I want to eat meat after 10 years of vegetarianism/veganism

Go for it @Iwantasteak You've given a decade to veganism, and your body is clearly crying out for meat. I know 2 people right now who have been vegans for 10 years and 15 years, and they have both started lapsing, and eating milk related, and egg related things (and cheese.) Just this year... Both early 30s. No meat, but they are not vegans anymore.. I think it's untenable to be a vegan all your life (for most people.)

These 2 people were quite preachy to be honest, but most people around them aren't judging or gloating, everyone around them is just pleased they have stopped being a vegan! 😆 (Because they no longer have judgy comments and side-eyes from the vegans when they eat egg or cheese, or drink milk!)

Weirdly I was a vegetarian for 20yrs, then started eating meat again, but when I was pregnant I went completely off it!!

I eat meat again now, but I think I was a lot healthier when I was a vegetarian.

Do what you want, honestly people are too busy with their own stuff to care. You sound like you enjoy the performative aspect of veganism, just find something else to bang on about - hyrox? cottage cheese?

As a vegan, I hope one day everyone will be vegan and we will find a way to do that. I still don’t care what any one person does. If you want to eat animal products, do it. If you don’t, don’t.

What I do find difficult to believe is that a vegetarian or vegan would post this here knowing the shit that vegans and vegetarians gets. This is the 4th thread I’ve seen this week that seems designed to cause division on this subject.

I went vegetarian at 14 because I didn’t like meat. I didn’t like the texture or the taste.

In my 30s, I started eating fish and seafood but still didn’t eat meat because I just did not want to and felt no lack in my life from not eating meat.

In the last few months, I’ve started to have the odd bit of bacon, mostly in particular dishes. I have to admit, it did make me question myself a bit because my dietary identity since I was 14 has been that I don’t eat meat. I still don’t want to eat most meat and could not eat a steak, burger or sausages, for example.

I’ve never described myself as a vegetarian unless I needed to when on holiday abroad or in a place where ‘pescatarian’ wasn’t a thing.

I think people’s tastes and feelings change over time.

Indulge those cravings!
I was veggie/ vegan for most of my 20’s and 30’s. When I hit menopause, chicken ( particularly Nando’s ) appeared on my radar. That was it, I went for it. Also tuna mayonnaise, the skin on a roast chicken, chicken Balti..just yum! 😋

Then do. I've been veggie for 35 years, but that's my business not anyone else's. Eat what you want to eat, why deny yourself because you're worried what other people (who it sounds like aren't even veggie themselves) will think?

Both my daughters have independently stopped being vegetarian in the last 12 months after many years.
Your future choices do not need to be defined by decisions you’ve made in the past. The only person backing you into a corner and making it difficult to come out is you.
Eat what you want to, enjoy eating with your baby and your husband. Make your own decisions for your life now.
No need to make any big announcements, just quietly order the chicken dish next time you’re out. Unless you’ve been militant and judgemental of others in the past then no one else should care less what you choose to eat now.

Absolutely it's your choice, sadly I've worked in a slaughter house and seen the misery. I wouldnt judge you, but would feel for the animals. We can choose, thank god. They cannot.

I don't think other people's views on it should come into account.

If you want to eat meat on a regular or one-off basis then do.

I was vegetarian from 13-20 then started eating meat again, going back to veggie a few years ago. I'm probably more flexi than veggie, as if I'm out for a meal or away on holiday and there is nothing veggie on the menu I want to eat, I will eat meat. My family are meat eaters too so I eat food that has "touched" theirs. I wouldn't say I am "flexitarian" IRL though as it sounds made up and no one cares.

My husband and I were vegan/ veggie for nearly a decade, been eating meat again now for two years and happy to have made the switch! I feel overall now our diets are much more varied and have the best of both worlds.

I was a vegetarian for five years and when I became pregnant I decided to start eating meat. I started just chicken a couple of times a week and now I’ll eat all meat except lamb, veal, rabbit and venison. Truth be told, I missed meat horrendously and craved to so much during my first trimester that I decided my body much have needed it!

