Keto recruitment of a curious vegetarian friend

(Joe) #1

So we had a friend from out of town in this weekend. She has been vegetarian for years and I myself was vegan for almost three years which made vacations and visits very easy. I’m not sure how much my wife had shared with her about my new WOE but within the first 20 minutes she asking my opinions on corn syrup and sugar. She was quite impressed with my weight loss. We had nice conversation and I was careful not to mention “keto” and let her ask the questions. I did share some historical insights on fat and dietary politics.

Long story short I showed her my.copy of Big Fat Suprise and after she leaves she texts me to let me know that ill get my book back July 1st. I didn’t intend to loan it out but that’s how she took it :smile:.

She was never argumentative or confrontational when the meat subject came up and I feel like if set my line and may catch a small mouth vegetarian! I’m curious to see how this turns out!

Anyone have unlikely events of keto evangelism?!

#2

I get a lot of people impressed by my weight loss and ask me how I did it. Then they typically say “I should try that out” …and then the next day I see them drinking Mountain Dew and eating French Fries. Lol

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #3

Lol… the same with people who join keto facebook groups, say I am starting tomorrow this lifestyle sounds great, can I eat pies?

research research research! can’t say it enough…

#4

Non Keto Low carb is the gateway drug

(Lorraine) #5

I had the opposite problem. My ex was the biggest meat eater and loved the Atkins diet. He was always harping about sugar and I nicknamed him the “Sugar Nazi”. Anyway, a few months into my new Keto WOE, he started asking questions, so I shared what I was doing. He went home to check it out and fully intended to do it, as well.

I don’t know what he found on the internet, but now he is all about a plant based diet. Huh? No dairy and fish or seafood is the only meat he will eat. So, now we are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Whenever he starts talking about animal fats being bad, I have to stop him and tell him we will have to agree to disagree.

Recently, he was at the house when our pizza came and he started in on the dairy and animal fat. I told him that his information was not accurate and he should do a little more research. He came back with, 'Eating all that fat is going to make you fat." I laughed and said, “I just lost 70 lbs eating all this fat.” And proceeded to take a big bit of the pizza topping that I had just removed from the crust!

(Joe) #6

Yeh food is a little like religion. Keto makes it hard for me because I want to sing it from the high heavens but alot of the time you can count on turning people off that way. I try to lead quietly by example.

#7

Keto and Plant-based seem to be on opposite sides of the spectrum; however, they both avoid highly processed carbs and sugars. I often wonder if this is source of the majority of benefits from either regimen.

(Kaiden) #8

There is a song by Infected Mushroom called “Converting Vegetarians.”

(Troy Anthony) #9

I couldn’t agree more! I always bring this up when I come across diet arguments. Anyone getting rid of processed carbs is going to get a huge benefit, then we could argue passionately about the 20 percent difference or whatever it might be.

#10

Right? Also, eating Keto has forced me to give up gluten. I’ve never considered gluten to be a problem, but I now wonder if its absence is part of the benefit.

(Joe) #11

When I was first vegan I was raw vegan with little to no bread and sugar lost 50 pounds put on 20+ back as I couldn’t maintain only fruit and veg. Keto is more sustainable for me and I think it has greater chronic disease prevebtion.

#12

@JoeG3383 - agreeing with you about the religious aspect; however, in my experience, Ketonians seem to be curious, interested in science, cheerful, optimistic about the future, and magnanimous in sharing with others.

Whereas, vegans seem to be an angry, scolding, hectoring, finger-wagging, preachy, moralistic bunch 'o twits that infest our produce departments in their dry skin and frizzy hair.

This LA Times Article perfectly describes the archetype.

(karen) #13

Snort. That’s not nice! :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

I think the big difference is that many (most?) vegans have strong emotional views about eating animals. Whether you try to break it down into environmental, political or health arguments, emotions trump any logic or science you can bring in. Ketoans, otoh, have already dealt with their emotional bias. We’ve been bombarded with emotional cues regarding fat for our whole lives and we’ve had to work through that and give ourselves permission to eat based on what we observe rather than what we have been taught to feel. IMO, people who have to protect their beliefs against logic tend to be pretty defensive.

(Joe) #14

And there are probably some of us who behave the same way. I’ve been in this debate on these boards before and have and will defend vegans to the point that they are making a different argument. We come from a scientific standpoint and they come from a moral.standpoint for the most part. I’ve conceded most will hold firmly to those Being faced with the science anyhow

the point of my post wasn’t to stir up the vegan v keto debate but to speculate what conclusions a highly intelligent and level head vegetarian friend of mine will come to after reading about my WOE.

