Going back on meat

butlerjustine

Hi,

I've been vegetarian for 6 years and was very happy until the last few months. I want to know if anyone else has gone back on meat and how they found it.

I am vegetarian for the sake of animals but recently have been selfish and getting frustrated with my diet in relation to ensuring I have all the vitamins and minerals everyday and trying to be healthy too by watching my fat and carb intake which is leaving me with not very much to each.

I tried fish last weekend and didnt really like it and think I can still live without it but my frustration is still there with what I do eat so I can't win. I didnt feel that guilty but I think I've blocked it out of my mind and don't want to tell anyone that I ate it.

Apologies for the confusing message!

Someone close to me, has recently started eating meat again.
Just because she wanted to try it, to see if she felt healthier.
I don't think you have anything to fear by telling people.
From the reactions my friend is encountering. Most are going to recognize that your an adult and leave you to make your own decisions.
The few who seem to have an opinion, are the types who are happy that she is choosing "the norm".

Anyway my friend, had a bad stomach upset in the first couple of weeks.
Obviously it is going to be upsetting for the first while, until you are comfortable with the decision morally. It is going fine now though. She says she is surprised to find most meaty things a bit bland and overrated.
She is still eating it though. So I'm not sure if I should take that with a pinch of salt or not.

You know, if your on a low carb diet. You get your energy from fats. So your not supposed to restrict the two groups at the same time.

When you say you want to be healthy what do you mean exactly?

Are you having specific problems with deficiencies?
I track my nutrients online, and I have certain nutrients that are consistently under goal intake. So I had my blood tested, and it turns out my levels are actually fine.

sav1980

Sorry to hear that you're finding a veggie diet difficult at the moment. I've been vegetarian since I was 15, I'm 32 now, and vegan for the last 7 years and can honestly say that I've never struggled. I think the more reasons you have the easier it is - for me I choose to eat vegan for my health/fitness, animal rights and environmental reasons too. I could never even contemplate eating animals again. I've seen and read too much about the cruelty of the meat industry. I've never been healthier or fitter. I never have to worry about my weight like so many of my friends do. There are so many benefits to being veggie - don't get too hung up on carbs and fat - my diet is very carb heavy, I eat lots of fruit and grains, but your body needs carbs and as long as you exercise you won't gain weight. Certainly watch your fat intake esp. saturated fats and avoid hydrogenated fats but thats a lot easier to do on a veggie diet anyway! With regards vitamins and minerals make sure you eat a lot of fruit/veg and salads and if you can't or won't do that it's easy to pop a multivitamin once a day. With regards protein -if you're eating enough calories getting too little protein is practically impossible - there's protein in all foods incl. veggies and fruit. I guess what I'm saying is just relax a little and don't be so strict - counting carbs /fats /cals can get very tiresome and you don't need to do it. Adding meat back into your diet won't solve anything. There are lots of veggie websites out there full of info / recipes if you need some inspiration. Best of luck.

flikflak

If you want to eat meat again then eat it, only you can decide if it’s the right thing for you to do.

Why do you think you are not getting enough nutrients from your veggie diet? What do you think you are lacking? Surely with a vegetarian diet you can find out which foods contain these missing nutrients and start eating them?

The folks over at veganfitness.net are vegans and can manage marathons, weight lifting and distance cycling on a vegan diet so I am sure a vegetarian diet can supply everything you need. As mentioned above though don’t be cutting fats and carbs. Ditch the carbs but not the fat. Start expanding your recipe repertoire and you will see loads of low carb veggie things. Sure even just Google it, I am sure there must be 1,000`s of low carb veggies out there you can learn from.

On the other hand if you just feel like eating meat then eat it. As I said the only person you need to justify it to is yourself.

butlerjustine

Thank you very much for all the great replies, I really appreciate it.

Sorry I haven't totally cut out fats and carbs, I just eat better carbs and fats so I mainly eat sweet potato, cottage chesse and nuts with alot of veg.

I am quite sporty and wonder if eating meat will help me a bit. A few months ago, I used to have sugary cereal as 2 meals, loads of diet coke and only fruit, no veg so maybe I need time to get used to the changes I've already made.

My sister has been vegetarian for 18 years and is having the same thoughts as me. She doesnt like eating meat but will try once a week by herself and see how it goes. I will try do the same.

I guess I dont want criticism from others when I am still figuring it out.

flikflak

butlerjustine wrote: »

Thank you very much for all the great replies, I really appreciate it.

