How does one be vegan and not crave meat?

I watched a video called Eathlings and immediately became vegan. That was a while ago and I haven't had meat cravings since. I've definitely looked over a menu at a restaurant and thought how much easier it would be if I were a meat-eater at certain venues, but then I remember my own values and realise that me saying to the waiter, "Okay, I want this, with no dressing and this, with this please" is well worth it, if it means I'm not eating animal products.

 

I agree, same thing happened to me. I had been toying with the idea of vegansim for health reasons. Then I watched Earthlings and I immediately became vegan as well. I guess few people can watch that and keep their habits.

 

I took a tour of a slaughterhouse. That'll do it, if you can find one. I'm not getting into what I saw. It was horrible. There are many good meat substitutes and some not so good.

My # 2 son has been vegan since he was 15. Now 32 and works his ass off at roofing. No drop-off in strength at all.

The most difficult time for me is when I smell a barbecue.

 

If one is a vegan and they crave meat, it's probably because, like many vegans, they are deficient in vital nutrients the body needs to be healthy and function properly. That craving comes from their body telling them they need something which they are not getting. I have seen no evidence that a vegetarian or vegan diet is healthier than one that incorporates animal fats and proteins, granted they are of a sustainable, non-factory farm source. In fact, the more I learn, the less healthy I come to realize that vegan and vegetarian diets are. I am not saying you can't be a vegetarian and be healthy, but I don't think many are. The fact is that 80% of long-term vegans are deficient in vitamin B12, which is needed for proper mental function. 50% of vegetarians are also deficient in vitamin B12. B12 deficiency causes dementia, cognitive impairment, depression, and degenerative mental disorders. Furthermore, vegetarians and vegans have lower muscle creatine and carnosine levels. In short, it would appear that many vegans suffer from impairments in both their mental and physical health.

Humans need animal fat and protein in their diet to achieve optimal health, and the fact is that the only complete proteins are animal proteins. All evidence points to the fact that the human body is designed to eat meat, and that not doing so can potentially have consequences to one's health.

It's quite ironic how so many vegans will admit to craving meat, all while in the same breath telling you that meat is unhealthy and that humans shouldn't be eating it.

 

We also crave sugar, fat and salt as humans. Are you saying those cravings mean we should be eating more of those things?
(FYI I am vegetarian - not vegan - and don't crave meat at all).

 

Well, aside from sugar, the others aren't nearly as bad as some people seem to think.

I don't want to go off on too much of a tangent, but...

Fat from whole food sources like butter, coconut oil and grass-fed beef is extremely healthy, and almost everyone could stand to be getting more of these healthy saturated fats their diet. When people crave fat, it's likely because they're deficient in it, or not getting the right kinds of fat. Unfortunately, many people instead turn to foods loaded with trans fats when they get these cravings, which are unhealthy fats and truly cause damage to the body. All I am trying to say is that it's important that people differentiate the different types of fat.

As far as salt goes, the body needs salt, and there is nothing wrong with incorporating real sea salt into one's diet granted you don't go overboard. Unfortunately, too much of the crap most people salt their food with probably is not very healthy. Still, salt tends to receive more of a bad rap than it should.

Sugar is the big one, and this is most responsible for making people sick and obese. I find that of all the cravings a person can get, craving sugar is the one that tends to disappear once you eliminate it from you diet. I have found this holds true for most people. The longer they distance themselves from sugar, the less they crave it, until they eventually no longer crave it at all.

Unlike the other two, the body doesn't crave sugar because it needs it, but because it's essentially addicted to it. Because so many people eat diets laden in added sugar and refined carbs, they have unstable blood glucose and insulin levels, and this is often a big reason people crave sugar and end up eating way too much of it.

Sorry if I rambled too much.

 

I agree with PR on this.
Humans are omnivores, plain and simple.
Adopting any other type of diet is going to introduce issues to one degree or another.

The issue as I perceive it isn't the eating of meat and animal products, it's the percentages that we eat are skewed.
We tend to consume much more meat than is prudent for the design of our digestive systems, but completely eliminating animal products is also not the answer because our bodies are designed to eat a wide variety of food, plant and animal.


Honestly I am always confused at the vegans /vegetarians who claim humans shouldn't eat any animal products??????
If that were the case we would have very different digestive systems, so I guess you guys need to take it up with God, Mother Earth, Buddha or whatever you do or don't pray to.

 

Point; If you were Inuit living in the polar regions in the 1800's, if you didn't eat meat your life expectancy wouldn't have been much more than a coupla years of breastfeeding.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/07/mortality-and-lifespan-of-inuit.html


Op,It's axiomatic in nature. everything is connected. For something to live, something else must die.

 

Power of a vegetarian diet:

http://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2013/02/25/101-year-old-vegetarian-runner-completes-his-final-marathon/

If you are a new vegan and crave meat, meat substitutes might help. I wouldn't recommend eating them very frequently over the long term, because they can contain some nasty ingredients. Just try and do a lot of reading, educate yourself in full. I think you will find that your mind, body, and spirit thrive on a vegetarian or vegan diet.

