At the risk of sounding like a lunatic (too late for that, I fear), I would
say that your friend probably has a "light" metabolism.  So, even though
people with a damaged gut are often sensitive to grains, he may have been
unsuited to his former heavy meat-based diet.  In response to Don's reply, I
think that if someone can be a vegetarian for a few years before developing
an obvious deficiency, his diet might not be all that far from the mark; he
just needs to add a modest amount of animal products.  I'm severely unsuited
to vegetarianism, and was obviously suffering after just a few months (I
would have noticed problems much sooner, if my health and diet before
vegetarianism had been better).

Cheers,
-- Aaron Wieland

>He is now completly vegetarian and says he's never been healthier [...]
>I realize that this story flies in the face of most everything that has
>been posted on this list. Maybe someone out there can explain the anomaly.