Any vegan/vegetarians who went back to eating meat?

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  • retread4258
    retread4258 Posts: 10 Member
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    I was a vegetarian for 22 years and started back eating fish then other meat in 2012. I definitely was sick when I first started back. It simply didn't agree with my stomach. However, I did not start back slowly. After my initial bad experience, I started eating just a very little at a time and it no longer bothered me.

    I don't eat much meat now but it has allowed me to eat less carbs and still feel full. I also feel I have more energy and can work out more since I started back eating meat.

    My going back to meat was for health reasons and recommended by two of my doctors as well as my own thinking on the subject. I never felt eating meat was wrong, but I didn't want to support the meat industry for their unethical treatment of animals. However, as an older person now with health issues, I can no longer afford to deny myself the benefits of meat in my diet in order to make my personal protest.

    I find there are both benefits and negatives to having meat back in my diet and I just try to balance it like I do the risk and benefits of all the other foods I eat. I try to listen to my body and not pay too much attention to the "experts" who tell me chocolate is good for me this week but then next week, it's bad and so forth.
  • Aemely
    Aemely Posts: 694 Member
    edited November 2014
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    If you are worried about humane treatment of animals, which I think most of us are, there are some additional certifying groups that you may wish to check out. Here's one of them that allows you to find "certified humane" meats at a store near you:

    http://certifiedhumane.org/take-action-for-farm-animals/shop/#/map

    And another couple of sites:
    http://www.compassionate-carnivores.org/find.html
    http://www.humaneitarian.org/what-is-humanely-raised-meat/humane-certifications/

    Of course, I know people who raise and slaughter their own chickens, catch fish in ponds and lakes, and hunt for game. That way you are in control of how the animal is treated.

    Interesting discussion!
  • daffodilsoup
    daffodilsoup Posts: 1,972 Member
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    I'm a vegan and I wouldn't be full on nuts and greens either. What vegetarian/vegan proteins have you explored? Do you eat eggs? Yes, a grilled-cheese-and-french-fry vegetarian diet is going to get in the way of health and fitness goals, but that's not an optimal diet for anyone, vegetarian or otherwise.

    The issue with "organic" and "free range" labels are that they're mostly there to make people feel good about purchasing something without much change concerning animal welfare. "Organic" just means the chickens can't be fed hormones, and a farmer who cuts a flap door into the side of the chicken coop can label the chicken's free range because technically they have "access" to the outdoors. It's a marketing ploy. Besides - if we're really being serious, can slaughter ever be "humane"?

    If you went vegan/vegetarian for moral reasons, it may be worth investigating recipes incorporating whole, filling, healthy foods that nourish both your body and your soul. Feel free to reach out to me at any point for ideas or support!
  • skinnyEmilijah
    skinnyEmilijah Posts: 61 Member
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    I kind of felt the same way. And near the end of my vegetarianism, I was getting frustrated because it was really hard. I still eat lots of vegetarian and vegan meals now, but I do eat all sorts of food, including meat.

    For me, I have gained weight, but I don't think that has to do as much with meat eating as it does with not watching my diet. I have been higher than the weight I'm at now as a vegetarian. I am very short and I gain very easily, so I think that for me, being vegetarian or not does not affect my weight.

    Either way, think it through and decide what *you* want to do. What you eat is your own business. Morally, I would just think it through and if you are okay with it, do it. If not, try to find alternatives to what you are eating now. Eggs and low fat dairy are good ways to add some extra protein if that's what you need. Also, when I was veggie, I drank a lot of protein shakes on days that I didn't eat as well.
  • hiswaywardgirl
    hiswaywardgirl Posts: 42
    edited November 2014
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    I was a vegetarian for 6 years, and thought I would go back slowly... but wound up eating a wide variety of meat again right away. I had forgotten what everything tasted like and wanted to enjoy it again.

