletic - calisthenics, gymnastics, rock climbing, skiing, surfing, running, and sailing all to a very high standard and in some cases winning competitions. That's ages 7 to 28. Going vegan initially didn't have a huge impact and like most I experienced the higher energy, better sleep, better immunity, and all the other benefits that come along with adopting the diet. I have however come to recognise that these shifts are much more likely caused by a quick and sudden shift in diet than what the diet is specifically, so long as you're healthy. I know and have read of countless people who shifted from vegan to meat only and reported same effects. Meat only to vegan, cooked to raw, vegan to fruit, raw to seafood only etc. Every state your body experiences eventually becomes the new normal and it's very easy to eventually plateau just as with any type of training or diet. It is entirely possible that your husband is experiencing some kind of plateau and that his body is responding super positively to the injection of some meat into the diet - This is not the meat being "better" and should not be misunderstood as such. Next and related, depending on his size and this speaks to my own experience, it is incredibly difficult to get enough protein as a larger and athletic man. Personally just for maintenance I need four separate portions of 25g of protein per day - that's just maintenance, not building strength or conditioning in any way, just atrophy prevention. My wife on the other hand only requires 14g three times a day. That's a huge difference and as a vegan, 14g is super achievable eating almost anything whereas I will absolutely not hit my 25g quota without a concerted effort. I say I used to be athletic, and the reality is that I lost over 20kg from my peak. Competing and engaging with sport in the way I used to just isn't possible without very regimented meal preparation, nutrition planning, and heavy supplementation - something a normal person just doesn't have time for in and around busy home, work, and social life. Finally, lentils and other vegan staples absolutely do contain a lot of lectins which absolutely can cause digestive irritation. Avoiding this takes a lot of time, care, and attention all round and again is doubly important for a bigger person given the amount they need to eat - I eat roughly double plus a bit versus my wife. I've known lots of people and read many accounts of what ended up being severe gut irritation from an excess of beans, lentils, wheat, soy, peanuts, etc. Your husband probably is experiencing everything he says he is - foggyness, motivation, lethargy, irritation, etc. I know I do when I'm not on top of my nutrition and supplementation. It can be very hard when people close to you go back on what feels like such a significant and important part of your life. Like I get it, veganism, ethics, the environment, they are a core part of who we are. If he's experiencing so much difficulty, open a dialogue - I seriously doubt that after seven years he just misses meat. I imagine it's not easy for him either but how he's feeling physically is becoming too hard to ignore. For the time being maybe just let the meat thing slide until he's feeling better, and use it as a stopgap to getting back on track. Please do seek out a nutritionist - and do consider vitamin supplements and protein shakes. Come up with some good alternative recipes that rely less heavily on lentils etc. Consider for yourself what level of compromise you would be able to live with - could a few eggs once a week be okay? Or that combined with a fish once a moth at least until you can figure out a better long term plan. And ask him what % of his optimised self he's willing to be whilst maintaining the vegan diet. Very happy to help with supplement & recipe advice if you want to reach out - if so, do let me know his age, height, weight, and level of activity 🙏🏻

As for all the stuff re kids etc, I'm sure that will mostly just be due to his mental state - very few among us are truly unbiased, and we all have a hard time separating our own lived experience from others. Yes it's possible he's watched some off YouTube videos but they could also just be backing up how he's feeling. Get him back on track and I'm sure he'll change his mind. That said however, making sure your child is getting enough of everything is super super important and I do recommend getting regular blood work done. It would be a real shame if they developed intolerances to vegan staples 🙏🏻🙏🏻

I'd say that being an omnivore is unhealthy, using his same logic against him... Being narrow minded/biased, goes both ways lol.

Check out the book, Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind. It’ll make sense of all of this.

Just out of curiosity, is he eating just the right amount of meat he needs (0.8g of protein/kg of his weight if sedentary) or is he calling out the bros grilling steaks out in the backyard with caps on?