 

I understand why humans may have needed to eat meat in the past and it makes total sense why they needed to do so. The Ice Age especially, when food choices were scarce, and some parts of the world today, where options are slim, of course people will do what they need to do to eat.

However, peoples reasons for not eating meat are as varied as the reasons people do eat meat. Do not assume that someone would take a look at their stomach design, teeth etc (as people who eat meat are so eager to indicate as reasons why we should all rush out and fire up a BBQ) and decide that this means they have no choice in whether or not they should eat meat.

People may not eat animals due to religious reasons, ethical reasons, environmental reasons. We are really fortunate today to live in a world where as long as we ALL watch what we are eating (meat eaters included), a variety of foods are easily accessible to most of us, and we can meet our nutritional requirements usually from a trip to the supermarket or the health store.

I personally don't eat meat, because I despise factory farming and am not that much more comfortable with slaughterhouses in general. I wouldn't kill and gut an animal myself and then eat it, so don't see why I should be happy for anyone else to do it for me and just pretend it was always a pretty pink slab of meat and it wasn't a terrified animal that didn't want to die. I can get by just fine without meat, but would be very unwell without plants. So that's the choice I made - to become a vegetarian.

That may not be the choice for everyone, but it works for me.

 

I understand that healthy fats and good sources of salt are essential. What you mentioned about sugar is actually very similar to what happens to people who choose to give up meat or dairy.

They may miss it at first, but as times goes by, don't really miss at all. Of course everyone is different and I can only speak for myself. I crave dairy products a lot (and am not vegan, so still often consume them), however I am from New Zealand where dairy is the backbone of the economy - is a massive part of what most of us eat, and the quality of our dairy products is very, very high.You drive 20 minutes from pretty much any town in the country and you will need the cows grazing in the fields.

When I live overseas, where the dairy is shit and I know it comes from factory farms, I don't touch it at all, don't want it.

Milk, cheese and cream products usually make my stomach feel like total shit 20 minutes after I eat them, but I still crave them

Foods have massive cultural and psychological associations for the people that eat them. Who knows why we crave certain foods?

 

I never really craved meat when I was a vegan, but I quite being vegan at some point because I didnt want to do it anymore. I can definitely eat vegan and be just fine not eating meat.... But its just not me, and the gas was a problem as I mentioned in another post.
Some vegans do they, which is why there are meat substitutes! I dont think its because of "deficiencies" and stuff, because vegans can live artificially with supplements and stuff. Ive heard thats not really good for you, that people who use multivitamins and stuff live approximately 7 years shorter, but hey who gives a shit? We all live artificially these days, with vaccinations and all that... drugs... vitamins. We fortify dairy milk with vitamin D since nobody gets it naturally anymore because even the omnivores are using artificial means to get decent nutrition. Who do you know eats intestines, livers, skin, eyeballs, tongues, and brains on a regular basis these days? Pretty much no one. Not many people in the developed world anyway.

 

When I first chose to become vegan I did it because I started to actually think where everything came from.. and then started to research and still research.. I am at a point where the smell or even just looking at anything that comes from any animal in some way either makes me physically ill or very upset.. I think research really makes you appreciate and be proud of what you are doing for the animals.
There are so many products/applications available to assist with figuring out what constitutes what.. for example Skinny Bitch book of Vegan swaps is a good starting point
Eggs are not vegan.. I hope this helps!

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Really? It's giving up meat, not sex. I can honestly say I've never craved meat. I went vegetarian 18 years ago. Why would I want to eat a dead body that has been tortured? Why would someone crave that?

 

Yes!!!

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I'm not a vegan, I'm a vegetarian, an unhealthy one in that.

Anyways, since I was a little girl I was put off by meat. I didn't like the idea that it came from something that once was alive and I didn't like the texture of it most of the time. Flavors were good, but as I got older... I realized that the flavors didn't come from the meat it comes from seasoning. So, one day I went to my mom and told her I was going to become a vegetarian. She laughed. But, it happened. At first, it was on and off, but one day I did it and didn't stop.

However, for the life of me I can't become a healthy vegetarian. So, I don't consider myself a vegetarian because I think that's what a true vegetarian is. I say it for the sake of labeling because that's the only way people understand things. But, I just think of myself as someone who doesn't eat meat. I wouldn't even go as far as to say I'm someone that doesn't eat meat byproducts because I take medication and I'm sure that has gelatin in it. Granted, I don't eat marshmallows or jello, but I'm sure somewhere in my diet I have traces of meat byproduct, even though I don't have meat in the flesh.

It's complicated, to say the least, lol.

 

I have been wanting to become a vegetarian for some time now and I have even had a few failed attempts. I just can't seem to let go of meat as I have to cook it for the rest of the family. Perhaps I should watch this Earthlings programme *A veggie wannabe looking for inspiration * xx