Any ex vegans or vegetarians out there?

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  • gomisskellygo
    gomisskellygo Posts: 635 Member
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    To solve this problem, buy local meat, eggs, and dairy if possible. I do. I know for sure where my food comes from.
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    You may have a decent idea. You can't know for sure what torture and cruelty happens behind closed doors. Proximity of slaughter to consumer does not necessarily mean less cruel production methods.
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    I agree with you. It helps that I live in a small New England town. I know my farmers. I know that we have to pre-order our meat because they do not run a factory farm.
  • littletahoma
    littletahoma Posts: 27 Member
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    Hi,

    I was vegan for 10 years and vegetarian for about 5 prior to that. Due to some health problems that had stacked up for the past few years of my diet and also stress I made a complete change in how I ate and elimnated gluten, soy, and added back animal proteins. My body has changed over the past year due to these changes but I feel healthier, clearer, stronger, and endure more mentally and physically. I also appreciate that I can eat what I feel is even a cleaner diet with local meat, cheese, eggs, and produce vs. vegan foods that tend to be processed and over packaged.

    Overall, I gained about 30 pounds after I stopped eating vegan but I was previously underweight, could not gain muscle, suffering from severe anemia, had irregular periords, diagnosed with a thyroid problem and very fragile.

    I say listen to your body and be open to change, we know our bodies better then a doctor or anyone else.

    Good luck to you!
  • invictus8
    invictus8 Posts: 258 Member
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    Former vegetarian here... I find a high protein diet (including meat) much, much more conducive to my health.
  • Illona88
    Illona88 Posts: 903 Member
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    There is a "butcher/farmer" near me who only sells meat from organic farm animals that died from natural causes, so I regularly buy from there (if an animal dies on a farm, the farmer calls him to collect and then he checks for stuff that might cause the animal to be unsuitable for eating).
  • lorissaf
    lorissaf Posts: 10
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    For me, adding meat back into my diet after being a 10 year vegetarian was necessary. I was developing health issues due to improper dieting. I only eat chicken, and not everyday. I still eat tofu and other vegetarian products. I guess, if your body is telling you to stop, then eating meat could be necessary. Your body is your best indicator of what you need. I hope that you are able to figure everything out. good luck to you.
  • reptilegrrl
    reptilegrrl Posts: 24 Member
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    I have been vegetarian for about 20 years. I was vegan for about 18 months around a decade ago. Being vegan was terrible for my health; it required too much soy. (I now think that soy is very unhealthy. I have it in small amounts, but I try to avoid it in general.)

    After being vegan, I started incorporating fish into my diet. it made me feel very good, physically, so I stuck with it. I was lacto-ovo with small amounts of fish until last week, when I started eating meat again.

    My health is very poor. I have had severe health problems since 1998. I have CFIDS, FMS, EDS, hypothyroid disease, insulin resistance, and peripheral neuropathy. I'm in pain all the time.

    I have spent years thinking that vegetarianism was not a contributor to my health issues because I eat eggs almost every day, I eat dairy every day. I figured that egg protein and dairy protein are animal proteins, so nutritionally I was doing fine. I don't eat high-carb, and in fact when I track with MFP, my numbers usually come in low on carbs and high on protein and fat. My diet is based on whole foods and fresh organic vegetables.

    But, eating meat is the only thing I have not tried as a healing modality. I've tried natural medicine, I've tried conventional medicine, etc. II decided to try eating meat for a few months, to see if I felt any better. I had a small amount of chicken last week and had terrible heartburn. But then I had my first hamburger in 20+ years on Saturday, and I felt great. I had the same kind of food high I get from delicious vegetables. It was truly nutritious.

    The rules I have set for my meat-eating are that I will only eat humanely-raised, pastured meats. No factory farms, no confinement operations, no feed lots.

    Since I started questioning vegetarianism, I've been trying in vain to find a healthy long-term vegetarian. I haven't met anyone. I have a friend who has been a vegetarian for 25+ years, even longer than myself, and she is struggling with endocrine problems, which she is convinced are "just aging." I have also realized that the pressure for vegetarians to claim they are healthy is ENORMOUS. Being vegetarian isn't just about what you eat, it is a choice that really touches on our identities and it is sometimes very hard-won. There is huge pressure to stay vegetarian and not admit any problems.

    This year I started having meat cravings out of nowhere. I mean, I don't even remember what meat tasted like when I was a kid, so it wasn't a matter of missing the taste or anything like that. But I started craving meat all the time.

    The fact is that for me, even as a vegetarian who eats an impeccably balanced diet, I am severely ill and I decided that I owed it to myself to see if eating meat could help me. I am strangely deficient in Vitamin D in spite of spending hours in the sun, taking Vitamin D supplements, and eating D-rich foods. My partner (who remains vegetarian) pointed out that it is possible that my body cannot assimilate all the nutrients I need from vegetables, and maybe he's right. It makes sense.

    Anyway, long ramble, sorry. I am going to give eating meat a try. I'll give it a few months and see if I feel any better. If my health improves, I will have to stick with it. The only thing in my opinion that justifies it is health.

    One thing to keep in mind is that even a vegetarian diet leads to a lot of animal deaths. Tractor strikes kill many animals in the harvest of a field of grain, whereas the death of a single cow can feed a family for a year. It's something to think about. All of us, no matter what we eat, are sustained by the death of something else.
  • reptilegrrl
    reptilegrrl Posts: 24 Member
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    Just an fyi companies can label their meat as "free range" or "ethical" but it's still not this fantasy you're imagining.
    According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), "free-range" beef, pork, and other non-poultry products are loosely defined as coming from animals who ate grass and lived on a range. No other criteria-such as the size of the range or the amount of space given to each animal-are required before beef, lamb, and pork can be called "free-range." "Free-range" and "free-roaming" facilities are rarely inspected or verified to be in compliance with these two criteria. The USDA relies "upon producer testimonials to support the accuracy of these claims."(9)

    Even when "free-range" cows, sheep, and pigs are allowed to live outdoors, they are still subjected to excruciating mutilations without painkiller or analgesic, such as castration, branding, dehorning, tail-docking, and tooth-grinding. Once they are fattened to market weight, they are trucked to slaughterhouses. They are denied food, water, and adequate protection from extreme temperatures once in the vehicles, and many die during the trip. These cows, sheep, and pigs are still slaughtered in the same violent ways as factory-farmed animals: They are pushed through narrow chutes, hung upside down on conveyor belts, and have their throats slit; some are dismembered while still fully conscious.
    http://www.cok.net/lit/freerange.php

    This is why it is important to know where your foods come from. I made a rule that any meat I eat must be humanely-raised, pastured, and local. I research my meat sources. Do not settle for a label that says "natural" or "free range": you must find out for sure where your meat comes from and how it lived.

    I think you mean well, but you are presenting the standard factory-slaughter situation as though it were the only one. Many people raising pastured meat use mobile slaughterhouses OR have their own slaughter and processing operations on-site. So, the animals are not ever trucked away. There are small slaughter and processing facilities that do not behave the way you suggest. You are taking the worst possible scenario and insisting that it applies to every slaughter that ever takes place, and that just is not true.

    Also FYI, horn removal is done when animals are very small, and it is not excruciating at all. The horn buds are tiny and they are obliterated with small drops of acid. It is like having your ears pierced. It is usually only done to goats. Cows may have their horns trimmed, but again, this is not painful. I know all this because my family are farmers. I actually became vegetarian because this close contact with animals showed me their sentience and personhood.
  • reptilegrrl
    reptilegrrl Posts: 24 Member
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    There is a "butcher/farmer" near me who only sells meat from organic farm animals that died from natural causes, so I regularly buy from there (if an animal dies on a farm, the farmer calls him to collect and then he checks for stuff that might cause the animal to be unsuitable for eating).

    Any animal that dies of "natural causes" is unsuitable for eating because it sat there decomposing for a time before the owner found it. I think that butcher is having you on. It is not legal to sell meat that was not processed under cold conditions from the moment of slaughter.
  • annehart00
    annehart00 Posts: 42
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    I was a de-facto vegetarian because I wasn't cooking meat or eating dairy. I would normally get those when I ate out but I was making an effort to cook all my meals from cratch. Many months in, I lost a lot of strength and one day I was too tired to get out of bed. It turns out I had a B12 (also vitamin D) deficiancy - you can only get B12 in meats, dairy, and sublingual supplements. Since then I've made an effort to incorporate meat into my diet -

    Beef, 1/week
    Fish, 2/week
    Chicken and eggs, 4-5/week
    Dairy 2/Daily

    I have felt so much better and my diet feels more well-rounded. Vegans and vegetarians who get all their nutrients from non-animal products are awesome but its very hard and not for everyone.
  • annehart00
    annehart00 Posts: 42
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    My health is very poor. I have had severe health problems since 1998. I have CFIDS, FMS, EDS, hypothyroid disease, insulin resistance, and peripheral neuropathy. I'm in pain all the time.

