Help me NOT be a veggie

[Gufo]

I've not eaten meat in over a a year, mainly because I feel guilty about the animals and what happens at the abattoir.

I always feel weak and tired, live on carbs and have gone up a dress size and never really know what to eat. I've tried lots of substitutes but then feel guilty about the plastic packaging and general bad-for-the-environment-ness. Veggie stir frys and curries are great - but not everyday!

I just want to eat meat a couple of times a week without feeling guilty. Any tips (apart from just eat the goddam sausage)?

As others have said, buy local, high welfare. In terms of climate impact, chicken is not too bad, no worse than cheese on the study I read.

I think they’re really nice and my family members who do eat meat enjoy them too
Lovely with colcannon and spiced red cabbage for a real wintery dinner

It’s ok to have compassion for your self and consider your health.

Look into your needs for key nutrients like:
Protein
Omega-3
Iron

Work out what you need in the way of fish, red meat, chicken etc to do that. Or opt for e.g. eating fish and taking an iron supplement.

Then eat enough to satisfy those needs but not much more. It might be a portion of meat or fish every second day. And then buy the highest welfare you can afford based on needing that quantity.

Oh and a Buddhist monk told me that the Dalai Lama eats meat for health reasons

You can avoid the issue of plastic bags at the butchers by taking your own containers with you - my friend takes Tupperware clip boxes (that are obviously not single use)

Find a good farm shop where the meat is slaughtered as near to the farm as possible, the animals are grass fed & not stuffed full of hormones. My local farm shop has the animals slaughtered on their land eliminating moving the animals around.

@WeekendCEO

I don't understand why, if the OP is asking for help how to not be vegan (because she is explaining her current diet is negatively impacting her health), some posters are insisting she should be vegan but anyway...

If you live on carbs, you’ll feel crap. I think you have to put a bit of thought and effort into what you eat if you want to feel good. And if she can make effort to cook a meat/fish meal then why was the only veggie alternative frozen pizza.

Weird thread.

My thoughts exactly. A crap diet is a crap diet, regardless of whether you’re eating meat or not. If you don’t address that, OP, and just start adding to meat to whatever carb-heavy diet you’ve already got, it seems likely you’ll be still feeling unhealthy plus you’ll also have the guilt you feel about eating meat.

So OP, what is your diet like right now, what do you actually eat? You are saying you never know what to eat - so if you add meat, you would eat meat plus carbs? In such case no, I don't think your diet would be massively healthier.
If weight gain is an issue, try this cookbook to start with www.waterstones.com/book/veggie-lean-in-15/joe-wicks/9781509856152

@Grumpylate20s

Have a bacon sarnie and just see how you go from there... I have a vegan friend who doesn't eat anything meat related apart from a bacon sarnie (with proper bacon not facon)

You don't have a vegan friend if they eat bacon. Ever. Whether it's once a year or once every 5 years.

Do people not get taught how to use dictionaries anymore?

I’ve tried being veggie and vegan and don’t thrive on either, despite being a competent and adventurous cook.

Now, I do eat meat but much less of it. I look up the most ethical meat and dairy brands and buy from them, or buy local when I can.

I eat 50% less meat in a serving than I used to, with more veg and pulses etc, and I still support vegetarian and vegan brands as well for things like ice cream, yoghurt, mayo, cream cheese etc. We have chickens so I eat their eggs. I never got on with veggie meat alternatives despite trying hundreds.

I do often feel guilty for not doing it perfectly. I do also feel better for having a small amount of good quality animal protein in my diet. So, that’s where I hover. What’s that saying? Don’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good? Something like that, anyway.

Well, it's perfectly possible to eat a healthier veggie diet. If you'd rather just eat meat then just get on with it I suppose? The choice is yours and I don't think stranger on the Internet can tell you that either is the right choice?

Oh and a Buddhist monk told me that the Dalai Lama eats meat for health reasons

I am wondering what health reasons?

Source your meat locally. A trip to your local farm shop to have a chat with their butcher would be a good first port of call. We breed lambs at home and sell lamb boxes. The lambs are born and reared outside. We take them to the abbatoir ourselves, in groups, with their field mates. At the abbatoir they are unloaded in to a barn with a lovely straw bed and are then taken through a door to slaughter. The actual slaughter is v quick and humane. These animals have a great life and would not be bred at all if there was no market for their meat.

You don’t need to eat meat. You need to eat a decent diet

At the abbatoir they are unloaded in to a barn with a lovely straw bed and are then taken through a door to slaughter. The actual slaughter is v quick and humane. These animals have a great life and would not be bred at all if there was no market for their meat

What you mean is if there was no money in meat.
The whole killing an animal to eat for me is abhorrent and it doesn’t matter whether it is in a large factory or a nice barn the end result is the same. A dead animal that is cut up and packaged and will end up on someone’s dinner plate.
And raising animals to be slaughtered is doing this planet no good.

'Why can't you just eat a better quality vegetarian diet? Nuts, pulses, seeds, green veg, dairy.'

Yes, why are you living on carbs anyway?

The healthiest people I know re low cholesterol and healthy bmis are vegetarians and vegans.

'The lambs are born and reared outside. We take them to the abbatoir ourselves, in groups, with their field mates. At the abbatoir they are unloaded in to a barn with a lovely straw bed and are then taken through a door to slaughter.'

'A lovely straw bed and though to slaughter'. Jesus. It's bad enough what you do without trying to make it sound all cute and cuddly

I eat mostly veggie but with some fish once or twice a week. Try to replace stodgy carbs with legumes and things like chick peas and lentils. Another helpful thing you can do is research countries where they have vegetarian culture to see what recipes can inspire you. Cheese yoghurt and eggs really help to fuel you too.

The healthiest people I know re low cholesterol and healthy bmis are vegetarians and vegans

There's also some vegetarians and vegans who eat an appalling diet. After all bread, chips, crisps, biscuits, alcohol and food like meat free sausages, burgers and pizzas are all vegetarian and often vegan.

I know more than one vegetarian or vegan who's diet is made up of such food and little in the way of vegetables and pulses.

Most of the worlds longest living and healthiest communities are vegetarian/vegan

But vegetarian/vegan done properly.
I don’t think any of them would eat frozen pizza.

There's also some vegetarians and vegans who eat an appalling diet.

Obviously. Unhealthy diet is unhealthy diet, but adding meat to your frozen pizza does not make it healthier.

Vegan, vegetarian or omnivore it takes a bit of effort not to eat badly or perhaps more accurately to work at a resistance to ultra-processed food that's just so easy to come by.

Thank so much for the thoughtful advice and helpful comments. Really appreciate it.