To consider eating meat again?

[Werehalfwaythere]

Any long term vegetarians out there who started eating meat again?

Ive always enjoyed the flavour of meat but have been vegetarian for approx 20yrs. My husband and kids are vegetarian too by proxy and it’s been an easy way of life for us.

Im starting to get bored with the same protein options now though and the carb heaviness of our diet. I’m lacking inspiration and don’t have much time to cook with young children. Eating meat and fish again seems like a tasty and easy option.

But it feels incredibly weird to be considering it, even a nibble, and I’m not sure what to do!

Have you done it?

Did you regret it?

Reintroduce meat slowly. And get used to it again.

I was never full veggie- my ex was vegetarian so 90% of my diet matched his. When we split and I went back to my preferred diet I lost about a stone and a half and my energy levels went up. (Although I might not have been ground down by him)

Vegetarian 35 years - the thought of ripping flesh apart with my teeth is vile - purely ethical reasons - however I am glad I took this path as my meat eating counterparts are all on statins ! High cholesterol - together with all the hormones they pump into animals before they are slaughtered! I am glad I stopped eating my fellow animals!

I was a long term veggie but feel so much healthier as a meat eater. More energy, better skin, more of a glow.
Ive tried to go back veggie a couple of times but it makes me feel noticeably worse.

I do try and buy as higher welfare/ small scale/ organic as possible and not all the time but I thinks flexible approach to food is good. Listen to your body, if it is craving something you probably need something from it.

You can try reintroducing meat in a very limited way - once a week meat, once a week fish? It would make your food more varied and there still would be majority of the positive impact.

Do you use eggs as a dinner protein? Some people consider it breakfast food, but we never have time to make eggs at breakfast and we really like things like omelettes and eggs in general, so we eat them in the evening

@Unsureabouteverything
A vegetarian diet is extremely healthy but like everything people can eat unhealthily. Just as many meat eaters do.
As someone whose had kids including twins with very little effort in getting pregnant and considering 30% of the worlds population is vegetarian I think you’ll find there’s no problem there.

There are no significant population declines in mainly vegetarian eating cultures and there never has been.

Yes, read my second post.

Well said

And yet
As I said it’s all about eating healthily.
Look at the dangers of eating too much meat for example to women

Then of course there’s a lot of research on the negative effects on male fertility corresponding to meat consumption.

You see
Its all about a healthy diet
Whatever the makeup is

Careful the veggie police don’t come at you for being a fake vegetarian! I’ve already had my telling off.. 🤪

@Wonderberry pre kids, cooking was a hobby of mine. I’ve always found it easy to follow recipes and I’m confident in the kitchen.

But I simply don’t have the time. I work full time, have three young children and a house that seems to forever need work doing to it, along with normal chores and clubs and family and friends etc.

I cook, of course. But it’s simple stuff that I’m absolutely bored of. I’m also bored of the same flavour profiles. I’d love to pick up cooking again as a hobby but my 3yr old is clingy and I can’t cook with little hands everywhere.

@Emanresuunknown eggs form a largish part of my kids diet. Husband and I probably have 2 a week each, should probably up it (although it’s not like the egg industry is any more ethical).

@Werehalfwaythere Cooking every night for a household is relentless. DH and I alternate during the week and then weekend is dependent on our plans/DSC's plans. Maybe making that a bit more even would help. Cooking involves a lot of mental load - planning/shopping/executing/making something up when there's hardly anything in. Whereas hoovering, making the beds or folding laundry are contained jobs and are pretty low on the mental load scale and you can do other things while doing it (radio/TV/call a friend) so it isn't really a fair split. I remember when my DH was job hunting a while ago I said I would cook every evening to allow him time to job hunt at the end of each day after his (then) current job ended at 5pm. I was so fed up after a couple of weeks!!

I hope you find a way to make it work while staying true to your ethics.

My sister recently started eating chicken again after years as a pescatarian and she seems to be very happy with her decision and her health is better. I think it's partly because her new partner struggles to digest pulses and she avoids dairy so she was really limited in food they could share.

I've been vegan for years and can't see myself ever eating meat again, it's become a sort of phobia. But I'd be open to considering eggs and fish in the future if I was sure they were ethically/sustainably farmed/fished.

I agree with PPs that mentioned the availability of high-quality, ethically sourced meat in the UK which would likely be a good place to start.

Depending on your reasons for giving up meat: I've also heard that venison is one of the most sustainable and ethical meats you can eat - the deer have to be culled to prevent overpopulation and damage to trees so environmentally eating venison is very sustainable, they aren't mass-farmed or pumped with antibiotics, or fed on feed which contributes to deforestation, and they live free range lifestyles right to the end. You could even argue that they have a fighting chance.

Agree 100%

We alternate who cooks
Apart from giving you a rest every other day and not having to think about what to cook every single day of the week I love the fact my dh chooses to cook different things to me. So we get so much more variety.
His curries are better than mine too ……. I’m happy to admit 😗

Absolutely
because it’s naughty 😉

I’m an ethical vegan of thirty two years and would never take anything from an animal to eat. I dont actually enjoy some of the food I have to eat because of my veganism. But I have no right whatsoever to deprive an animal of its right to life just because I hate chickpeas and tofu. It’s simply not necessary to exploit animals in order for me to be alive. Something wrong with people who can look an animal in the eye and be complicit in its death.

I do find it sad to see how many people have decided that actually, no, they don't really care about animal cruelty. Up to them of course- people care about different things, and one thing I know is you cannot MAKE people care.
But good luck OP- I hope you find some interesting recipes and give them a go 🙂

@TheseThings100% that, especially now, with such an easy access to SM showing piglets’ teeth being cruelly cut out so they don’t bite each other due to lack of space, cows being separated from a calf too early, chickens not having any room to roam and biting each other. I could go on and on but sure, why not introduce meat for some more variety and park the animal cruelty thoughts to one side.

I pressed you are not being unreasonable by accident btw. Please don't start contributing to that industry again

Firstly, whoever said Quorn is not a UPF - it most definitely is. How many natural foods have trademark symbols after their name?! Potato®️? Almonds ™️?? 🤣

OP, I'm in a similar situation. Have tried little tastes of meat here and there and I'm kind of just waiting for the tipping point before going all in back to eating meat. Being totally honest, I just don't care as much as I did in my teens, when I went veggie 35+ years ago. Right now I just want to be strong, fit and healthy and build muscle and I feel that meat would probably be a faster route to that than lentils. And now, perimenopausal and getting wrinkly, I'm thinking, "Would all that loose skin on my neck look a bit better if I'd just been eating meat all these years?" I don't know - who does.

A couple of people upthread have said most Westerners get too much protein; others (well, one at least) said we definitely don't get enough! I'm really baffled by the conflicting information - which is true?

If you're bored now, you'll be just as bored again six months after adding meat.

Do you rely on processed food?

I was a vegan for 4 years and went back to eating animal products. No regrets.

The protein industry makes a lot of claims about protein requirements.
the NHS and other health bodies with less money in the market say that westerners get more than enough

follow the money