I was vegetarian for 20 years, then got pregnant and craved red meat soooo much from around 6 months. I gave in to the cravings as I figured my body was telling me something, and I’ve never gone back. Cooking simple meals with meat was so much easier than cooking veggie, and when you have a baby you just want everything to be as easy and quick as possible! Also breast feeding can be exhausting, and I found that meat gave me more sustained energy. I’ve never looked back, and it wasn’t once questioned by anyone I knew. Now I’m the one who rolls their eyes when a house guest tells me they’re veggie, as it’s much more hassle having to make something different. Made me realize how much effort my mum put in for me when I was a veggie teen though!

I think your veggie friends might be curious, but your meat-eating friends won’t give it any thought at all.

if you crave meat, try it a couple of times in a week and see how you feel. Women need much more protein as we get older because we can’t absorb it as well as we used to, and meat is a very good source of protein.

I've got friends who have gone from veggie to eating meat and it was never a massive deal from my side. Mildly pleased it gives me more options if I'm cooking for them. No, you don't owe anyone an explanation, but I don't think it's unreasonable for someone to be curious as to why. One of my friends was just really craving meat. And do tell people if it's relevant! i.e. if they are cooking for you or booking a restaurant; I'd be annoyed if I specifically avoided meat etc for no reason when planning.

I'm on a break from being veggie as I'm menopausal and craved meat. Honestly, noone has noticed and it's lovely being able to eat family meals!

I tried going back to fish and eggs but I couldn't keep it up, only lasted about a week. Was so much harder going back than going vegan in the first place, weirdly.

I didn't eat meat for about twenty years - still had fish occasionally, so pescatarian, this was through 80's & 90's - eating out was often HARD.
I was then extremely anaemic - more to do with long and heavy periods in perimenopause than my diet - but went back to eating meat occasionally.
Maybe your body is craving meat following the rigours of pregnancy and breast feeding?
Have meat if you want it - you don't have to switch to giant steaks at every meal, and you can drop it from your diet altogether again in the future if you want to.

As pp's have said , as long as you've not been to preachy about it, I doubt anyone will care.

Why were you vegan? Was it on ethical / animal cruelty grounds?
If so, there are lots of ethical meat sellers. Plenty of wild-shot game and UK meat reared on small farms. Google high welfare meat and you’ll find them. expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

Most of the vegetarians and vegans I knew in my 30s have now reverted to meat. I didn't think anything of it… in fact I came to expect it.
It's your body and what you eat is your business and no-one else's.
We have incisor teeth for a reason.

Bumped into a guy l know who was a vegan in the queue at the butchers! I did say oh didn't expect to see you in here but not in a judgy way - he said he eats meat now but not every day and better quality. His body, his choice. You do you op (l bloody love a steak sandwich at Miller and Carter so no judgement here!)

Are you sure you are not pregnant? My lifelong veggie friend's first sign was fancying a lamb chop!

Noone will care. It's a shame you see it as part of your personality, as noone is interested in what others eat. If anything they'll be pleased as you'll be easier to accommodate.

I've been vegetarian since childhood (my choice) but decided when I wanted to get pregnant I would eat some meat because I think it's best for the baby.

I'll be honest, I don't enjoy it at all but I felt anemic during early pregnancy and after eating meat it's like the lights have turned back on.

I would also like my children to not have any food issues (which I think my choice to become vegetarian came from initially) so I will try to cook meat for family dinners fairly regularly.

If anyone has any tips for getting used to eating it again I'd really appreciate it. I've had steak, lasagne, chilli, bolognese, salmon steaks. Lasagne was the easiest

How do you know their lives are happy? Most farmed animals lives aren't.

The poster described themselves as an "ethical meat eater" you have to include the killing part as well as the rearing part.

If you want to be a meat eater you don't get to also say you are doing it ethically. Unfortunately, you can't enslave and kill in an ethical way.