new thread
First of all, although not posting I still read everything.
There were some amazing updates from Dusk, Rafael, the Meetup Justin and White Tail, Beanz, Vivien, Dusepo, Donald Lee, Validus and anybody I might forget. All the updates were amazing great progress everyone.
Now for my question, I'm thinking about starting a vegetarian diet but I was wondering if that goes well with being a longhair. Are there any things you miss in your diet that will effect on the hair growth or quality?
i'm vegetarian, have been all my life and can't think of any effects it's had on my hair. i grew it long a few years ago and am doing so again now, never even thought of any effects it would have on my body, and there haven't been any as far as i can tell as long as u eat a good diet with enough protein i'm sure u will be fine. go for it!
Thanks for your input, I'm reading a lot about it right now so I start with it well prepared.
This was one of my concerns so I'm glad someone has experience with this.
funny... i haven't been stopping by much lately because work has been busy (and i still don't have internet at home). it must be fate that i'm here to answer your question today!
i've been a veg for over ten years now. my hair grows well more than average, at close to an inch per month. my lack of meat obviously doesn't affect my hair. my boyfriend has been a veg for about a year and a half now, and his hair is as long as mine. more important than length, though - we both have very healthy hair.
what matters most is knowing whick nutrients will be lacking in your new diet, and replacing them appropriately.
as for me, i need to take iron pills because i don't eat nearly enough iron rich foods (i HATE beans. yuck). i've found that the easiest way to get protien/aminos is to add hemp nuts to just about everything. hemp nuts are the most complete and easily digestible form of protiens/aminos (2nd - fish, 3rd - soybeans). they are very tiny, are a very soft nut and have very little flavor. you don't even notice them in your food. i put them in my oatmeal, pasta dishes, soup, etc. two tablespoons of hemp nuts provides more than your daily requirement, so it's quite easy to get enough. they are easily purchased at health food stores, and a package lasts a long time when stored in the fridge.
other than that, just know how far you want to take your veggi-ness. there are meat by-products in things most people would never think about. examples - every frito lay food, energy drinks, jello, 8th continent brand soymilk.
feel free to email me if you would like more information. i've got it all down pat now. :) my email address is brownphred@aol.com
Thanks for your answer, that makes a lot clear.
I'm reading a lot about it, don't want to go in unprepared.
Your tips are very helpfull.
For now I just start with being a lacto-ovo vegetarian, maybe I will take more steps in the future but this is enough for me now.
I will keep you in mind if I've got any further questions.
Well, I've been a vegetarian (lacto-ovo) for about five years now, and my hair seems to have grown out just fine over the past two and a half years. As long as you're not a junk-food vegetarian (soda and chips are quite vegetarian, LOL) you should be fine.
Mouse
Thanks for your first hand experience, I plan on being a lacto-ovo vegetarian too. Later I may take things further but this is enough for me now.
I'm already looking carefull at what I eat, this is just another improvement I thought about.
Taking up cooking will help too, and even if you're eating eggs and cheese I recommend browsing some vegan cookbooks. I've found that many of the vegetarian cookbooks are very cheese/egg focused, and I wanted to branch out more. Cooking vegan recipes does that for me, and I can always add some eggs or cheese to a recipe or a meal if I want.
Mouse
I've already tried some recepies and I liked them, not sure if they were vegan but they didn't contain eggs or cheese. I used quorn in it.
Haven't made the full change yet, still orienting.
Thanks for your help.
Yes. It is my New Year's Resolution to be vegetarian. My goal is to eliminate meat, eggs, and milk from my diet. So far I have been very successful maintaining it. However, I am going even further than that. I have also eliminated all soft drinks and many prepared foods with "empty" calories, high fructose corn syrup, high fat content, and high sodium content.
I am trying to get most of my caloric intake from carbohydrates, especially plant foods with high soluble fiber content. I am not worried about getting adequate protein. In fact it would be difficult NOT to get adequate protein on a healthy vegetarian diet with normal caloric intake. I am not doing this to starve myself. I am doing this for my health. I eat all I want and feel better doing it.
My blood pressure has been borderline hypertension, but my last check showed a significant drop to 132/80 without medication. I expect that to continue improving. Not only that, my digestion has improved too. I have more energy. I'm working on my next stage: to take up running again.
So far the only difference I have noticed with my hair is that my scalp does not get oily feeling like it did when I ate meat. I don't have to wash my hair as often now, though I still wash it about twice a week. Other than that, I have had no problems.
What I ate today -
Breakfast: bowl of oatmeal.
Between meal snacks: bananas, whenever I was hungry.
