I ate meat for the first time in 16 years last night

[dinny]

And feel absolutely terrible - disgusted with myself (have been veggie for years for moral reasons). I have been craving meat this whole pregnancy and last night I decided I would see if I could eat some chicken. I did and, my goodness, it was wonderful.

But today I feel so cruel. Should I keep eating it if my body wants it or try to satisfy craving with other proteins?

Ooohhhh keep eating it I say if you crave it you must need it - well thats what I say when I crave Bountys anyway!! - there must be something good for DS in that coconut that is making him want me to have it!!

Dinny - can't you do a pheobe from friends and whilst your eating meat get someone else to be a veggie for you in the mean time! Then you won't feel so bad.

Totally sympathise dinny...
I've been a veggie for 14 years and have found myself wanting chip-shop sausages all the time! I haven't given in (yet!) because the plan is to bring the baby up veggie too. DH and MIL don't agree with this as they are meateaters, but I argue that's it's been veggie so far and when baby's old enough to decide he/she can.

Don't beat yourself up about eating the chicken, it's done, you haven't done anything terrible or harmed your baby in any way, so forget about it. Maybe try staying veggie as much as you can (IYKWIM), but when the cravings are too much, give in and eat meat rather than drive yourself crazy thinking about it and denying yourself.

Are you planning on being veggie after the birth? You might find it hard to go back to the restricted menu choices when eating out after eating meat, I know I would! Good luck

they have proved that preg cravings are all psychosomatic and when mothers are given supplements of the type of thing they crave ( eg vit c for orange cravings) they still havet he cravings

Although I have been eating meat on and off for the last few years, I was vege for 10 years and still get that disgusted thing.
Especially found like you had the craving during pregnancy but then the disgusted feeling too. Just tried to keep it to a minimum and thought it is still quite a small amount compared to most meat eating people

It's just so weird - I usually can't stand even looking at meat at all. And in my last pregnancy I didn't crave it. Just this one.

DH is (annoyingly) really pleased as he can't understand being vegetarian at all.

i was a veggie for 9 years until I was pg ... it was bacon that did it for me though!

I have been a veggie for 20 years and craved sausage when pg - tried a bit of dd's and was nearly sick. Dinny - don't worry your body prob needs protein.

I crave bleach, doesn't mean I go and drink it!! (only joking, what I actually crave is the smell of bleach not the taste!!) o

I am a veggie, one of the annoying liberal ones, and I craved McDonalds - argh on 2 counts!!!

The meat eaters LOVE it when we want meat for any reason. Go with what you feel you need I say. I do feel that our bodies would know the difference and if we started eating too much of it, we would suffer all the horrible side effects of putting dead things in ourselves i.e. constipation, bloating, bad breath - all the stuff that comes with your body trying to digest something difficult. I really mean that on a practical level though, am not trying to reiterate the veggie case.

I usually feel bloated when I've had vegetables. Meat makes me go to the toilet.

It's probably a case of what your body is used to. I eat loads of fruit and veg, but apparently that amount would create havoc for someone not used to it!!

Why do meat eaters want veggies to eat meat too? My dh is obsessed with me eating meat.

Can't believe you craved Big Macs, Beansprout! I just feel so awful a chicken was killed to satisfy my tummy.

Oh Macrobiotic Gwynnie ate McDOoalds and all stuff when she was preggers - us mere mortals should be able to get away with it!!

Dinny - do you really think that there would be one more chicken running around out there (or actually sitting in a tiny shitty little cage probably wanting to be dead) if you had not eaten chicken - Noooooo - it would have been sitting on the same supermarket shelf youpicked it up from.

Don't sweat it - I would never give up meat cause I like it but I think that if enough people gave it up to make a huge difference to the amount that is produced then maybe I would but me giving it up is not going to make any difference at all and I can never resist a smoked bacon sandwich on lovely fresh white bread - yummy yummy!!

I made sure I bought Taste The Difference Free Range chicken (well, always do for dd). Hope that means it had an OK life.

Did know Gwyn ate meat when preggers. Just shows how what slaves we are to our hormones!

Well better than a battery hen but still probably not the best kept chicken in chicken land!!

Twinkie you always make me laugh. Drooling over a smoked bacon sarnie on a veggie thread! LOL

I have to confess I've had 2 McDonalds whilst preg I thought if I want one I'll have one and haven't got myself too upset about it.

I've got something in common with Gywn thought the pics of her pushing her new baby round London were great she even seems to still have a little belly too.

That will be all the Big Macs she scoffed then!

I was a committed veggie for 17 years till I got pg with ds, then I almost snatched dh's burger out of his hand. I ate meat (mainly red) throughout my pg. Funnily enough, in my second pg, the thought of meat made me heave. In order to assuage my guilt I did go for organic stuff as much as poss but there are times when only a Big MAc will do.

If you're feeling weak or your cravings are getting really bad for a Big Mac and you really don't want to give in, read "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser - that'll put you off meat for ever! I've been reading it in case I gave in to the chip-shop-sausages craving I've been having and the craving has certainly lessened. Some aprts are not for the weak of stomach, but it'll do the trick!