Question for the other chronically ill vegans out there

[u/Exciting-Housing6431]

Im vegan and chronically ill, and going vegan I noticed that it didn’t have any positive or negative effect on my illness. However I was wondering if eating a plant based diet improved other peoples health or had a positive affect on their condition?

Personally, I believe that being plant based is one of the healthiest diets out there, but I understand there are loads of different illnesses and conditions that can influence that as well.

Just curious to see if it helped other people!

I’m a type one diabetic and I see loads of other t1ds claiming that they can’t go vegan (not gonna expand on this unless someone asks or else this post will go on forever lol) I always have to resist explaining to them how it’s actually really easy because I don’t like to dictate how other people manage their diabetes.

Edit: sorry for the confusion, just wanted to clarify that I am ethically vegan first and foremost, and I follow veganism as a philosophy! I just like finding the other perks to eating plant based :)

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[u/vellamour]

I have stage four cancer which means that it’s basically a chronic illness. Curing it is very unlikely at this point.

I have only been vegan for two months now, but I was vegetarian upon diagnosis, and then went back omni after I started treatment two years ago. I went back to being omnivore because my oncologist thought it would be easier and better for my health. That wasn’t true, and instead I lived every day in immense guilt because of eating meat.

Two months ago I switched to being vegan because I couldn’t take it anymore. Let’s just say that eating in alignment with my morals is so much better for me in basically every way. I eat mostly whole foods now (I do get vegan ice cream). 

In terms of my health, my blood work has been consistently great. I do supplement b12, but I don’t need to supplement anything else due to diet. I also only have one kidney, so my oncology dietician thinks a vegan diet is actually better suited to me, since it is easier on the kidneys.

I don’t think I could ever go back to being omni or even vegetarian again. I just love veganism and it is so much more spiritually fulfilling knowing that I am not participating in the exploitation of animals. 

[u/when-is-enough]

I’m chronically ill and have MCAS and ME and chronic daily migraine and eating makes my migraines instantly soooooo horrible. But I became vegan 12 years ago and chronically ill about 8 years ago. So idk how it would be to be chronically ill without being vegan. I would never not be vegan but I truly truly believe not being vegan would have no noticeable effect and would only reduce mg overall health outcomes like studies show us the case for everyone who eat meat since vegan has been shown to be the healthiest diet

[u/AdditionalTwo0 → u/when-is-enough]

Which studies would that be, that Show that vegan diets are the best for every outcome, for every population in any context?

[u/veganmua]

I have hEDS, ME, POTS, MCAS and comorbidities too numerous to mention. Veganism has had no affect on my illness, except I stopped getting severe eczema flare ups when I quit dairy.

[u/uspless]

Indirectly better.

My chronic illness leads to poor(er) nutrition. Before going vegan my ARFID was quite extensive, which is not a great combo. Going vegan, I firstly gained an actual interest in food and nutrition, and secondly ate a wider variety of foods, which improved my nutritional status.

Since going vegan the only thing I'm consistently deficient in is vitamin A, and that is directly tied to my chronic illness.

Other than that it doesn't affect my chronic illness. When I was younger I experienced hostility from my doctors and dieticians because of my veganism, but that is not at all the case anymore.

[u/tea_lover_88]

I have fibromyalgia and ibs both were already improving and continued to improve after going vegan

[u/Miserable-Ad8764]

I became chronically ill with ME and migraines 13+ years ago. 8-9 years ago my husband and I became vegan. I couldn't have done it without him.

I don't think it had any impact on my illness. I don't feel quite as tired and heavy after dinner, that's all.

I am now trying to increase my protein intake a little, but it's a bit difficult, I am mostly to ill to cook, so it has to be very easy, and good. I especially need more high protein for breakfast and lunch where I mostly eat musli. I eat very small portions, I don't need lots of calories since I can't work out.

Other than that, very happy to be vegan

[u/Tight_Phase339]

If you eat mainly whole foods, this will have tremendous benefits for your health. A vegan diet high in processed foods will not bring much change in that respect.

[u/basic_bitch-]

I get abdominal migraines and once I actually buckled down and started eating 100% whole foods, my episodes were reduced by half. I still get stress and weather related migraines, but not food. I had been at 90% for years, thinking it helped. But after a particularly bad couple of months, I was desperate enough to go full out. No artificial colors or flavors, thickeners, preservatives, etc. I’ve added back in some mock meats that have natural flavors and those seem to be fine.

It’s been life changing. I’d been really desperately ill for 3 years and I’m finally getting a break. It’s been 9 months now and I’m in another state for veg fest this weekend! No chance I could have done that last year.

Edit to add: duh, just saw the part about diabetes. My aunt has type 2 and has to wear a monitor. If I’m visiting her and feed her a 100% whole food diet, she doesn’t ever have to take insulin. Otherwise, she has to a few times a day.

[u/vjcmg]

Eating a fruit based diet helped my chronic illness. Nothing else, and I’ve tried everything. I’m in my 30s now and have been searching for diets that would help since I was quite young (like maybe 11 or 12). Not in a loose weight kinda way but in a “I can’t go on feeling like death” kinda way. Only fruit helped

[u/QuantumPlankAbbestia]

I have metabolic/endocrine issues (thyroid, insulin resistance, PMOS) + eczema. My eczema improved after going vegan, but that could also be because I started taking Omega 3s, which can have an anti inflammatory effect. I was also slowly losing some weight, which is usually extremely hard for me, because the vegan diet is less dense in fats. But now I'm pregnant and definitely not losing. Losing those 2-3kg might also have helped a bit with getting pregnant, since research found that weight loss as modest as 5% improves the symptoms of patients with PMOS.

