Hi, I'm pretty sure you've all read a very similar post to this one a million times, but I'll take you through it once again and hopefully some kind hearted soul(s) will point me in the right direction.
So my name is Gary, I am 52 and I live in Scotland. Currently a meat eater but over the last 5 or 6 years I'd say I'm becoming more and more aware of foods that my body just will not tolerate anymore. Chocolate has gone as well as cheese, anything spicy, just about anything fried and my list of meats that I can eat is down to pretty much chicken, turkey and fish.
Recently after one of my IBS "bad weeks" I spent around 10 days eating vast amounts of vegetables, not a lot of meat and nothing fried (or anything which uses oil to cook it) I had one of my best spells where I had no gut problems at all. During this time the only thing I drank was water. I went back to my "normal" diet as I felt what I was eating wasn't giving me the proper balance of nutrients as I had no idea what a balanced vegetarian/vegan diet looks like. Sure as fate though the gut problems returned.
Recently I've watched a couple of documentaries on plant based diets versus meat diets (The Game Changers, Forks over Knives) and an awful lot of the health issues discussed (mainly in Forks over Knives) I already see in myself.
The statistics given in these documentaries Re: Land given over for animals raised to be slaughtered, the pollution created from these industries and the health costs of treating conditions brought on by the Western diet are shocking enough, but if I'm totally honest with you all my interest in moving away from a meat based diet lies mainly in my own personal health concerns, (apologies to all if that sounds incredibly selfish).
So my situation is this; I would like to move to an entirely vegan diet. I would rather not eat "substitute" products (processed fake meats) but I can't just go on eating a plate of vegetables. I need to learn to make meals and a properly structured eating pattern. I also do alot of running and fitness stuff so my new diet would need to keep me going through that.
I suppose this whole post could have been shortened to "Help, where do I start?" but I'm Scottish, we like to talk ! So any help or pointers would be very much appreciated. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this post and to anyone who is kind enough to reply.
So my name is Gary, I am 52 and I live in Scotland. Currently a meat eater but over the last 5 or 6 years I'd say I'm becoming more and more aware of foods that my body just will not tolerate anymore. Chocolate has gone as well as cheese, anything spicy, just about anything fried and my list of meats that I can eat is down to pretty much chicken, turkey and fish.
Recently after one of my IBS "bad weeks" I spent around 10 days eating vast amounts of vegetables, not a lot of meat and nothing fried (or anything which uses oil to cook it) I had one of my best spells where I had no gut problems at all. During this time the only thing I drank was water. I went back to my "normal" diet as I felt what I was eating wasn't giving me the proper balance of nutrients as I had no idea what a balanced vegetarian/vegan diet looks like. Sure as fate though the gut problems returned.
Recently I've watched a couple of documentaries on plant based diets versus meat diets (The Game Changers, Forks over Knives) and an awful lot of the health issues discussed (mainly in Forks over Knives) I already see in myself.
The statistics given in these documentaries Re: Land given over for animals raised to be slaughtered, the pollution created from these industries and the health costs of treating conditions brought on by the Western diet are shocking enough, but if I'm totally honest with you all my interest in moving away from a meat based diet lies mainly in my own personal health concerns, (apologies to all if that sounds incredibly selfish).
So my situation is this; I would like to move to an entirely vegan diet. I would rather not eat "substitute" products (processed fake meats) but I can't just go on eating a plate of vegetables. I need to learn to make meals and a properly structured eating pattern. I also do alot of running and fitness stuff so my new diet would need to keep me going through that.
I suppose this whole post could have been shortened to "Help, where do I start?" but I'm Scottish, we like to talk ! So any help or pointers would be very much appreciated. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this post and to anyone who is kind enough to reply.