I have been a vegetarian for 10 months now, and I have made the long hard decision to come back to eating meat, I can't be a vegetarian any more. I can't deal with the meat cravings (it's been all I think about for weeks) and I just plain don't feel healthy. With school getting more difficult, and working more hours at my job, I just don't have time to maintain a healthy vegetarian diet. When I first started I was eating very very healthy, tofu, steamed veggies, all sorts of healthy dishes with plenty of nutrients and protein etc., but now with everything I have to be responsible for I just plain can't do it. I don't have the time, and I feel tired and useless all the time lately. Now, I don't want anyone to try and talk me out of it, I've made my decison, but I do have a question. How can I come back to eating meat? I mean is there any process I have to go through to eat it again? I'm sure I can't make my first meal a double bacon cheesburger or something like that, what should I do to start?
Just my two cents.. but I think the reason you don't feel healthy being vegetarian is because you haven't been doing it properly. You apparently have not been feeding your body a balanced veg diet complete with all your specific dietary needs so it's caused you to feel like shit. This is a common mistake. It's cool... you do have to do what's best for you. I don't think maintaining a healthy veg diet is difficult at all, you just don't want to do it anymore. That's okay. You don't have to create excuses for why you want to eat meat again (school, work, time & responsibilties being your excuses...imho). You've simply made the decision to quit being veg because that's what you want to do. As for going back to meat, well... I won't help ya there. You're on your own with that one unless someone else cares to enlighten you on how to do it. I don't know if the veg arena is the best place to get tips on how to go back to eating meat. I'd suggest posting this in the health forum. Seems more appropriate and I think maybe you'll find more receptive peeps willing to lend you a hand with that.
agreed. go find a Weston Price board if you wish to resume killing sentient beings for your dinner. Because 10 months is such a freaking sacrifice. guess what: you just ran out your stores without a decent diet. Sure, when you do too much, you don't have time to consume enough of the right things, and fast food burritos are a stop gap, not the right things. So you figure out HOW to do it. For me, it was cooking half the day on my day off from classes and work and freezing my own frozen dinners. and scheduling pizza days so my son would remember that sustinence does not come from cardboard. I kept plenty of fresh fruit in my book bag, camera bag, car, wherever I could stash some. Day without the kiddo, that's all I'd eat. I also learned to use whole grains over anything else. and canned soup. Lots of canned soup.
i just wanted to say, having been a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE meat eater before going veg that the cravings DO go away!!! And there's so much veggie meat imitation available when you just can't handle it. It's such a cop out if you ask me. You "can't handle the cravings".....*rolling my eyes* and if you don't have the "time" to not eat meat than you're going about veg*ism all wrong. i compare my quitting meat to a smoker quitting cigs. I couldn't sleep, i was stressed, over emotional, i got sweaty, anxious, i overate, i underate, i felt sick all the time, headaches. You'd think i was making this shit up but i wasn't. And don't get me wrong, none of this was because i "need meat in my diet to be healthy" like most MEAT EATERS would say....it was all psychological. I just craved meat that bad. That didn't go away for just over a year. But you know what? i did it. I was unexperienced as they come when it came to my decision. I once ate a head of lettuce for dinner because i had no money or clue how to make anything else without meat. I've been veg for around 3 years now and i've never felt better about myself; i never crave meat and barely even feel the need to buy immitation shit & i eat better than i ever did clogging my colon with rotting animal flesh.
Well said! I really don't understand how you can't have time to be veg. There are heaps of quick, easy and healthy things you can eat. I don't see how being veg is any more difficult than eating meat. Don't take the easy way out and make excuses! Think back to why you went veg in the first place and think about what you can do to keep it up. Being busy is no excuse to consume animals.
well if youre not willing to eat veggies or spend 5 minutes making a stirfry or whatever youre not going to be healthy anyway. And how on Earth eating meat would help i do not know...meat is NOT healthy... But hey, whatever
make your own frozen dinners when you have the time. or just buy them. Amy's makes alot of vegetarian dishes. Hell, I saw frozen vegetarian meatloaf in the store the other day. I'm big on the faux meats and it takes no time at all to sau-tae a veggie burger (do not microwave!!). I make me and my sweetie whole meals in less than 10 minutes, 15 if I want to be fancy. And fresh fruit and veggies are ready by themselves. So whats the real reason you want to quit vegetarianism?
Yeah you are probably craving meat because you are lacking some vitamin or mineral. There are quick easy ways to eat healthy, like the above poster, Amy's has so much great vegetarian fast food, its awesome. But I understand that it can be hard. And if you really don't feel healthy then you gotta do what you gotta do. You might just even lacking fat.. Sometimes I just have to eat some cheese.
changed my mind. stayin vej my meat cravings have subsided, i feel pretty good that i got through that
I ate some chicken a few weeks into being veg. It made me feel good on the inside, but I realized that I was simply lacking proper nutrition. After that, I learned to cook for myself and how to get proper nutrition, and i haven't had any problems with cravings since.
Damn, I eat maybe 6 times a week, max! Tonight, I stopped by to visit my mom and my siblings, and she was cooking chicken, and my mouth was spewing water like a faucet! Sure, I wanted to eat the chicken, fuck, I wanted to eat anything that came my way because I havent eaten since Sunday morning. I am flat broke, I can afford to buy my son food, and I can afford to eat when I absoultley have to, but other than that I save all the money I can so that I may be able to be a good father and provider for him. I laugh when people complain about not eating right, I barley ever eat, and when I do it is food no one would want to eat unless they were starving. And I havent eaten meat in over a year now. It is not that difficult, and it should not be a hard desicion, I wouldn't go rape a woman because I was starved for sex, and in my mind, that is just as bad as eating an animal
Wow! Touche' Relayer! And 420fuchs * insert cheering and applause* woohooo!!! I applaud your decision to stay veg! That's rockin' good news! arty:
You need to set a good health example for your son. Not eating much can set a life long example that maybe you don't want them to follow. Good food is cheap and often cheaper than meat. No matter how poor I have been and what bills there have been to pay I have always managed to eat reasonably well. I really don't know your financial situation however maybe you need some financial counselling so you can sort out how to stagger payments for stuff so that you can eat properly? Your longterm good health is on the line and this is far more important to your son than some of the other more material aspects of life. Good luck and I only wish I was closer and you could eat with us every day cause I damn well have to freeze stuff most of the time in order not to waste it and unfortunateely some stuff doesn't freeze so well!
Glad to hear you decided to stick it out. You may have to know a little more about nutrition as a vegetarian to make sure you get all your nutrients, but it really isnt' that hard, and is actually cheaper and often quicker to prepare veg meals than meat-based ones. Try getting some good cookbooks (check out the cookbook thread on this forum) and search this forum for lots of great nutritional info, ideas for substitutions, etc. If you ever feel like eating meat again, go to meat.org and watch the video. That'll cure your meat cravings. Oh, and one other recommendation for anyone who wants to track what they eat and make sure they're getting nutrients: check out sparkpeople.com - it's supposed to be a weight loss site but they have great tools for keeping track of your diet and exercise patterns. I've been using it the past few days and it's great to be able to see what I need more of or where I need to supplement. I also have a chart of vitamins and food sources for each of them on my wall (I got it from the vegan society) that is really handy for making sure my diet is balanced and I'm getting all my nutrients. Best of luck, and stay veg. Friends don't let friends eat animals.
