By Neva Davis at Neva Vegan – The first time I considered becoming vegan my doctor talked me out of it. I was a young vegetarian and at constant war with my mother over it. I was not getting enough calories in general since my mother “wouldn’t prepare any special meals” and sabotaged things like vegetables and rice and potatoes by adding broth or bacon. I was considering transitioning into veganism, without a real understanding of what that meant.



My mother marched me off to the doctor so he would tell me I couldn’t be vegetarian. Instead he told me it was perfectly healthy to be vegetarian, but because of my special health considerations I would have to eat an egg and some dairy every single day. I completely believed him.

I’m actually allergic to milk and eggs, but because my allergy isn’t life-threatening (just itchy and annoying) he encouraged me to consume them anyway, but that’s another story for another time. I’ve been vegan now for more than 13 years and it hasn’t killed me yet!

A lot of times my vegetarian friends will tell me that their doctors have told them they can’t be vegan. Some have even quit being vegetarian because their doctors have told them that their specific health conditions require them to eat meat.

I think I’ve heard them all at this point. “The doctor says people with rheumatoid arthritis need red meat every day.” “My doctor said it isn’t safe for women with fibroids to be vegetarian.” “Because I have lupus all the experts agree I can never be vegan.” And so on. I’m waiting for “The doctor said that because I have big feet I need to eat eggs.”

I don’t mean to make light of chronic health conditions. Obviously that’s a lot to deal with, and I can’t blame people for being frightened and depending on the advice of experts. The problem is that even if those doctors are experts on arthritis or auto-immune disorders, most aren’t experts on nutrition. They might not even understand veganism. They might picture you subsisting on a diet of white rice and iceberg lettuce. There are actually ways to get the nutrients you need on a vegan diet, the trick is figuring out what you need, and what foods work best for you.

In my case I was born with a minor heart defect that at times during my life has appeared to doctors to be better or to be worse. At one point they felt it was quite severe. Most experts agree that my type of heart defect, mitral valve prolapse, can cause changes in the nervous system as the body attempts to deal with the less efficient workings of the heart. This creates a kind of syndrome. For me I have a tendency to develop anemia, I have fatigue, and some other weird symptoms. My doctor felt that I would not get the iron or other nutrients I needed on a vegan diet and this might worsen the heart problems. Worsening the heart problems could lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Better not take any chances, he told me.

I admit that when I finally did throw caution to the wind and become vegan, I was not the most careful vegan. I didn’t really take my vitamins, I ate the same foods day after day. The truth was that I was sick of listening to doctors. I was sick of heart sonograms and various restrictions. I was sick of doctors making that “oooh” noise when they listened to the clicking sound my heart made, but never offering me any real guidance of how to live with it. When I began having chest pains in junior high school during gym class the doctor diagnosed a worsening of my prolapse and a note was sent to school that I shouldn’t run, since putting too much pressure on my heart might have disastrous results. I hated feeling singled out in that way as much as I hated the chest pains. As a new vegan I went running whenever I felt like it. I loved to run. I loved my vegan food. I felt ok because I didn’t suddenly get worse as a vegan. But I also wanted to do what was right for the animals no matter what. I wish someone had been able to reassure me then, during that uncertain time.

But there was another reason I decided to just go ahead and become vegan and just go ahead and run. Both of my cousins who I’d grown up with (I have another much younger cousin, different story) died as a result of their minor heart defects. They didn’t run. They weren’t vegetarian, much less vegan. They’d gone to the doctor. Then one day Patti fell over dead. A couple years later, at a convention for her work, right in the lobby of a fancy hotel, Chrissy fell onto the floor and was dead before anyone could even dial 911. This is what I’d always been warned about, sudden heart failure. Now, seeing both of my cousins felled by it, I couldn’t help but think it was somehow unavoidable. Why not just live my conscience and celebrate the time I had? So I did.

Every now and then over the next few years a little nagging voice would pop up in my head and remind me that it’s foolish to disregard doctors’ advice. So I didn’t go to the doctor. Nah nah, nah nah, I can’t hear you!

Fast forward many years later. I started having some health issues, related actually to years of ignoring my asthma, so off I went to the doctor. After going through everything else and getting a new inhaler, I asked about the heart thing. The doctor observed that she couldn’t even hear it (my murmur used to be so audible that doctors got panicky, hence the sonograms), my heart seemed to be doing fine. At every check since then they’ve sort of marveled “I can barely hear it now.” I know that just not hearing the little click doesn’t mean it’s gone, but I do know the doctors worry more when it’s more pronounced.

I’m now older than either one of my cousins were when they died.

I try to take my iron now. I try to eat sensibly and eat enough (ok, I like some foods that really aren’t sensible and I eat a little too much). I try to exercise and take care of myself. I know that this thing might come back and cause me problems some day, but I find a certain comfort in knowing all those dire predictions didn’t come true for me and they probably won’t come true for others.

So how do we know what we should be eating if our doctors don’t know?

Some general guidelines I use, though mileage might vary are: