Ask HN: What are your experiences switching to a plant-based diet?

No worries, in retrospect it was an incorrect assumption on my part. That said, glad to hear your life wasn't completely destroyed! Definitely sounds like it wasn't pleasant.

For what it's worth, I've a similar story with respect to recently identifying casein in my diet as potentially problematic. My whole life I've simply ate moderate amounts of cheese sans any milk, until earlier this year I started consuming milk on a regular basis. Eventually consumption would result in an immediate mucosal reaction, which was usually followed by terrible effects on cognition and mood. It may explain why I was pretty much in the worst mental health state I've ever been in at the time.

Discontinued all milk/cheese a couple months ago, and now I've no more crippling panic attacks, with dramatically less hypomanic periods. Unfortunately there's multiple factors and dimensions at play, so I can't categorically say that was it, but it almost certainly played a considerable role.

It's really crazy the effect diet can have in some situations. Things you think nothing of can ruin you.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1399-5618....

Vegan for 2+ years here, went from daily meat eater to entirely plant-based overnight because I can't do slow transitions lol. I used to have some digestive issues that the plant-based diet did wonders for, heartburn and nausea used to be daily occurences and are pretty much completely gone now - likely due to cutting out dairy which appears to be the biggest offender for issues like these. It's been easier to keep a stable weight which is probably because eating plant-based kinda forces you to cut out a lot of junk and convenience food since they're not that widely available yet. On the other hand there are a lot of meat and milk/cheese replacements available nowadays that should make the transition a lot easier.

Expect some gastrointestinal discomfort in the beginning, especially if you consumed a lot of meat and dairy before. From what I understand your gut flora needs time to adjust to the new diet, and your body likely isn't used to the amount of fiber and plant-based proteins which can cause some bloating and other issues for the first couple weeks, but this subsides and goes back to normal if you keep at it. I second the suggestion of checking out local cuisines from cultures with a vegetarian history, I've found that especially Asian cuisine offers a lot of variety and flexibility.

As for the effects beyond diet itself, I went through a hardcore activism phase when I just made the switch (and pissed off everyone around me :D) - but I've found that no matter if you do it for ethical, environmental, or health reasons, people usually don't really want to hear about it anyway. Let others open up the conversation, and direct them towards further resources (like Netflix documentaries) if they show interest. Vegetarian and vegan jokes get pretty boring pretty quick, nowadays I don't even register them anymore lol.

Bottom line, and back to diet, don't be afraid to try new foods and dishes, and make it your goal to find out what works for you - some swear on whole-foods plant-based (check out Dr. Greger for some good resources on this) while others are fine with a "junk food vegan" diet. It would be a good idea to get your blood levels checked (as with any other dietary change), you might need to take some extra precautions for B12 (at least) and possibly Vitamin D and iron but supplements are cheap and easily available so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle. Take as much time as you need, you're already taking the right steps towards better health and a more sustainable diet.

Easier? It was effortlessly easy. I guess I thought I'd miss meat, but never have, not once. Just a habit I guess, like a lot of things.

Well, I went vegan not for dietary reasons, but because it dawned on me that treating animals as if their lives have no value except to serve humans, as if their suffering doesn't matter, is irrational, cruel and wrong. That was 25+ years ago, have had no health or other problems. Have never really worried about my diet at all – a balanced diet and all that, I mean, I just eat what I feel like. I only think about it when talking about it like this. Good luck!

p.s. Some other commenters mentioned B12, I read about that in the beginning as one thing you don't get in a vegan diet, but as it's added as a standard supplement to soy (and other) milks these days, I haven't had to worry about it.

Before you make any life altering decisions and stick to them dogmatically to your potential detriment it's best to investigate extraordinary claims. Especially when it's in a compelling narrative like a movie.

https://elementnutri.com/myth-busting/the-game-changers-debu...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq4Apc2Xk7Q

IMHO: Vegetarian is well established (millennia old cultures have been veg for 100+ generations) and good to go. Eating eggs, milk products, honey and fish is, all things considered, just fine and dandy.

On top of that if we all just stopped eating beef the world would be a lot better place.