AboutEvelyn Alexander Expertise I can supplement your knowledge on health food and alternative remedies. I take a dynamic (energetic) approach to health and discomforts. My sources and references for my advice and ideas are predominantly Anthroposophic.
I am not medically trained. I have done 25 years of critical research (metaphysics and alternative medicine) and been an expert on About for over eight years. Two great ills I can help combat are ignorance and neglectfulness. In matters of healthy living I encourage discipline, respect and self-belief.
My life-philosophy is fundamentally based on ANTHROPOSOPHY, which in a nut-shell, is a western metaphysical science and modern alchemical way of looking at the meaning of life. I also draw on Taoist and Ayurvedic systems.
I am a mother of a boy with an Autistc Spectrum Disorder, whom I have raised on a bio-dynamic diet and homeopathic remedies. I have been a vegetarian for 25 years. I am currently researching ways to understand and treat Autism from an alternative perspective.
Experience My direct nutritional and health care experience stems from 25 years of vegetarianism, 15 years of bio-organic cooking and 10 years as a single mother of an Autistic boy. I have read widely on nutrition and (alternative) medicine. My main focus over the past 20 years has been on Anthroposophy. I take a critical stance of modern New Age spin-offs, but generally support the hard core theory of man as a four-fold spiritual being.
I have studied the following topics: Yoga, Astrology, Meditation, Tarot, Reiki, Taoist Five Element Theory, Colour/Painting Therapy, Herbology, Aromatherapy, Flower Essences, Crystals, Ayurveda, Acupuncture, Shiatsu, Macrobiotics, Ortho-Molecular science, Touch For Health, Natropathy, Music therapy, Eurhythmy, various forms of Shamanism, Palmistry, Numerology, Alchemy, World Religions, Metaphysics, Mythology, Cabala, Angels and Elementals. My interests extend into the fields of biology and especially plant morphology.
Education/Credentials I have an academic background in linguistics. I translate and edit. I teach English. But I seem to be better at imaginative and creative thinking than logic and reason.
Past/Present Clients Intelligent and sensitive people who are interested in gathering more information on alternative options in medicine and nutrition, which may lead to emotional, physical or spiritual healing. I have been unable to help people with weight issues lose specific amounts of weight within specific amounts of time - since this does not fall within my holistic aims.
Question Hello Evelyn Alexander
How are you doing?
I am a university student and have been a vegan for 2 years. My diets contain large amounts of rice, beans and nuts along with vegetables. I am very aware of my diets. I eat to avoid deficiency. I eat a lot, particularly peanut butter and other high fat nuts, soy, chickpea... in order to gain weight. I exercise regularly. However, I have lost 5kg since then and my BMI just falls in underweight catalogue. I had a body check and everything is ok, I am not anaemic or deficient of any.
I am perplexed.
Your advice and suggestion would be really appreciated.
Thank you very much for your valuable time and listening to my concern
Best regards
Aunz
Answer Dear Anunz,
If it is not a thyroid or metabolic problem and you are not putting yourself under great amounts of stress, then I can only suggest there is a more elusive reason behind this weight loss. First of all, you may not be right in stating that you eat a lot. It may only seem so to you. A bit like it happens often with overweight people, who really feel they are cutting down, but once you add it all up: it's still too much. Maybe, for you it is still not enough. Don't forget it takes an awful lot of energy, too, to digest pulses and grains: all that eating (if it really is a lot) might be simply too much exercise for you! It might sound weird, but some foodstuffs cost more to digest than they give you calorific value.
In my experience it is carbohydrates which are a sure way to "fattening up": think bread and pasta rather than fats. You may simply not have the fat cells to replenish (they absorb fats really fast) or you simply don't absorb fats very well in the gut. You need to think of building up tissue first which requires sugars as found in carbs. I also miss fruit in your diet. Bananas and potatoes never fail. As a vegan, of course bread is only an option with this surrogate yeast, but that should not make much of a difference to the carbohydrate story.
In the worst case scenario you are one of those body types who cannot very well make their own proteins which vegetarians need to take from pulses and milk products and you, as a vegan, only from pulses: then you are basically always doomed to consume yourself. This process can also happen, according to more esoteric understandings, because of excess "yogic" energy, which needs then to be contained by grounding yourself better.
Also bear in mind you might be burning up too much because of over-activity: too much studying, too many late nights, too deeply in love, or nervous exhaustion from exams? Then this phase will surely pass. Don't worry, considering your clean bill of health, otherwise, it is unlikely that you are going to continue to lose weight until you disappear in between the floorboards!
I hope I have been able to hand you a suggestion,
Good luck and keep thinking chubby thoughts.
Happy eating and greetings from Evelyn.