    Have you tried increasing your thiamine intake?

    http://broomclosetmusings.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-make-zombie-or-why-i-love.html
  • redraidergirl2009
    redraidergirl2009 Posts: 2,560 Member
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    First I'd have to ask what health issues you are having and what you are eating. It's perfectly possible to be veg and unhealthy, just as it is for non-veg people to be unhealthly.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    I tried veganism for about 6 months, years ago, based entirely upon the word of a friend who swore by it's health benefits. After six months of gaining more weight and just sucking in general (I had zero energy and couldn't even think straight) I bailed on it.

    On my current diet, I eat almost nothing that didn't have a pulse at one time. My lifts have done nothing but increase (PRs on compounds every week), even eating in a deficit (1540 cals per day at a starting weight of 238), and I'm down to 225 within six weeks.

    Some people can do fine on a vegan diet, but most people I see look like they feel like crap all of the time. Honestly, to me, if sparing some animal's suffering is worth more to you than your own health, you need to see a psychiatrist. Hehe.
  • kiachu
    kiachu Posts: 409 Member
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    Was Vegan, hair fell out, skin dried up, pooped turned white, and I had no energy. And yeah yeah yeah, I read all the books, ate all the "right" things. So I said screw this and at a big red piece of steak and never looked back.
  • reptilegrrl
    reptilegrrl Posts: 24 Member
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    http://broomclosetmusings.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-make-zombie-or-why-i-love.html

    Yes, I take a complete B supplement. I also eat a very balanced diet including many good sources of thiamine. Every week I receive a delivery of in-season, local, organic vegetables. Most of the veggies I eat are fresh, not frozen (freezing and thawing destroys thiamine.) I eat eggs every day for breakfast. And when I remember to do so, I take a multivitamin :)
  • gokittygokitty
    gokittygokitty Posts: 4
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    I was vegetarian on and off a good deal of my 20's. In my 30's I became pescatarian, then vegetarian in my late 30's. In my 40's I became vegan. At first it was great, although I have had health issues on and off since about age 39. In the last two years, I have a serious intolerance for "mock meat" of any sort. I had been a healthy vegan, not a junk food vegan but I would incorporate seitan sometimes and if I went to the rare family picnic, someone would be kind enough to pick up some sort of vegan burger or dog, etc. Basically any fake meat including soy gives me horrible stomach issues. I felt exhausted all the time. Lentils are great but so many carbs in order to get enough protein. I recently started eating some fish, an occasional egg or two, and even some cheese on cheat days. I feel 100% better. It makes me very sad and I have cried, prayed, gotten plastered, you name it - wrestling with this decision. My husband is still vegan and supports me completely because he has seen my health decline and now the dramatic change in just a few months. I can't say I'm happy about it. But I have to be able to function and live.
  • g2214n
    g2214n Posts: 36 Member
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    Hello. Just wanted to confirm - the allergy/ sensitivity tests were actual blood test? have you had two or more tests done to compare results? I've had few done in the past one completed through Designs for Health and came out with severe sensitivity to gluten, dairy products, mustard, soy. And yes I've known for long before I complete the tests that I have problem with the above mentioned. Have been vegetarian for about 5 yrs and vegan for over 1 and one particular nutritionist was claiming the intolerance is due to over(or only) consumption of those, which I guess was true - while Vegetarian lots of Milk, yoghurt, cheese and gluten containing products/ while vegan - soy and whet related products. I went back to carnivore in 2004 and have no issues or what soever eating meat/fish etc. Funny now I can allow myself some gluten/ occasionally dairy and with no impact, but if I have soy or mustard - disaster(bloated/puffy, teary eyes, runny nose). I'd imagine re introducing certain food groups in already very limited dietary plan can benefit especially when socializing( grilled fish and salad widely available). Just my opinion...

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