Been veggie for 18 years, but pg and craving meat - wwyd?

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

Meat has never looked or smelt so appealing, I'm craving it so much but feel guilty for even thinking about it! WWYD?

[frakkinaround]

Why are you veggie in the first place? And what is it you're craving about it?

Unless you're veggie for religious or medical reasons then there's surely no harm in. You may feel like you're compromising your ethics (maybe? guessing) but buy meat that's been well cared for and slaughtered humanely and don't beat yourself up about it.

I'm not veggie but I don't eat much meat. In fact I probably eat meat about once a month and when I do it's 'good' meat that's been looked after.

[Habbibu]

Depends why you're vegetarian. If you think eating meat is wrong, then you'll have to find a substitute - maybe you're craving protein? I like the Tivali veggie hot dogs - barely distinguishable from the "real" thing, though meat content of those questionable!

If you don't like farming practices (that's why I was veggie) then you could try buying meat with very high welfare standards occasionally.

[StealthPolarBear]

it's up to you - I'd do whatever you feel happy with, and of course it depends a lot on your reasons for being vegi.
I am vegetarian but took fish oil tablets when pregnant.

[sweetkitty]

I was veggie for years and this pregnancy I have craved sausage and egg mcmuffins from McDonalds, how bad is that? It's the only meat I am eating though.

[Ladygooga]

I was veggie for 17yrs til I was pg with dd1 and dh's steak called to me.

When I thought about it I was a veggie mainly for routines sake and not really for the reasons that I stopped eating meat in the first place.

Now I eat meat, not much compared to the rest of my family but make sure I buy free range/ welfare approved meat.

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

Hi sweetkitty, glad to see I'm not the only one from may having a meaty wobble! (That sounds wrong)

My reason for being veggie is mainly because dad decided that we were all going veggie after doing some work on a chicken farm, and what with the mad cow disease scare etc I suppose it made sense.

I didn't really have a choice in the matter, and moaned for a bit but was happy with it til now! I don't know why I want it, it's mainly the smell I think.

[cece]

I was veggie for 16 years. After DC2 I started dreaming about meat.... I held out till DC2 was 7 months and then had some chicken.

Haven't looked back since and now raging carnivore. When a veggie friend comes around to eat now I have no idea what to cook!

[Habbibu]

Well, in that case, I wouldn't have a problem eating good quality free range chicken, say - you'd be supporting high welfare standards!

[ReneRusso]

This happened to me after being veggie for 15 years. I craved meat when I was preg with DD2. Good old fashioned mince with gravy or spag bol. It was disgusting the first time but it did set me on the slippery slope and I gave up being vegetarian a few months later. I think cravings are probably there for a reason - perhaps you need some extra nutrients of some sort? Or you could be pathetic and weak like me and tuck in...

[BlauerEngel]

Hey Ladygooga, exactly the same thing happened to me, except that it was with dd2 after 17 years, and chicken tempting me. Funnily enough, during my preg with dd1 the very thought of meat made me nauseous.

I've eaten meat in the 7 years since then, partly because I want to encourage my awfully pale and aneamic-tending dds to get some iron-rich food in them, but I still don't eat the kind of meats that made me go veggie in the first place - lamb and pork. As a consequence none of us eat them at home. I think we've all made compromises - I eat and cook certain kinds of meat (chicken and mince), and the rest of the family don't nag me to cook the kinds I don't like.

[BlauerEngel]

OP, I do wonder if you're craving meat so much now because of an underlying low iron level. Maybe your body's trying to tell you something...

[Habbibu]

I craved pork pies in all my pregnancies. Then I'd throw up. Hmm.

[MumNWLondon]

Don't feel guilty! Its ok to eat a little meat if thats what your body wants.

It sounds as if you never really made the decision yourself not to eat it anyway, so why not have a little if you feel like it? Can always make sure its free range etc.

I usually don't eat much meat but have been eating more since pg.

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

BlauerEngel I was told I was anaemic last week, just started on iron tablets. Well, doubly anaemic cos I have pernicious anaemia too. Maybe that's it?

