Can I heal on a vegan diet?

[pinkjess]

I've been suffering Lupus-like symptoms for six months with no avail. Doctor couldn't find what was wrong since my ANA (anti-nuclear antibody) blood test came back negative, which put me out of the woods to be diagnosed with Lupus.

I looked to diet and got rid of gluten, processed food, meat, and dairy. I eat fish on occasion and lots of green smoothies. My question is, can I heal with God's help through diet? What can I do to speed up the process?

My worst symptom is fatigue. It can get so bad that I feel lightheaded and it scares me. I wonder if I am anemic. I started taking iron a few days ago. I also take lots of supplements since going vegan (Vit D, b12, etc.) so all of that is taken care of.

But, as great as I began to feel when I first started this diet, I seem to have come to a standstill. My fatigue is still there (feels kinda worse) and I just don't feel like my body is healing anymore. It's stalled. I am wondering if I should go paleo and add meat back to my diet, but I just don't know.

Any advice?

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

I think a good place to start is to get a vitamin panel done, make sure you don't have any deficiencies, and keep working with your doctor.

A plant based diet can be very healthy, can provide lots of energy, and had been shown to help prevent some diseases, but I don't know if there's much evidence that it by itself is s cure.

Avoiding gluten is critical if one has Celiac disease, but I'm not convinced there's good evidence that it benefits anyone who is not suffering from that disease to go gluten-free.

Veganism is a great way to live, I've been one for many, many years, and enjoy pretty good health, although that's not the reason I'm vegan. But I know in the age of the Internet there is a lot of stuff out there about diet and nutrition that doesn't hold up to the rigors of peer review.

My advice is to keep working with your doctor, get your vitamin levels tested to see what, if any deficiencies you might have, and consider how physical activity could fit in.

I think it's great to continue to explore veganism, but I recommend that you don't set yourself up for difficulties by not only giving up meat and dairy, but then further restricting your diet by cutting out other foods on top of that.