Quitting vegetarianism

littlemili

I have decided to start eating meat and seafood again after 9 years. My reason is that I am very intolerant to dairy products and although I get enough protein it's just plain boring eating endless amounts of soya products and fish to get enough nutrients that I would get from meat. Any suggestions on low calorie and low fat meats would be helpful, I mean really basic stuff because I have never ever cooked meat before in my life (!) and also what I should avoid (is sandwich meat stuff ok?), what order to start eating it in and so on. I already eat fish, but not seafood, and basically want to get back to a diet which includes all meat and seafood.

nkziv

Sad. I would say to keep trying. Buy a new vegetarian cookbook! There are so many choices out there I don't see how one could possibly get bored! And there aren't *that* many meats out there. Including them in your diet only expands your options so much anyway. Veg is better for the environment too!

BeautifulScarsWECHANGED

I was a vegetarian for 15 years so I can see where you're coming from. I would say to buy organic as much as possible, and find some cheap cookbooks on Amazon to help get you started.

eillamarie

Do it in bite-sized increments. My friend is a vegetarian and after a year she tried to eat beef & got super sick! Your body will likely have a very hard time digesting it @ first.

OSUalum

If you do decide to add meats back into your diet, go slow! Your body has not been used to processing it for a long time.
And stay away from processed meats like sandwich slices. Think whole foods. Choose only lean organic cuts.

annabellj

i know i would like to go veg, but just cant seem to quit meat. i know its better for the environment, better not to eat animals, etc,but i have tried and tried. i go witout a cpl days a wk so that helps but i love chicken breast and lean burgers and steak. any of those are low cal. shrimp is very low cal, lower than nuts.

kristilovescake

I made the switch back to eating meat about 3-4 years ago. I started with adding more seafood and by eating poultry only at first and then slowly added back in red meat. The first real hamburger I ate after being a vegetarian made me feel sooo sick. Try to avoid super fatty beef for a while and stick to chicken/turkey and seafood at first.

And make sure you buy a thermometer and check the temperature of all your meat to make sure it's thoroughly cooked!

blueyegrl

I had the same problem the "first" time I went veg. After a few years and the same foods, I gave it up. Then tried again, then gave up, and happy to report that the third time's the charm for me. I have a collection of recipes from online and cookbooks that I have picked up over the years, and now I try to be adventurous and am almost vegan. Trying to cut down on cheese, eggs and milk. There are so many options out there, just need to find them. Once your committed to doing that, vegetarian/vegan life becomes a lot more fulfilling. But yeah, I totally understand the eating the same thing vibe. If money is an issue, because I know some of the recipes I've come across have ingredients that are just odd and expensive and hard to come by, my suggestion is to do searches online for "budget friendly vegetarian/vegan recipes". Some great things come up if you dig a bit. Good luck either way you go though! Of course I'm pro veg for both health and animal welfare reasons, so I'm rooting for you to give it another go! lol

LuLuRunner1

My daughter's been a vegetarian for a little over two years and yes, she misses meat, especially chicken. She lately has been saying "when she eats meat the first time....". It'll be interesting to see the comments on this one.

littlemili

Actually, the decision is already made - I am just looking for practical advice on how to best go about doing it. My dairy allergy means that I am basically vegan at the moment. It's incredibly anti-social for a start, and as I'm recovering from an eating disorder I am going to try and restrict what foodtypes I can eat as little as possible so I have more options open when I don't necessarily want to eat. I am coping fine with eating veggie, I just want to eat meat again now.

Thanks for the ideas about the thermometer and staying with white unprocessed meats. Maybe I will try chicken first... is fillet a good bit?

annabananana

I eat grilled chicken everyday! 4oz is about 120 calories, and full of protein. as for beef, it just freaks me out so I stay away from it.

VinGoSlim

I go back and forth, truth be told. I am now on the raw vegan diet and love the juices and health benefits. As far as eating meat, it stays with you for so long. accumulates in your gut and bogs you down. yes you get the protein but at what cost? Oh ya, it taste good and after your body gets used to digesting it to an extent you will be hooked forever. : ) Let me tell you how hard it is to quit meat after your hooked. Its hard! When Elvis Presley died he had over 55 pounds of undigested matter in his gut. This is common for meat eaters. And many times contributes to their demise.

On the other hand, if your going to eat some meat, eat organic! Lean meats. Most fish is garbage with all kinds of crap in it. Most times your not even getting the kind of fish you think your buying. best of luck!

basschick

I don't eat meat but cook it a lot for my husband. Some good lean cuts of beef are eye of round roast, London Broil, and top sirloin steak. There are tons of good recipes online. Of course chicken is always a good choice too but remove the skin if it's not already skinless. If you get bored with meat, tempeh is a good source of protein too. I bake it in the oven and it comes out slightly crunchy. It adds a good flavor to salads.

_Timmeh_

This isn't sad at all, it's awesome! Welcome back.

We've been eating these lately. http://www.laurasleanbeef.com

Also..... Tilapia, Salmon, Chicken, Tri Tip

Gunff

Fish is great, but you said you already eat that.

When you get Chicken, make sure to get really thing chicken, the thicker it is the harder it is to cook and make sure it is done all the way through. And as noted before, you should never really go below 90% lean ground beef, I really try to go for 93%, but it is expensive so watch for it to go on sale.

Pork is suprisingly low in calories, and is pretty tasty. Getting the correct seasoning will go a long ways for making it taste good as well.

My wife and I usually get an 8 oz pork chop and grill it with some potatoes and split it between the two of us. Just try to stay away from the grease and fat.