#15

My formerly mostly-vegan friend is about to start keto. She probably won’t do meat or eggs, but she has always made an exception for sushi and she’ll probably include seafood and a little dairy. I’m not a vegetarian but I’m not as heavy into meat this time around (I did keto for a couple of months last year and didn’t sustain it), and it’s just working better for me, I don’t feel the least bit deprived of anything. So I’m hopeful it won’t be too hard for her either. When I think about it, even though we feel like variety is super important to our quality of life, I think most of us probably have 4-6 go-to dishes that we just enjoy most and probably comprise the vast majority of our meals.

#16

My post mainly in jest. I love vegans, bless their pointy little heads.

(karen) #17

I think it’s important to remember that a purely vegan diet needs supplementation (primarily B12), but beyond that, it’s possible to hit low protein keto macros using a vegan diet. Coconut, avocado and olive oil can make up your fats, and there is incidental protein in vegetables, even the ones with very few carbs. Add in a few nuts or seeds and you’re pretty well on track for low-protein keto. If she’s looking for a higher protein diet that becomes difficult without animals, because the higher protein plants are also high in carbs. But a little seafood or dairy would probably take care of that just fine. - and I find that if anything, the more ‘restrictive’ my diet gets the more creative I get with using the ingredients I love to make all kinds of new things.

(Joe) #18

Just had a two hour conversation with a buddy also vegetarian… Failed. Couldn’t give me any reason not to do other than it wouldn’t fit his lifestyle and just seemed wrong. Smart guy And good conversation. Just couldn’t get past the meat thing.

#19

Initially, I thought keto would be hard for a vegetarian because I started my version of “keto” by eating a ton of meat. Then I reevaluated whether I really wanted to eat that much protein, and now that I stick to high fat, moderate protein, and low carb, I find that I RARELY eat meat. I eat a ton of cheese though (so I think it would be hard for vegans–just my opinion). Cheese and nuts are staples. So I don’t think keto would be hard for a vegetarian at all.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #20

I am not vegetarian but was for a couple of years back in the late 90’s. I have never tried to be vegan. I lost weight and got pretty healthy and fit. In fact I was doing pretty well. I was going to rave parties and doing psychedelics and dancing all night long weekly.

After I went back to the SAD all my problems started. Cancer, severe atherosclerosis and amputation of my leg, and starting 10 years of dialysis after the kidney cancer.

Anyway not looking back, I am healthy again with a new kidney for the last year, healing my metabolism with the keto lifestyle and I am approaching my vegetarian weight from 20 years ago.

I believe that it is possible to be very healthy and muscular on a vegan diet. But 99% of vegans don’t do it right. The mass availability of “vegan junk food” produced by corporations looking to cash in on another dietary lifestyle pretty much ruined people’s chance of doing vegan diets correctly without really keeping control of their foods. Getting food ready to eat in a package is giving up control of your diet when you trust a corporate entity with your diet. This has me a little worried about what could happen on a mass scale if keto gets more popular. We are already seeing “keto convenience foods” starting to pop up in stores. I do not trust premanufactured food. For me keto is about real food, no snack bars, fake keto aids like ketones in a jar and such. I want to keep control of what I put in my body rather than trust corporate commercially produced foods that bastardize the keto WOE.

Being vegan takes diligence and paying attention to what you’re eating much like keto. There are lots of Olympic athletes, high endurance athletes, professional football players and body builders who adhere to a vegan diet.

It’s not for me but generalizing stereotypes about people is kind of ignorant. And we’re all subject as ketogenic eaters to ignorance about our WOE. Our diet is a personal choice. For me eating keto is a simple effective lifestyle. But lifestyle is a choice we all have the freedom to make. Keep the golden rule in your heart and don’t be so quick to judge others personal choices. Some vegans have a bad habit of criticizing anyone who doesn’t eat their way, we shouldn’t use it as an excuse to drop to their level.

Let’s face it, eating is important and most people are pretty passionate about their personal choices, often to the point of evangelizing about it. We do it too, but I am backing down on this and finding it more effective to influence others by example. In my 5 months eating keto I have brought 4-5 different people to keto by my example of what it’s doing for me. As the saying goes, “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar”. Eating keto is not for everyone. I give the same respect to others that I would like given to me. KCKO :cowboy_hat_face: