Hi, gang,

Three months ago, under medical advice, I adopted a vegan diet (no animal
products, though I have not yet totally weaned myself off of honey but will
probably be off it, too, in a month or so) to aid the healing of my heart.
In the process, I found out that the diet also reduced my esophageal reflux
symptoms by 75%.

Yesterday, I discovered this newsgroup.

I am a bit confused about some concerns I see in this newsgroup. First, I
see where there is concern about vitamins being vegan. In looking at the
list of ingredients, I see no way of telling the source of the vitamins and
minerals. Besides, vitamin C, for instance, should be precisely the same
chemical whether it comes from a bush, from a goat or from a test tube.

Second, I see concern about sunscreen being vegan. Sunscreen in something
very important to me, having already had over 100 skin cancers (of all
kinds known to medical science). In looking over the list of ingredients
in my sunscreen, all I see are things whose names make it sound like they
are made in test tubes and not in either animals or plants. Besides, who
eats sun screen, anyway? Yuk, now that is a nasty thought. Additionally,
as many skin cancers as I have had, there is no way in the world I would
drive myself crazy to find "vegan" sunscreen (whatever that is) for the one
bottle of sunscreen I buy a year for protection for the very few times I
actually find it absolutely essential to venture out into the sun.


--
Andy Rugg
The Cheerful Pickle
to email me please remove "postheap" from my email address. Thanks.

Cheerful Pickle wrote:

> Hi, gang,
>
> Three months ago, under medical advice, I adopted a vegan diet (no animal
> products, though I have not yet totally weaned myself off of honey but will
> probably be off it, too, in a month or so) to aid the healing of my heart.
> In the process, I found out that the diet also reduced my esophageal reflux
> symptoms by 75%.
>
> Yesterday, I discovered this newsgroup.
>
> I am a bit confused about some concerns I see in this newsgroup. First, I
> see where there is concern about vitamins being vegan. In looking at the
> list of ingredients, I see no way of telling the source of the vitamins and
> minerals. Besides, vitamin C, for instance, should be precisely the same
> chemical whether it comes from a bush, from a goat or from a test tube.
>
> Second, I see concern about sunscreen being vegan. Sunscreen in something
> very important to me, having already had over 100 skin cancers (of all
> kinds known to medical science). In looking over the list of ingredients
> in my sunscreen, all I see are things whose names make it sound like they
> are made in test tubes and not in either animals or plants. Besides, who
> eats sun screen, anyway? Yuk, now that is a nasty thought. Additionally,
> as many skin cancers as I have had, there is no way in the world I would
> drive myself crazy to find "vegan" sunscreen (whatever that is) for the one
> bottle of sunscreen I buy a year for protection for the very few times I
> actually find it absolutely essential to venture out into the sun.
>
If you mind the origin of these chemicals is up to you. It's not easy to
find out, you have to contact the manufacturer and then stick with it.

As for sunscreen. If you want to avoid using it, consider wearing large
clothes, much like the nomad folks do in the deserts There are also
special fabrics designed to block more UV you might want to look into
that aswell.

Good luck.

"Cheerful Pickle" > wrote in message
...
> Hi, gang,
>
> Three months ago, under medical advice, I adopted a vegan diet (no animal
> products, though I have not yet totally weaned myself off of honey but
will
> probably be off it, too, in a month or so) to aid the healing of my heart.
> In the process, I found out that the diet also reduced my esophageal
reflux
> symptoms by 75%.
>
> Yesterday, I discovered this newsgroup.
>
> I am a bit confused about some concerns I see in this newsgroup. First, I
> see where there is concern about vitamins being vegan. In looking at the
> list of ingredients, I see no way of telling the source of the vitamins
and
> minerals. Besides, vitamin C, for instance, should be precisely the same
> chemical whether it comes from a bush, from a goat or from a test tube.

IMO, if you're on the diet for health reasons only, then searching for
minutiae probably isn't going to be something you'll have to do, unless your
doctor thinks that a pill with gelatin in, or iron from animal sources will
harm you. In that case, I'd listen to him or her. Otherwise, it's probably
not that important.

When people are on a vegan diet for ethical reasons, it's a different
matter. That's why they make sure they're not consuming or using animal
products even in very tiny amounts (at least as far as is reasonable).

> Second, I see concern about sunscreen being vegan. Sunscreen in something
> very important to me, having already had over 100 skin cancers (of all
> kinds known to medical science). In looking over the list of ingredients
> in my sunscreen, all I see are things whose names make it sound like they
> are made in test tubes and not in either animals or plants.

The thread about sunscreen involves the fact that ethical vegans avoid
products that are derived from animals because they don't wish to contribute
to the raising of farm animals for meat. Unless your doctor tells you that
an animal-product derived sunscreen would harm you, then by all means keep
on using whatever sun screen you need to use.

A lot of the conversations in here involve ethical vegans, which are very
different from vegans who are merely on the diet for health reasons.
Veganism involves not only a diet, but a lifestyle, if one is doing it for
ethical reasons. They avoid wearing leather clothing, fur, etc. as well.
Much of veganism has nothing to do with diet.

If you're on a vegan "diet" then talk to your doctor about how strict you
need to be to stay healthy. It's quite possible that a tiny amount of
gelatin in a vitamin capsule or a little cheese in a spaghetti sauce won't
harm you.

> Besides, who
> eats sun screen, anyway? Yuk, now that is a nasty thought.

Veganism for ethical reasons isn't about eating, it's about a total
lifestyle of avoiding animal and animal-derived products. Some won't eat
white sugar because it was filtered through bone char, even though there is
no bone material in the sugar itself.

>Additionally,
> as many skin cancers as I have had, there is no way in the world I would
> drive myself crazy to find "vegan" sunscreen (whatever that is) for the
one
> bottle of sunscreen I buy a year for protection for the very few times I
> actually find it absolutely essential to venture out into the sun.

Ethical vegans want to find vegan sunscreen because they seek to use as few
animal products as possible. If you're on a diet for health reasons, these
kinds of things should be irrelevant to you.

-Rubystars

----------
In article > , "Rubystars"
> wrote:


>
>
>
>"Cheerful Pickle" > wrote in message
...
>> Hi, gang,
>>
>> Three months ago, under medical advice, I adopted a vegan diet (no animal
>> products, though I have not yet totally weaned myself off of honey but
>will
>> probably be off it, too, in a month or so) to aid the healing of my heart.
>> In the process, I found out that the diet also reduced my esophageal
>reflux
>> symptoms by 75%.
>>
>> Yesterday, I discovered this newsgroup.
>>
>> I am a bit confused about some concerns I see in this newsgroup. First, I
>> see where there is concern about vitamins being vegan. In looking at the
>> list of ingredients, I see no way of telling the source of the vitamins
>and
>> minerals. Besides, vitamin C, for instance, should be precisely the same
>> chemical whether it comes from a bush, from a goat or from a test tube.
>
>IMO, if you're on the diet for health reasons only, then searching for
>minutiae probably isn't going to be something you'll have to do, unless your
>doctor thinks that a pill with gelatin in, or iron from animal sources will
>harm you. In that case, I'd listen to him or her. Otherwise, it's probably
>not that important.
>
>When people are on a vegan diet for ethical reasons, it's a different
>matter. That's why they make sure they're not consuming or using animal
>products even in very tiny amounts (at least as far as is reasonable).
>
>> Second, I see concern about sunscreen being vegan. Sunscreen in something
>> very important to me, having already had over 100 skin cancers (of all
>> kinds known to medical science). In looking over the list of ingredients
>> in my sunscreen, all I see are things whose names make it sound like they
>> are made in test tubes and not in either animals or plants.
>
>The thread about sunscreen involves the fact that ethical vegans avoid
>products that are derived from animals because they don't wish to contribute
>to the raising of farm animals for meat. Unless your doctor tells you that
>an animal-product derived sunscreen would harm you, then by all means keep
>on using whatever sun screen you need to use.
>
>A lot of the conversations in here involve ethical vegans, which are very
>different from vegans who are merely on the diet for health reasons.
>Veganism involves not only a diet, but a lifestyle, if one is doing it for
>ethical reasons. They avoid wearing leather clothing, fur, etc. as well.
>Much of veganism has nothing to do with diet.
>
>If you're on a vegan "diet" then talk to your doctor about how strict you
>need to be to stay healthy. It's quite possible that a tiny amount of
>gelatin in a vitamin capsule or a little cheese in a spaghetti sauce won't
>harm you.
>
>> Besides, who
>> eats sun screen, anyway? Yuk, now that is a nasty thought.
>
>Veganism for ethical reasons isn't about eating, it's about a total
>lifestyle of avoiding animal and animal-derived products. Some won't eat
>white sugar because it was filtered through bone char, even though there is
>no bone material in the sugar itself.
>
>>Additionally,
>> as many skin cancers as I have had, there is no way in the world I would
>> drive myself crazy to find "vegan" sunscreen (whatever that is) for the
>one
>> bottle of sunscreen I buy a year for protection for the very few times I
>> actually find it absolutely essential to venture out into the sun.
>
>Ethical vegans want to find vegan sunscreen because they seek to use as few
>animal products as possible. If you're on a diet for health reasons, these
>kinds of things should be irrelevant to you.
>
>-Rubystars

If you decide to check into 'sunscreen' clothing, contact your local Lupus
Foundation; they've got a wide variety available, since lupus people are
typically very photosensitive, which causes lupus to flare. I'm not vegan
but vegetarian, so I can't help with the other questions.

Candi
>
>