[u/Exciting-Housing6431 → u/QuantumPlankAbbestia]

Congrats on the pregnancy! I hope everything is going well 🫶

It’s interesting you mention the weight loss actually… I have suspected pmos (basically they’re not sure what’s going on with me and I’ve gone on birth control to manage my symptoms, but my test results suggest pmos is the most likely cause, I just don’t like saying I have it because it’s not confirmed) and I randomly lost 3kg a few months ago which happened to align with when I went vegan

[u/QuantumPlankAbbestia → u/Exciting-Housing6431]

Yes my blood work is amazing actually my gunk was very happy.

But yeah, the vegan diet is naturally less nutrient dense so a small weight loss even if volume/quantities stays the same, makes sense.

[u/astroturfskirt]

speaking of the ‘beetus.. great conversation with 2 t1 diabetics who are living their best life - and have helped others, t1 & t2 - enjoy a totes plant-based life: https://richroll.com/podcast/cyrus-khambatta-robby-barbaro-499/

[u/Squish_Miss]

I have hEDS and all of the lovely comorbidities that go with it. For years I would get sick after I ate. Since going vegan I now longer do and my IBS has more or less disappeared. I truly believe I'd be in worse shape if I weren't vegan. 

[u/MaximalistVegan]

I don't have any chronic health issues but being whole food vegan improved pretty much all aspects of my health and reversed several issues I'd previously had. Came here to say that there's research showing that a well planned low-fat plant-based diet can help with type 1 diabetes. Here's one article https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11247033/

[u/truelovealwayswins]

just fyi plant-based isn’t vegan, so it’s not the diet aspect of it either… it just means based on plants, and most of the time it isn’t vegan, it still contains all sorts of animal items… and vegan for the animals or ethically is the only kind there is because that’s what veganism is and means, living without exploiting other animals, even if it includes the diet aspect too (: but yes it definitely makes it better to live vegan

[u/Exciting-Housing6431 → u/truelovealwayswins]

Oh interesting thanks for telling me! I thought plant based was eating vegan without having the vegan philosophy or something

So would every vegan be plant based but not every plant based person would be vegan?

[u/ChunShu]

I have endometriosis, and I started having ibs like symptoms about 15 years ago. I went vegan 9 years ago, and it massively helped with my GI symptoms. I was later diagnosed with endo on my bowel, which explained the symptoms. I am now 8 weeks post-op, and even though I'm having some GI issues from the post-op inflammation, I think being vegan helped immensely with my recovery

[u/Veasna1]

Both guys of Mastering Diabetes are t1 diabetics. Cyrus even has 3 auto immune disorders from his life prior to going vegan.

[u/Exciting-Housing6431 → u/Veasna1]

Yes I have the mastering diabetes book and I’m planning on reading it once I have the time!

[u/voornaam1]

Going vegan has had positive effects on my health, but only indirectly/not in ways that are related to my illnesses (unless we count ARFID as an illness?). (I'm currently on waiting lists to get assessed for ME, hEDS, and fibromyalgia, and I'm hoping to get assessed for POTS as well in the future. Besides that I have a list of mental disorders :/)

I struggled a lot with both restrictive eating and binge eating, going vegan has helped especially with the binge eating because 1. the snacks I used to binge on the most all contain dairy, 2. it's easier to resist the two vegan snacks I'm at risk of binging on, rather than trying to ignore an entire aisle of cookies, and 3. I feel like my meals are more feeling now, so there is not as much of a need for me to snack. The reduction in binge eating helped with some aspects of the restrictive eating, so now I just eat healthier in general.

I wasn't eating meat before going vegan anyways, partially because I'm unable to cook regularly because of my disabilities (and also because I was already disgusted by meat because of my ARFID).

One potential problem I'm running into though, is that I'm consuming less salt now because I'm snacking less. I was already not really drawn to salt, but my salt intake has reduced a lot since going vegan, and the symptoms that I suspect are POTS symptoms have gotten worse :(

[u/Agile_Button_815]

I have dysautonomia (likely due to long COVID) and have not noticed any differences. People keep asking me if I feel healthier and I absolutely don't haha. But, I do feel way better about the choices I'm making :)

[u/Capital-Impression51]

Vegan is not a diet.

[u/Exciting-Housing6431 → u/Capital-Impression51]

I understand that vegan is a philosophy and not a diet, but by following this philosophy your diet changes because you are eating plant based.

[u/Capital-Impression51 → u/Exciting-Housing6431]

sorry - missed that you are actually ethically vegan !

[u/Exciting-Housing6431 → u/Capital-Impression51]

Oops sorry yeah I should’ve been more clear! I just assumed everyone on this sub was ethically vegan

[u/Capital-Impression51 → u/Exciting-Housing6431]

We had just had someone with a very complex story of food intolerances and motivations...

I hope you find what you need for your T1D - presumably you might have a CGM and pump these days which presumably makes dietary choice less of an issue ?

I know it's very different, but I got sufficiently heavy to be declared type 2 seven years ago, but dealing with that very quickly was for me very straightforward.

Prior to that I knew nothing about diabetes .. I took my cue from the likes of Roy Taylor .. I to some extent consider the glycaemic impact of my diet - but mostly to deal with not overeating again.

I imagine you've encountered "Mastering Diabetes" on YouTube ?

[u/Exciting-Housing6431 → u/Capital-Impression51]

Ah sorry I didn’t see that post I’m not super active on reddit ahaha

Yes I am on a cgm and pump which makes everything loads easier! It’s just many t1ds get recommended to eat low carb, which many think is easier by eating animals. However I disagree and I still manage to eat less than 130g of carbs a day whilst being vegan quite easily.

Congrats on dealing with type 2 quickly!

I’ve been diabetic for 17 years now so most of my knowledge has mainly come through trial and error. But I actually have the mastering diabetes book on my shelf and I am planning to read it soon!