By skollasch - 25/09/2014 06:21 - United States - Highland

Today, I was told by my doctor I should start eating meat again after two years of vegetarianism, in an effort to be healthier. After horrid gas after my first turkey sandwich, I was told that my body no longer has the enzymes to digest meat. My efforts to be healthy crippled my stomach. FML
I agree, your life sucks 32 856
You deserved it 16 665

Same thing different taste

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Talk to said doctor and get enzyme supplements. Orrr create animal shaped vege products and call it a day.

skittyskatbrat 19

Your body should start producing them again, eventually. Until then, your body will have a beef with you.

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You should eat whatever you want. Everything is good in moderation. Meat, vegetables, chocolate, etc..... A healthy diet is variety of foods in moderation.

Being vegetarian can be the opposite of healthy if you don't do it right. If you were to start eating meat again, start supplements and small portions to gradually build / let your body get used to it!

That's what OP gets for trying not to meat at all

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(Not that there's anything wrong with eating meat or dairy). I just don't see a doctor telling their patient they have to start eating meat.

Actually, depending on your nationality, you may need meat. Although I agree that you don't need dairy, as the fact that we can ingest that at all was proven to be a freak mutation hundreds of years ago. If you're from anywhere in Northern Europe you do in fact need meat. My family is from Germany and when we moved here we started eating strictly vegetables. My older sister was eventually hospitalized due to rumors growing behind her eyes from the lack of meat in our diet. So yes, some people do NEED meat, while I'm sure many others do not.

Yes but if you went to your doctor, you could plan a way to gradually stop eating meat and ween yourself off the addiction to it and the dependency your body has on it. This doesn't mean you need meat as a human.

Meat is not an addiction. It is a biological requirement as far as macronutrients is concerned. It is impossible to get all the enzymes and supplemental nutrition the body requires from vegetables alone. Most vegetarians eat dairy or fish to get this intake, and vegans *have to take supplements* or they can develop serious medical problems.

Or they can do their research and eat foods that give them what they require. I'm pretty sure all the healthy vegans who don't take supplements everyday would disagree with you.

meli1195 31

Well @120,it's your choice to eat or not eat meat. Neither choice is correct because everyone is different. If you decide to not eat meat then ok, do it. But if you were to say to me to stop eating meat because we don't need it and it's just an addiction, i would laugh and keep eating my steak because i personally feel unwell if I don't have some type of meat in my food.

Just because you can live without meat doesn't make it completely unnecessary. They used to remove people's appendix and spleen too until they found out they can be very important and cause problems when removed. The ability to tolerate dairy is a genetic mutation, but the ability to tolerate meat has always been there.

Like I already stated, 123, there's nothing wrong with eating meat, and I'm not arguing that eating meat is bad for you. I'm arguing that not eating meat is not bad for you. Ever. Under any condition/circumstance. In fact, I was interested so I asked my brother who is a doctor about this today and he said no good doctor who understands nutrition would ever tell a vegetarian they have to eat meat.

Just because your brother is a doctor doesn't mean he is gonna have all the answers. And as far as nutrition goes, lots of doctors are divided as to what exactly constitutes a healthy diet. Especially recently with some of the new research that has come out. Typically a healthy diet is a varied and balanced one. That includes eating meat. Lacking meat in your diet is unhealthy, that's why people have to take supplements, to stay healthy and functional but it's not the same as eating the actual meat.

@ #57 for some reason I read spark the rebellion instead of supplements and meat! LOL!

One would think your doctor would have taken that into consideration beforehand.. Well, good luck! Hope you find a good and (properly) healthy alternative.

tantanpanda 26

Hm, it shouldn't be a problem that she can't digest meat, but still wants to be a vegetarian. If you eat properly, you can get all your necessary nutrients. Beans, lentils, quinoa, soy, those all have lots of fiber and protein. Being a vegetarian can be a great life choice, but if you're eating nothing but junk food, then of course you'll have nutrient deficits. it sucks how animals are killed cruelly, but meat is too delicious for me to care

Not all animals are killed cruelly. Yes, some are bred and raised in cages to be slaughtered. But some are raised in the wild, have a chance to live their life, and (providing a good hunter) killed humanely and quickly with one shot. They also have a chance for escape. I personally will not eat store bought meat because it's inhumane though.

SparksTheSadie 18

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tantanpanda 26

66, yes I will. I'm clearly stating that if the animal is murdered, but tastes good, I will eat it. If a cow bled to death, I would not hesitate to purchase it. yea, there are animals that are fed properly, live stress free lives and are killed humanely. those animals are the ones worth big bucks. Ill eat meat till the day I die, but no vegetarian/vegan is going to make me feel guilty bout doing so. I hate it when vegans/vegetarians degrade omnivores cuz they eat meat. what I eat ain't you damn business, so go eat a salad or something

2, it sounds like going vegetarian was OP's choice and not the doctor's. Hence him telling her to eat it again. Only now she lacks the enzymes to digest the meat. Op, you can probably gradually build yourself back up on meat and your body will provably be able to build up tolerance/enzymes to be able to digest it. Start with a small amount of meat once or twice a week and work your way up. Hopefully your body isn't damaged permanently.

Ok, so I'm wondering why being vegetarian was bad for OP. Is it because OP's body was originally used to meat? I've been vegetarian my whole life, and I'm just curious, I'm not saying that one is better than the other.

orbit 22

Being a vegetarian most likely wasn't bad for op. Op was just bad at being a vegetarian and didn't get all the correct nutrients.