SanFranRunner

I was a vegetarian for 15 years and just quit last winter. This will be my first Thanksgiving eating Turkey! As other posters have suggested, START SLOW. I got sick when I first added fish back into my diet. I started with about four ounces of meat per week for a couple of weeks, and then worked my way up. I still don't eat it every day, and when I do, I try to keep portions reasonable. Also, I buy organic, humanely raised products; I became a vegetarian for moral reasons, and I still believe strongly in the humane treatment of animals. I primarily eat fish, chicken breasts, and occasionally sliced turkey. Every now and then I'll eat a very small portion of grass fed beef (maybe five ounces per month). Good luck!

BigDanTX

I would become friends with your local butcher. A little help from a "real" expert can go a long way. As for myself I enjoy bison, venison, sheep, goat, fish, pig, chicken, quail....

NA_Willie

Meat-Lovers Pizza with Extra Bacon.

Ange_

I was vegetarian for 10 years.
I got sick a lot. I wasn't necessarily all that focused though on having a balanced diet back then. it just started as a teenage fad that just went on for a bit too long.

i eventually couldn't really remember the reason i was vegetarian any more. I think it had started out from a compassion for animals. Then it was more like wanting to help the whole greenhouse then. But really it was just a habit that i got into and also not wanting to prove everyone right by it just being a 'teenage phase'.

Eventually i started eating fish as i was doing a lot of work in remote areas, and in country pubs the only thing vegetarian is hot chips. I had no problem eating fish, didn't feel sick at all.

Then eventually even that was too hard with the work i was doing, and because i didn't really feel that strongly about being vegetarian it seemed like a whole lot of effort for nothing!
So i started eating all meat. I didn't do it slowly or anything. And rather than feeling sick, i felt fantastic. And i hardly ever get colds now and am heaps healthier.

You will find it much easier to diet as well as you don't have to eat as many carbs to stay full. Many vegetarian sources of protein are generally (although not all) quite high in fat, so now you'll have many other lean meat options.

And being able to choose ANYTHING from the menu at restaurants is so exciting.
I now prefer if possible to eat organic, free range meat, and even beater wild game. I personally like the idea that that animal was just unlucky enough to get caught and eaten, it wasn't bread in a farm situation to be food. I eat lots of kangaroo and love venison. If you aren't in Australia though you probably won't kangaroo.

I too hadn't really ever cooked much meat before when i became a carnivore again. But it is actually probably easier than vegetables to cook. I recommend when buying your first steak, then just look up a utube video on how to cook it. And by the way, meat tastes much better rare than overdone. It also retains more nutrients. So if you aren't squeamish about pink (perhaps put sauce on it if you are to begin with), then give it a go. I realised that one of the reasons i went vego as a child was i didn't like the overdone thin steaks i was fed as a child. So i never saw meat as a tasty thing. Now that i've learnt to cook it, it is wonderful.

Perhaps though just eat your first meat a restaurant.

And you will definitely feel much more of a boost from eating red than white meats (all that iron!). Perhaps start out with something like a beef stir fry.

Enjoy discovering all the wonderful meaty food out there!

susanswan

I go back and forth, truth be told. I am now on the raw vegan diet and love the juices and health benefits. As far as eating meat, it stays with you for so long. accumulates in your gut and bogs you down. yes you get the protein but at what cost? Oh ya, it taste good and after your body gets used to digesting it to an extent you will be hooked forever. : ) Let me tell you how hard it is to quit meat after your hooked. Its hard! When Elvis Presley died he had over 55 pounds of undigested matter in his gut. This is common for meat eaters. And many times contributes to their demise.

On the other hand, if your going to eat some meat, eat organic! Lean meats. Most fish is garbage with all kinds of crap in it. Most times your not even getting the kind of fish you think your buying. best of luck!

I agree! I just read Dr. Furhman's book Eat to Live and got the vegetarian bug! I am convinced that it is the only way to go for me. Healthy is what I am after. I feel so much better eating the veggies. I am after green plants, not pasta, milk, cheese, etc. I'll probably eat small amounts of meat, fish, chicken on occasion, but after just a few days on veggies I noticed my morning joint pain is gone, and I have so much more energy!

I'll share some low cal/vegetarian/vegan recipe websites with those interested. The really good thing is if you decide you feel crappy on meat, you can always change your mind and come back to being a veggie! Good luck to you.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/
http://www.katheats.com/
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/
http://talkhealthytome.com/
http://www.eatcleandiet.com/
http://vegweb.com/
http://www.skinnytaste.com/

I'll throw in my favorite all time recipe website:
http://www.epicurious.com

and Dr. Fuhrman's for those who want to hear it:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/default.aspx

Ange_

Do what is right for you. As an ex-vegetarian i can say, one thing you are probably only just now experiencing on this forum is the reaction of current vegetarians to your decision to change. Vegetarianism has a bit of a culture attached to it with many subcultures within it. There is a lot of propaganda about the 'detrimental effects of meat' etc. And it can get to the extreme point of the 'detrimental effect of cooked food' as touted by the raw vegan movement.


If a lot of your friends are vego, you may find yourself feeling like an outsider sometimes. Deciding to eat meat when very ingrained in these subcultures can sometimes be like deciding to quit a religion.

I actually truly believe we were made to eat meat and while we can do without it, we are not necessarily better off or healthier. Right now by choosing the right meats (lean, hormone free), having plenty of veggies many raw, and exerting i feel better than i probably ever have in my life. Much better than i was a vegetarian.

And if you are toying with the idea of raw veganism at all (at one point i was), then read this book: Raw Food Controversies
It is very interesting, and isn't really anti-raw or anti-vegan like the title suggests. It in fact could be used as a guidebook to avoid many of the health issues that commonly come after following these diets for years. One biggie with raw food is terrible dental health from having a diet so high in fruit sugars.

good luck!