eating meat again? - Diet & Nutrition Message Board

mandabear · 02-20-2007, 10:38 PM

I have been considering adding chicken, turkey, and fish back into my diet after being vegetarian for nearly four years. Has anyone had experience with this? And did you notice any health benefits? I think it might be something that will help me recover from my eating disorder.

Lenin · 02-21-2007, 05:50 AM

It might help, mandabear.

I have a friend who won't recognize or admit her eating disorder because she couches it in health terms. First she gave up all meat becasue they were unhealthy and then all fats because they disagreed with her, then she gave up all dairy and eggs becasue they "inflamed her sinuses."
So now she eats almost nothing but pasta without sauce (dinner) and bagels with nothing on them (breakfast and lunch) and has "no trouble keeping her weight below 95 pounds." If she slides up to anywhere near 100 she compains about how fat she is. She's been doing this for decades.

Every second day she will throw a handful of steamed frozen vegetables on her sauceless pasta..."fresh vegetables give her gas" <she has an excuse for EVERYTHING.>

I have been able at least to convince her to eat a couple cans of canned tuna or salmon a week (she won't eat fresh fish) to get SOME concentrated source of protein once in a while.

Oh, at Thanksgiving she will eat ONE slice of turkey breast.

And if you ask her, she will often say "Oh, I eat like a PIG."
For the life of me, I don't know how she survives.

mandabear · 02-21-2007, 07:18 AM

thanks for your input:-) Good luck with helping your friend. It's hard when someone's in denial.

Isis498 · 02-21-2007, 08:05 AM

Hi mandabear,

I was vegetarian once for a little over a year, and found it was not for me. My health suffered, no matter how I varied my diet, and I became sicker and sicker. One day I just gave up, went out to eat, and ate some roast beef with potatoes and veggies, etc. I thought it might disagree with me after going that long without any kind of meat, poultry, fish, etc. at all.

For me, it was almost life giving, and I felt better immediately. That sounds dramatic, but it's true. I truly believe some peoples body just cannot handle being vegetarian. I could not. It took me almost a year to recover my health. On the other hand, my DH was OK eating that way. But truthfully felt better when we went back to eating meat.

Good luck to you.

vegetableyogi · 02-21-2007, 08:13 PM

manda, I do not think that going off being a vegetarian will help with any eating disorders. If you have an eating disorder, then it is psychological, not physiological. Two points on vegetarianism. I have a friend that was vegetarian for 20, yes 20, years, and she switched back to eating meat. She said that she felt a slight increase in overall energy gain. However, I am vegetarian and I have plenty of energy and I know that eating meat will not really change that. So, it appears to me that eating or not eating meat can't be generalized in terms of energy levels that we all feel...

Cheers, Veg