Re-Introducing Meat After Over Twenty Years - Advice Please page

[Peace x]

Hi Everyone


As you may recall it's been just over 20 years since I ate meat, although I did eat fish and eggs up until approximately 8-10 years ago. 15-17 years since I ate dairy and 10 years since I ate grains. For about the past 5-6 years I followed Doug Graham's raw vegan 80/10/10 diet.

To cut a long story short, my health declined and in November I started to included cooked veg again. Since January I've added back in fish and eggs and my digestion, energy, headaches and mood have really struggled.

I knew it was going to take time for my body to adjust after such a long period of abstention of several food groups but I'm going to persevere as I couldn't feel much worse than I did before with the numerous deficiencies and hormonal imbalances I had whilst eating raw.

After the doctors strong recommendations I'm considering starting to eat meat again in an attempt to provide my body the many nutrients that it has been deprived of for so long.

It's been over two decades since a morsel of meat entered my mouth and I've never really cooked meat so don't really know where to start. - help!

What would be the best choices and easiest to digest and absorb. I would also really appreciate any cooking tips and portions sizes for a 5ft 6in female who due to extreme fatigue is currently not exercising.

Thank you for all your help.

Peace x

[RaeVynn]

I was only able to handle the "80/10/10" thing for a few months - I did much better on the higher fat side of raw vegan, a la Gabriel Cousens.

I was a little over 11 years veggie/7 years vegan when I left the island, last May... and I'm already feeling much better!

Take it easy with the meat, at first, is my only real suggestion. Oh, and be sure to take some enzymes/probiotics.

[Peace x]

Thank you RaeVynn for sharing your story.

It is reassuring to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel!

I've always jumped in at the deep end and given whatever I do 100% so I'll have to resist the temptation to rush right in and go gently and take it slowly.

Thanks again

Peace x

[fifer]

I was 20 years nominally vegetarian with occasional eggs or dairy (once a month?) and meat or fish perhaps once a year if that. Tinned fish was my favourite "way in". Eat it straight from the tin with a fork. Try one in tomato sauce.

For meat a good way is if you can go to somewhere that is offering samples of good stuff - it's much easier to take a tiny corner of fancy ham from a sample tray than it is to cook a steak dinner & sit down and polish it off.

[Peace x]

Hi Fifer

Thank you for your advice.

I'd been thinking that it would be easier to eat out to start with as it prevents me from eating too much and stressing about cooking and eating it.


It also takes the control out of my hands which to start with nay not be a bad thing.

Thank you for reminding me of this option.

Peace x

[namelesswonder]

I think an egg here or there, properly prepared (you might want to get some help with that, so you don't have to suffer through overcooked eggs or anything) would be a good gateway "meat".

You might not want to jump straight into dairy, but try a little yogurt (not even a full serving) or cheese here and there, just to see if it sits okay with you. The yogurt will help to get probiotics into your system. Now would be a good time to introduce other fermented foods if you have not already.

[magicmerl]

As has been suggested, fish and eggs are both good 'gateway' foods. In fact, there's nothing that says you HAVE to eat meat.

Tiny tiny traces of beef liver can be grated/pureed and put into a tomato'ey pasta sauce. Liver is incredibly nutrient dense, so a little goes a long way.

[sbhikes]

Classic tuna salad is usually pretty palatable. Bacon is a gateway meat. When I switched from vegetarianism to meat eating (long time ago) I could only stand to eat steak. Even now, I find steak to be the easiest for me to digest.

[Damiana]

I reintroduced meat after 10 years, straight in head first without problem. If it is a matter of overcoming the initial ick factor, I would go with a lighter tasting meat or fish, like tilapia and chicken. Some people would frown upon tilapia because its farmed, not me.

[YogaBare]

I think broth would be ideal, but it might seem like a lot of effort for you. It's actually not - once you do it once it's simple. I would get whole chicken joints (not just the bones) and bung them in a saucepan with water, veg of choice etc. Cook for five hours. Once it's done you can eat the meat with the broth - it will be nice and tender. You can always reuse the bones for another batch of bone broth.

I'd recommend paté but I haven't found a store bought one in the UK that doesn't have a heap of crap in it...

In my last year of being vegetarian I had started to have dreams about burgers, so you can guess what the first thing I went for was