    With meat, I feel full much faster and don't feel tempted to fill up on carbs. My health has only gotten better -- I have more hair (it had been thin for years on a veggie diet), I have more energy, I don't get hungry every couple hours... Good luck, whatever you choose to do. :)
  • Edie30
    Edie30 Posts: 216
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    Ah this one always puts the cat amongst the pigeons doesn't it! I think eat what the f&$k you want. I'm vegetarian with a massive varied diet. I think people with the worst vegetarian diets are the ones that go back to meat. If your diet is fabulous you don't feel you need to. It's individual choice though. Maybe look into some vegan / vegetarian food blogs and see if you get inspired first :-)
  • ViolaLeeBlueberry
    ViolaLeeBlueberry Posts: 182 Member
    edited November 2014
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    FWIW, I was vegetarian many moon ago. Then I decided to eat some leg of lamb on an elderly relative's birthday ... basically because it was his favorite meal and otherwise I'd have been picking on some boiled carrots on the poor guy's birthday and he'd have felt bad ... my choice, but that was the motivation ... and I couldn't digest it. It took about three days before that lamb didn't feel like it was sitting in my stomach anymore!

    I decided I'd rather have the capacity to digest a variety of foods than stick with being vegetarian, and actually I do find that my body feels better if I eat meat. But people's bodies are different. Certainly the world is full of healthy vegetarians with perfectly varied diets. And spending time as a vegetarian did help me to think differently about what breakfast, lunch and dinner can mean.

    I must say it was really, really weird to cook a chicken after that many years of being vegetarian. After deciding to make the switch back, I remember preparing my first chicken with a friend and standing there in horror saying, "it looks like a BIRD!" Uh, yeah :smile:
  • Mediocrates55
    Mediocrates55 Posts: 326 Member
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    I was vege for several years. Then I got pregnant with my first son, looked at a cheeseburger, and said "I'MMA EAT THE S**T OUT OF YOU" and never looked back. Had stomach issues in my teens that led to the vegetarian diet, but had no issue adding meat back in. It wasn't an ethical choice for me, it was a matter of blinding stomach cramps every time I'd eat meat. If it's ethical and you still hold to your beliefs then explore alternative cooking methods to shake things up. Healthy and successful veges are out there. I still waft towards a vege based diet when I'm taking care of myself properly. But I do love me some grassfed steak, too.
  • cheekychocolate
    cheekychocolate Posts: 17
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    My experience here: vegetarian (eggs & dairy) for 10 years, then vegan for 5 years after that with 1 of those being raw vegan. Went back to the dark side about 1.5 years ago and never looked back. No problems, actually my digestive system feels better now and I'm WAY more emotionally stable. For me it was like the more veggie I went, the more emotional meltdowns I had. Don't know why, I did everything "right" and was extremely careful to make sure I was getting all my nutrients, planned meals carefully, supplemented with vitamins B12 and D, plant protein, Udo's oil, etc. but something was just "off". I thought going veggie would make me more calm & zen but it didn't. But that's me, everyone has to find what works for them. Good luck finding your balance.
  • mike_ny
    mike_ny Posts: 351 Member
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    I did. I just couldn't get enough protein for my needs. I was eating eggs, cheese, and yogurt, and far too many soy products. I was working out, but just not getting the results I wanted. I was also eating way too many carbs and beans and always felt bloated and drained of energy.

    I added free range chicken and some occasional free range red meat and upped my saturated fat intake considerably. I now eat several eggs a day and only eat full fat cheeses and yogurt. And it's not just the muscle protein in meat I was missing out on. I now eat a lot of skin, connective tissue, and use the bones and marrow in broths to get the proline and glycine in the gelatin and collagen, and all the nutrients in the bones.

    That did the trick for me. I started losing fat and putting on muscle and neither would have happened for me staying vegetarian. As an omnivore, I'm leaner and stronger than I have been in years and continue to get leaner and more fit.

    The best benefit from being vegetarian for several years, though, is that I still love and eat a lot of many different varieties of fresh vegetables.

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