I decided to try a high-carb low fat vegan diet for my persistent acne, after seeing a video by Nina and Randa on YouTube where they claimed they got rid of their bad acne by eating in such a way. I tried it out, and I discuss my experiences in video form here.
So to be clear on what I was eating, my diet consisted of fruit, vegetables, starches, grains, beans and legumes. I didn’t eat processed vegan foods, and I made sure to take my vitamin B12. Before I get into my experience, I also want to make it clear that I do not think eating this way is always unhealthy for everyone, I’m just sharing my experience, and Veganism is something I may go back to in the future.
At first, I really enjoyed eating in this way. I had more energy, my endurance increased, and I lost weight. After a few weeks however, I developed GERD (Gastrointestinal Reflux Disease), which is essentially frequent, bad heartburn after eating. This was particularly bad after my morning oatmeal. I thought my body would adjust, and so I stuck with it.
After about 4 months, my acne was the worst it had ever been, my GERD was unbearable, digestion was a nightmare and accompanied bad gas and bloating, I had absolutely no labido, and in fact… well you can guess. My sex life suffered as a result, and I felt very angry and aggressive much of the time. Given these issues, and in an effort to fix my terrible digestion, I cut out all gluten containing grains and my beloved oatmeal, and started eating a handful of walnuts every day because eating zero fat is absurd (Sorry McDougall). I felt better, my digestion improved, and my skin started to look much better. I thought I had solved it!
Unfortunately, I hadn’t. I began noticing that I was tired after eating, and I could not be satisfied very easily. I also developed IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) which I wrote a post about on this site. I let the IBS do its thing for a couple of months because I thought it would get better with time and with the aid of healthy probiotics. It fluctuated, and sometimes was not as severe, but it didn’t go away. One day at work after coming from the bathroom for the 3rd time, I decided enough was enough, and changed my diet completely. My IBS is totally gone now, and the video on that is available here (I won’t go into detail now).
Ultimately, a high carb vegan diet completely failed me. Maybe it would be better now as I feel that I have healed many of my gut problems. I wanted to share my experience because I don’t see a lot of people talking about how veganism failed them, it’s usually the opposite. I also wanted to show people that you’re not the only one who may be struggling on this type of diet. I hope this is helpful, and as always, best.
BM.
Matson Speaks 