Vegetarians eating meat again

pullingmyselftogether

Hello everyone,

I have been a pescatarian for two and a half years and lately I have been thinking what would happen if I started eating meat again. I don't intend to start eating meat again anytime soon, I am merely curious. Would it make me sick, cause- pardon the explicitness - diarrhea or would it be like a little bump in the road where I'd feel a bit weird (and super freaking guilty), but nothing too serious?

Thanks in advance!

Sls2bhealthy

I stopped eating beef and pork in 1979. Around 2010, I became vegetarian for several years, but found myself not healthy. I added wild caught cold water fish and organic free range poultry back into my diet and it was what my body really needed. I did not experience any problems adding it back in. I have no desire to eat beef or pork and never will. I think since you are eating fish now, you'd be okay with organic free range poultry. I don't believe it's the meat that would make you sick, it's all the chemicals and drugs the animals are given.

Sumiblue

I was pescatarian for 3 yrs and started eating meat again with no problem. Loving it, actually!

LazyNightOwl

My sister was pescatarian for just over seven years and last summer at the advice of her dietitian gf started adding poultry to her diet. She started with organic free range humanely treated chickens and experienced nausea and within an hour she puked it all up. The next time she tried the chicken it stayed down but she still had the nausea and the next three or four times before she felt fine. Then she added Turkey and had tgevsame problem. Now she is fine (but no longer dating the dietitian) and is even considering adding beef back to her diet.

UpEarly

I added all kinds of meat back after three years of strict vegetarianism. I felt great... no issues.

Squidgeypaws007

I was ovo-lacto vegetarian for 15 years, due to various intolerances cropping up I found that it simply wasn't a healthy or balanced choice for me any longer and after a rather vicious battle with my conscience I decided to introduce meats into my diet.

Aside from the "ethical" feelings one may (or may not) have and getting used to the taste, I found that although I introduced the meat fairly slowly - starting with fish, then white meats, then a small amount of red, it made me fairly sick for the first few times - nausea, diarrhea.

I'm about a year down the line and have absolutely no issues now

Given you're pescatarian though and you already have animal flesh in your diet it might not be such a shock for you.

lightenup2016

I was vegetarian, pescatarian, and vegan for a total of 13 years. At some point I just decided to go back to eating meat, and had no issues. I'm not giving it up again, either--at least no plans to. Our family only has meat or chicken every few days anyway, so I don't eat a lot, but yeah, definitely not vegetarian anymore.

littlechiaseed

You are already eating meat. Fish is meat. But no your body doesn't forget how to break food down, that's just a myth

cerise_noir

I was a vegetarian for 4 years. My first ever meat meal was a quarter leg chicken meal. No digestive upset.

jennybearlv

I was ovo-lacto for five years. I began eating meat gradually with no physical issues. It was mostly the strong tastes that were hard to get though. I started just eating chicken for a long time, then gradually got where I liked the taste of beef and fish. I had the hardest time with the flavor of pork and couldn't stomach bacon for years. I eat everything now.

motoveg

I was a strict vegetarian for 9 years, obviously it's in my name. I'm not anymore after I relaized that it messed with my hormones and caused me to gain weight.

lisabinco

Yeah, fish is meat, too. I haven't deliberately eaten beef, pork, fowl for 20+ years (and rarely eat dairy) and only occasionally will have fish (which I don't really like anyway). I can eat fish without noticeable ill effects; it's the heavy animal-fat sauces that really do a number on my stomach. When I have accidentally ingested something like beef-based broth or bits of meat in a salad, enough of it makes me queasy and sometimes ill for a day. If you decide to eat meat, even occasionally, your body has to do the same thing it does when you decide to eat more vegetables and fruit: your stomach's gut bacteria have to change to accommodate a food it didn't need to digest before, so for some of us, it takes a few days to a couple of weeks for that gut bacteria to change. We are adaptable that way.

AnnPT77

Research suggests one's microbiome differs when omnivore vs. vegetarian, but that it only takes a small number of days to adapt. Implications not clear.

I've accidentally eaten meat a few times during my 43 years of ovo-lacto vegetarianism, and realized it later. I think it sometimes correlates with some mild intetestinal discomfort (gassiness, mostly), but nothing worse. This was small amounts of chicken, fish or broth, typically, not a whole steak or anything. And the thought of eating meat doesn't particularly horrify me, so I don't think it was psychosomatic . . . but you never know.

I wouldn't expect major symptoms, but I'd re-introduce it gradually if I decided to start eating meat again.