#66 - And you're ok with Murder as long as it's a plant that gets murdered? You think only animals can feel pain? There is a series of studies out there that proves that plants not only feel pain, but are aware when a neighboring plant is injured, killed, or uprooted. You're not doing any less harm to other life forms by not eating meat - you just can't hear it when it screams because it does so chemically rather than aurally.

I'm guessing op didn't eat right. There's some meticulous planning involved to ensure your body gets everything you need when you go vegan/vegetarian. You can't just buy a pallet of mixed vegetables and call it a day.

xXToxicPenguinXx 12

i mean it could be understandable in some cases. there are vegetarians who avoid meat completely and a type of vegetarian who eats fish and thats basically it

CloudKumo 12

66, murder can only be between the same species.

Talk to said doctor and get enzyme supplements. Orrr create animal shaped vege products and call it a day.

orangejubejube 20
llamarrama01 21

Hope you get better. Try starting with something smaller, maybe?

Exactly! Start small, I've been a vegetarian my whole life but due to an iron problem where my body will not absorb iron I've had to start eating meat. Till now it's really hard for me, makes me bloated and ill but it gets better! After only two years yourself I assume you'll get better, your body will re begin producing those enzymes don't worry and don't give up :)

skittyskatbrat 19

Your body should start producing them again, eventually. Until then, your body will have a beef with you.

That's what happened when I stopped being a vegetarian. It took a long time for be to be able to eat more than a few bites of meat. Even longer to be able to eat red meat. You can't just jump into a steak dinner lol. But it comes back eventually.

Ihavegas 22

it wont take long before your body resets itself. keep eating chicken and fish before you tackle the red meat.

Sucks! Props to you though for not eating meat for that long :)

Actually it is. I've been vegetarian for at least 10 years & it's important to eat healthy. My doctor is always impressed with how well I manage a healthy lifestyle.

Hiimhaileypotter 52

And people can eat meat and be just as healthy if not healthier than you are, #34. Point?

jack_jill05 14

sometimes vegetarianism isnt necessarily about being healthy, its about the fact that other living things are dying when they don't necessarily have to be. "animal rights" I think

You know I really hate that lame vegetarian excuse.. oh we don't eat meat because life is sacred and we don't want to kill the poor animals. Well guess what, those fruits ans vegetables, yeah they're also living breathing life forms, by eating them you're killing them.

actually most greens are being farmed for animals. going vegan is actually saving a lot of greens. Also, most fruits and plants survive/spreads out by getting eaten. (seeds) If we didn't raise billions of animals for meat, we couls easily feed the whole planet AND keep the rainforrest AND fight obesity and other diseases.

And yet those same animals are still being slaughtered regardless of your choice.

we would get nowhere if people thought 'well one person can't chance a thing. Might as well give up'

58 I don't know why you're getting thumbed down. I saw a documentary on that and you're 100% right.

I don't see any vegan/vegetarian trying to convince anyone to go vegan but I have seen every vegan/vegetarian thumbed down regardless of how well they are defending their lifestyle or how good their argument is. I'm sorry but I see people hating on "preachy" vegans constantly but almost never encounter one. I have however noticed tons of meateaters (especially on this comment section) hating on vegans.

#88 So because you saw a documentary one time we're supposed to believe you? No thanks - I'm going to believe that I learned at university and read in peer-reviewed research papers, not a random stranger who saw a movie one time. #58's general idea is correct - it takes a greater amount of food to provide the required daily energy requirements as you move up the food chain; however their conclusions are flawed. The crops we would have to grow to provide the difference in energy intake that we require as well as to make up for the nutrients we would lose by no longer breeding animals for food. This is only exacerbated if you are promoting veganism - we would need to find entirely new sources for calcium and a plethora of vitamins. These crops would require vast amounts of land in very specific climates and such a drastic change in diet would result in wide-spread malnutrition and deficiencies in crucial vitamins and minerals.

This is literally the dumbest thing I've ever read.

meli1195 31

#92, you are one of those preachy vegans. All your comments have been thumbed down because you're trying to act like you're right and everyone else is wrong and being almost aggressive. How about you calm down and stop making yourself the victim just because you're vegan, because nobody is being rude or anything towards you, they're just also defending their side like you said you and other vegans are.

I'm not a vegan/vegetarian. I just see a lot of hate towards vegan and vegetarians and I'm not sure why people hate on them so much.

People assume you are because you seem to argue for veganism/vegetarianism. I thought you were as well tbh.

Not sure why you would think cutting out a food group would be healthier... Didn't think it through, did you?

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She probably wasn't getting enough nutrients. Meat is the easiest and most reliable way to get all your proteins and most other nutrients. You have to be very strict and thorough to have an actually healthy vegetarian or vegan diet. I had two friends in high school who resolved their health issues by going back to a regular diet. I also know a girl who had to become vegetarian to resolve her health issues. It depends on how well you eat on the diets and what your body needs.

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#17 You're supposed to have meat everyday, unless you are eating a literal ton of high-protein nuts and legumes. You should probably talk to a nutritionist, especially since you admitted to having health problems from a lack of protein in the past.

Probably because doctors work for the pharmaceutical companies.

Well duh, that's what happens. Look online for tutorials in how to start eating meat again, or ask your doctor for advice. The trick is to start small, maybe eat a broth or a little bit of chicken. Then you can slowly in grade the amounts. Your body can still make those enzymes, it's just decided it doesn't need them anymore. You're not stuck a vegetarian for life!

Not 'in grade', increase. Jeez, I hate autocorrect.