I am quite sporty and wonder if eating meat will help me a bit. A few months ago, I used to have sugary cereal as 2 meals, loads of diet coke and only fruit, no veg so maybe I need time to get used to the changes I've already made.

It sounds like you need to get a handle on proper vegetarian nutrition. I doubt a meal with a few bits of meat will make any difference to your sporting performance (when you say`quite sporty` what does that actually mean?). You need to research nutrition issues as a whole to understand what your body needs in order to function the way in which you want it to.

Plenty of general nutrition advice over on the health and fitness to get stuck into and maybe ask over there for vegetarian alternatives if you decide to stick with being a vegetarian.

No reason why someone who is `quite sporty` and eats well would need to eat meat when they can get all they need from a vegetarian diet. As I said the athletes over on vegan fitness seem to do alright and they are more than a bit sporty.

Good luck.

--LOS--

Whether you eat meat or not, that's your decision, we're not going to judge you for it here and other people shouldn't either. I have to say though that there is nothing you need from meat that you can't get from a vegetarian diet, any claims about 'needing' meat for avoiding deficiencies or bettering sporting performance are just not true. Meat is just a protein source and obviously you need to substitute it with other protein sources on a vegetarian diet. A protein source is necessary, meat is not. You would get more benefit by adding fish to your diet tbh, but even that is not necessary, you can avail of vegan omega which has all the epa/dha that you may need, those tablets are expensive so I could see some reason for people adding fish to their diet. It sounds to me though that your overall diet may be lacking and you might want to reexamine it.

Tar.Aldarion

A few months ago, I used to have sugary cereal as 2 meals, loads of diet coke and only fruit, no veg so maybe I need time to get used to the changes I've already made.

You have to have a healthy diet for your body if you want to be healthy, you may not eat that stuff now but what do you eat? You have to enjoy what you eat also. What is it that you are having difficulty getting? What do you think you will gain from eating meat in this regard? I'm just surprised that you are finding it difficult after so long, it's something that is effortless after you are vegetarian for a while, as long as you put some thought in at the start. The only thing you could possibly need supplemented is Omega oils.

butlerjustine

butlerjustine wrote: »

I used to have sugary cereal as 2 meals, loads of diet coke and only fruit, no veg so maybe I need time to get used to the changes I've already made.

Are you not feeling well atm? Crappy cereals are a good source of Iron for lazy veggies. When I gave them up in favor of porridge, the unexpectedly sideeffect was that I became anemic. Maybe something needs to adjusted in your diet.

blatantrereg

watching my fat and carb intake

Is it that you are trying to maintain a low-carb diet? That might be hard to follow on a vegetarian diet because most vegetarian protein sources have carbs in them too. Personally I think low carb diets are a fad, and that they are no more effective than any other diet that eliminates sugar and processed crap. There's no benefit to avoiding complex carbs from wholefoods for most people. If losing weight is a motivation then maybe be aware that vegetarians statistically have a significanly lower BMI than meat-eaters.

Normal balanced nutrition is not difficult in a vegetarian diet, once you have a little knowledge about what sorts of things you need to eat. Like LOS said, the only thing that is not easily attained without supplementation is EPA. Omega 3 fats in vegetables are DHA, which converts into EPA at a poor rate (though it varies from person to person).

It's your decision of course. Personally I switched to a vegetarian diet for a few months before I switched permanently. The first time I didn't know anything about getting sufficient iron and things like that, and became pale and lacking in energy, so I switched back. When I found out a bit about vegetarian nutrition and switched again I found it suited me a lot better to be vegetarian though. I also remember that my digestion improved a great deal.

butlerjustine

Hi

Thank you to everyone for their replies. Sorry for the delay but I didnt see the replies until now.

Just to clarify a couple of things. My body fat % is 15 and I exercise 3-4 times per week so this is what I meant by sporty.

Other than my issue with cereals, my diet since I have been veggie is good. I did eat a lot of sugar but I also had carbs, greens, cheese etc.

My main reason for the thread was that now that I am trying to focus more on being as healthy (slim people aren't necessarily healthy) as I can without taking supplements, I am finding it tough to get all sources of vitamins and minerals into my diet on a daily basis. I was getting a bit frustrated putting flaxseeds, other seeds and spinach with everything. Maybe I dont need to do that but I was started to think, dare I say it, that eating fish a couple of times a week might eleviate some of the planning I do now.