On Sat, 27 May 2000 17:37:01 EDT, Gawen Harrison <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I can only speak from my own experience. I was a vegetarian true believer.
>I was vegan for 16 years (I ate dairy a few times a year.)  When I first
>became vegan I felt great (That lasted about 6 years).  I was hungry a lot
>of the time but my will power was pretty good.
>...

>I bought a can of unsalted salmon and decided to see how it felt to eat it.
>I can't describe the bliss my body felt when I sucked it down. ......
> it had been about 18 years since I ate beef.  When I ate the beef I
>again experienced that body bliss.

That's an impressive story, Gawen. I think you're not alone, here are quite
*some* ex veg*ans.
I think it's right to follow your instincts and feelings , anyway.
Personally I don't have anything veg*an to believe in.
Adding to one's karma may be such but deciding are my own feelings.
But I also had to recover from the widespread assumption that veg*an
was healthy in any way. It's not that easy.

>..  I could eat a pound of pasta, feel
>stuffed and sick, and still be hungry.
>When I weighed about 280 lbs (I am 6.1) I decided something had to change.

That really looks pretty much as you were desperately missing something.
What may it have been?
Most think of protein (esp. when vegan).
If you leave out sweets, white meal and oils(! i discovered) then its
numerically very hard to run low in protein.
I made my list to encourage this girl (lupus recovered).
She shouldn't be threatened by a "painted" danger especially after her
paleo-plant way worked.

For you (or most vegetarians) there are a couple of "sins" and mistakes
which i hope to find and outline in a while.

Missing vitamins (b1 and pasta?) essential fats, fats anyway,
vitamin b12? Or some antinutrient discarding the otherwise vitamin
or mineral intake. Riboflavin?
Anything missing will increase your appetite on anything that has it.
This will anjust the set point, when you're satisfied.
If you gained weight, then there *was* something missing.

Or opposite: if nothing is missing in you food you woun't gain weight.
Because your *energy* need will determine your food intake, and not other.

>One last point: When I was vegetarian I got bad bronchitis a couple times a
>year.  I have not even had a cold for the past 2 years since I started
>eating meat and fish.

Presently I *have* a cold :-( but its the first one in about one year
(maybe i shouldn't ride so much in my open car in cool weather).
Exactely my 15 y.o. veg. way had the effect you describe - few colds.
More paleo-plant-like (as i described) decreased some slight allergic
symptoms.

Still it's not so clear:
> What is a primate diet anyway?
> What could you eat with a sharp stick?

regards

Amadeus S