Lunch: peanut butter on whole grain bread.
Dinner: rice with vegetarian "pasteles."
Pasteles are a traditional Puerto Rican food with a rainbow of ingredients. They are usually made with pork, but I substituted eggplant instead. A partial list of ingredients: taro root, potato, green bananas, plantain, chick-peas, raisins, olives, pimientos, tomato, olive oil... Trust me, they are delicious and good for you too! I made a batch of them Saturday and will be eating them all this week.
David L.
Wow you've got an impressive diet. I'm already carefull about what I eat I try to eat as healthy as possible. I going to start with being a lacto-ovo vegetarian but maybe I will try a vegan diet too if this is going well.
Health is my main reason to, not that I'm not healthy right now but it can always be better.
I used to run to for about 4 months but I stopped with it and plan on starting again to.
Good to hear such nice results, this makes me more determined to start with it.
It is good to be enthusiastic about one's health, kind of like growing out one's hair. ;)
I call my diet pure vegetarian and not vegan. To me vegan implies a rather strict lifestyle that includes avoiding animal products of all kinds. I agree that animals are mistreated by industrial farming, but this is not a religion to me. I can easily remove animal products from my diet, but there are many other things that contain animal products too.
I am avoiding milk and eggs because of the conditions under which the animals are kept. It is disgusting. And we put food from those animals in our bodies? These industries have spent a lot of money to influence public perception of their products. Even if one could trust the quality of one's milk and eggs, are they really necessary for good health? Cow milk is for baby cows, and human milk is for baby humans. Cow milk is far higher in fat content that human milk because calves grow much faster than human babies. Chicken eggs contain very high amounts of cholesterol. They are supposed to be nutritious, but one can get the same nutrition from plant products without the added saturated fat and cholesterol. However, occasionally eating foods made with milk and eggs is fine. Naturally everyone will have their own opinion on what they think is necessary for good health, and there are people who will disagree with my opinion as stated above. I don't have a problem with that. Good luck!
David L
Hmmmmmm.Can you be vegetarian and still drink wine??Just wondering that's all.
Mark
wine is fine. beer is not (for vegans).
As long as it isn't cleared with animal product it should be ok.
On the internet there are lists which brands are oke.
I'm starting with only eating no meat (lacto-ovo vegatarian) so I won't be that strict. But maybe that will come in the future.
just curious to know why?
John.B
Well I've been taking bad care of my body since I was 15, before that time I was sporting a lot and my condition was super.
That I started to go out, drinking a lot and picked up smoking.
Because of that I stopped sporting and became lazier.
Until now that hasn't been a problem, but if I keep this up for the rest of my life it will be. So I´ve been busy with my health a lot lately, I quit smoking after 8 years and started exercising again.
I also improved my diet a lot, more vegatables, fruit and no more fast food and soda's.
I feel a lot better now and I want to expirement more, I've read eating vegetarian makes you feel even better and I want to test that out for myself.
Plus there are a lot more benefits on the side, but my health is the main reason.
The only thing I still do is drink a lot, I like hanging out with my friends in the pub. But that will have to go too if I want to have a perfect health. An occasional beer won't be a problem but not the amounts which I drink now.
I think this answers your question, the answer became a bit longer that I planned but that was nessacairy to explain everything.
Vincent
I admire your willingness to go veggie; I keep thinking about it occasionally, but here comes that pulled-pork barbecue or whatever and there you go...
Someone (with really long hair) once told me a really long time ago that *peppers* were good for hair growth. I don't know if that's right, but there you go. (They seem to be bad for your face, though, so you might want to hold off after you've gotten all the hair you want.) For all that, if you've got a healthy diet, the results should be good for every part of you, including your hair. For myself, I'm trying to find things at least to cut back on (say, 200-gram cheeseburgers and large milk shakes). At least I'm not *gaining* weight!
Thanks, I really like meat to but I'm curious about how to eat even healthier. I've alrwady cut out a lot of meat and the times I eat vegetarian all day I feel a lot better so it works.
But you've gotta know that you really want it else it won't work when your tempted at a barbeque. I should be easy to maintain this habit and that's only possbible if you really want it.
So find some good reasons why you want to be a veggie (or not) and take some action.
I'm working at the burger king so I've eaten there so much I don't like it anymore. So that was an easy step for me.
Plus I feel healthier when I don't eat there, a lot more energy.
I know someone who has around mid back long hair who is vegan and has been for some time and his hair looks great (and is very healthy looking).
Thanks for your help, I know now that it's possible to be a vegetarian or vegan with healthy hair.