eating meat/fish again after 14 years of being vegetarian

My sister was veg for many years and recently started incorporating meat. She still can't eat pork without feeling sick, but she can eat other things.

First, take it slow. The bacteria in your gut that helps break down meat will be in low supply so if you had a meat binge you would hate life for DAYS afterwards. Start with just a couple of ounces of baked chicken and fish and if that doesn't cause any gastric distress, try a little more.

I wish you luck. Remember that change is a process, not an event. It will take time.

I've been a vegetarian for verging on 9 years now and I am also a recovered anorexic. There have been times when I felt like it would benefit my health to start eating meat again, but I could never bring myself to do it because I hate the texture - like you when I was a meat eater I stuck to things that were quite processed and not particularly "meaty". After some wavering & some times when I really wanted to begin eating meat, I decided not to. If you're worried about meeting your nutritional needs then there are ways to do it without eating meat. I take iron tablets & multivitamins. I also eat meat "replacement" foods like Quorn products which provide me with protein & I supplement my diet with protein shakes (don't be scared of these, they're not just for people who are bulking up, they're also a great way for people who don't get enough protein in their normal diet to get a better amount). I'm not trying to put you off eating meat again, but I thought I should reply having been in a similar situation myself. Since recovering I have gained about 2 stone/28lbs over a period of years. If you decide you want to start eating meat, I would ease yourself in gently, both for the psychological impact it will have & also the impact it will have when your body has not been used to digesting meat for 14 years. Start by eating broths or soups made with meat & then you can work your way up, starting with things you used to enjoy when you were a meat-eater. However, I would still advocate that if it's something you don't want to do, or don't feel comfortable with, then don't do it. You can have a perfectly healthy & nutritious diet that will help you to gain the weight you need whilst still being a vegetarian.

I did this last summer. After 14 years exactly.

I can eat chicken without problem. And I'll also occasionally have pork--again, with no problems.

Seafood, however, is a different story. More often than not, it makes me sick, or else I break out in hives. I never had this reaction prior to going veggie. So I've been avoiding it.

I have a friend who was a vegetarian for several years and then started eating meat again (same reason as you -- she was always sick and her doctor basically told her she needs to eat meat or she's not going to feel much better). She started off with chicken. Try putting a few pieces of chicken breast in a salad or over rice, so you're not making the meat your main dish. Once you get used to eating meat again and your body adjusts, you can increase the amounts and/or try new meats. My friend now eats chicken, turkey, steaks, burgers, and bacon with no problem. It took her a while to get used to the texture, but she started feeling a lot better when she reintroduced meat into her diet.

Would it make you feel any better about it if you got the meat from a place that treated the animals well? That requires a significant amount of research on your part (I'm sure you know how misleading labels are) but would be worth it.

Be careful with beef - start with small amounts and work up. I'd been eating a mostly veggie diet for a while when I started cooking for & eating with my grandparents once a week - cooking veggie for them wasn't an option if I wanted them to eat it. Beef would give me horrible indigestion, chicken wasn't a problem.

I was vegetarian for 8 years, and pescetarian for the last 12 years. I ate meat last year, having developed a strong craving for it when I took up weight training. I stuck to chicken breasts mostly, ready cooked, but also had steak sometimes. I always got it from Marks & Spencers where the farm name was on the packaging. But I felt uncomfortable with it still, just the idea of biting into the flesh of a thing that had been running around alive and stopped again at Xmas. I still eat seafood and fish, generally salmon, prawns, tuna steak and white fish, as I do not seem to have the same issues with that. But you can get protein from vegetarian sources well enough...Quorn is very high protein and you can have full fat cottage cheese and eggs, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, tempeh...even oatmeal and bread contain some protein. Greek yoghurt is another easy source, if you get the proper stuff like Fage Total.