I... I think I'm still going to eat some.

[Lymond]

Just be careful to only eat a small amount to start with. When pg with dd1 I carved meat, despite not having eaten it for 13 years. I do eat fish though, but had totally gone off fish when pg. I tried steak and bacon, and didn't like the taste. Then tries roast lamb, which was delicious. However, just one slice gave me a terrible stomach ache... so bad I thught I was miscarrying.

After that I built up gradually, just one forkful one day, then 2 days later 2 forkfuls, etc..

I too had anemia and my consultant as happy that I was eating some meat.

[piratecat]

op, i was low in iron throughout my pg too. I used those Spatone sachets, added to water.

i don't remember craving meat. Those Tivali, and any supermarket hot dog sausages are good. As are cauldron sausages, great texture.
if you are not worried about it for welfare reasons, or becuase you just can't eat an animal (I'm that one) then you must go with what yuo feel is ok for you!!

[Lymond]

craved, not carved - though craving led to carving!

Just to say, I've only eat meat (organic lamb from bil's farm!) in each of my pregnancies, and don't fancy it again as soon as baby is born.

[onlyjoinedforoffers]

i was a veggie years ago and then i had a mc i thought of every single thing i could have done and decided to eat meat again until after next pregnancy just to make me feel ok about iron etc i am veggie now again strictly in a meat is murder type of way but i decided that my baby was more important than anything so if you want to eat meat do it

[WowOoo]

Why feel guilty? It's for your baby not you! (may be one way to make yourself feel better, i hope!)

Get some lush organic fillet steak. When I first ate meat after years off i realised why we had teeth and that we're meant to be carnivores. Good luck with rest of pregnancy and baby .

[pandora69]

Eat some meat!

I've been a voracious carnivore all my life - my mother taught us always to eat the meat on your plate first because an animal died for it. My parents made sure we were educated about where meat came from, and taught us to respect it. We mainly ate meat from wild game or animals we had reared ourselves, and that is the way we still eat today, with me keeping free range poultry for meat and my sister raising traditional breed pigs.

I can get very enthusiastic about meat animal welfare standards, so I'll try to limit it here, suffice to say that these days if you go to an independent butcher or farm shop you can buy some very well cared for meat (ie good animal welfare.) Don't go for the cheap cuts or the bargain chicken - these are the pieces of meat that will be most likely to have been 1. battery farmed and 2. overprocessed, which by the sound of it are some of what your father had a problem with.

We're evolved to eat meat - the enzymes in our digestive system and our teeth are proof of it. And I reckon that if we are physically developed to eat meat as part of our diet there will be some psychological input too, which is possibly making itself heard in you now that your body is needing more iron and protein.

So give into what smells good, buy well and enjoy it! Mmmm bacon butty!

[negrilbaby]

I'd been veggie for 21 years when I had DS. I didn't eat meat during the pregnancy but did once I started to wean him. I didn't really want him to be a vegetarian so young and couldn't bare feeding him things that I couldn't taste myself - plus the sound of the meat calling was getting unbearably loud. Life is sooooo much easier now that we can all eat the same thing at home.

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

Thanks for the tip Lymond, I haven't a clue. Tbh if I did eat meat it'd be cheaper and easier all round as my dp and ds eat meat and generally buying quorn/veggie options as well as meat costs us almost twice as much and often means me making two seperate meals every time.

[mosschops30]

I havent eaten red meat for years and started to crave it when I was pg, I could eat it but not cook it.
After a very traumatic time giving birth and the weeks after I decided to cram as much meat into me as possible particularly good red meat as my hb was 8.1.

I think bodies just know what they need, when they need it. You can stop eating it again when you are ready.

All this crap about 'stay strong' its not like youre craving a rock of crack, its meat fgs!

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

You're probably right Riven, however dp and ds don't eat much meat so I don't feel too bad from that perspective.

This is all my dp's fault, he buys delicious smelling things like chorizo sausage and garlic chicken. Hmm. Maybe it's really the garlic I'm craving!!