Former Vegans And Vegetarians Break Down What Made Them Go Back To Eating Meat

I have never understood the vegan/vegetarian life.

Not for me.

Changes

"A change in health circumstances led to a (doctor-recommended) restrictive diet which meant cutting out a number of fruits and vegetables. Couple that with gluten intolerance and veganism and I could barely eat anything. I had to prioritize my health."

fatherly_handshake

Whatever. Let's Eat!

"I was a vegetarian for 1.5 years. I came home to care for my grandfather, last stages cancer. Upon my arrival he made a lot of meat food that I used to love. (Gołąbki, he made the best i ever ate). He forgot I don't eat meat. I told him that and I watched his face became so sad... f**k it, I'm going to eat it. He was so happy to cook for me while he still could."

RandomPolishGurl

Earth Love

"Realized I was using being vegan as an excuse to enable my eating disorder. Less options for me to eat, almost never had to eat out with friends/family or on the holidays. I do love animals/Earth and told myself that’s why I was vegan but… I don’t fully know."

"I couldn’t fully recover until I had a less restrictive diet."

hell-is-in-your-mind

I Chose Meat!

"Found out my body just trends towards anaemia. I was vegetarian for 5 years as a teenager and just dealt with it but then I got really ill and my doctor basically told me I would need monthly iron infusions or I could eat meat again. I chose meat. Tried to go back to vegetarianism recently but felt such an enormous drop in energy levels I just couldn’t maintain it."

maps_mandalas

Allergy Issues

"Way too many of the vegetarian/vegan substitutes rely on tree nuts/peanuts/soy, which I'm severely allergic to. As it is, I follow a mostly pescatarian diet, unless someone else wants to do the cooking for me!"

meltedsnowflake

We can't mess with allergies these days.

Lives are in the balance.

Mom's Gotta Eat

"Becoming a mother. If I don’t eat leftover chicken nuggets I don’t eat."

WaveNimbus

"Pregnancy, when I was hungry, which wasn't frequently, I couldn't eat anything but meat, salads and some fruits. I've pretty keep this diet once in a while I'll crave carbs, but honestly I feel much better than when I was a vegetarian so..."

FateOfTheElephant

No Thanks

"I also stopped being vegetarian because of how it enabled my eating disorder, which I went to recovery for 12 years ago. I’ve considered myself fully recovered for the past 9 or so years."

I’ve basically banned myself from banning anymore food groups ever again because of this. I’ll allow myself to 'eat less of X food' like ice cream or meat or whatever but removing a food group from my diet is too risky for me. Turning down food 'because I can’t (choose not to) eat it' is way too addictive. No thanks."

trustmeimalinguist

When Seeing the Earth

"Traveled and lived in places where there truly was not adequate nutrition available as a vegan - true malnutrition is awful. Plus, cultural expectations in those areas around entertaining guests, hospitality, celebrations, and rituals don’t always leave the option open to refuse a specific food without offending or hurting the host or community, which meant that I needed to consider balancing my preferences with the needs and practices of the communities I was living in."

"Today, I’m primarily plant-based in practice but don’t call myself vegetarian or vegan. I learned a lot about how I think about food, food culture, and the privilege of choice from those experiences."

droptophamhock

Ouch

"I was a vegetarian for 10 years and honestly I just felt like it was too much of a pain. I still limit my meat, I won't prepare it for myself and if given a vegetarian option I will choose that. But if someone prepares meat for me or there aren't other options easily available I'll eat it."

erkala21

Bland Chefs

"I was a vegetarian because I thought I hated meat. Turns out my mom couldn't cook, she never used seasoning. So once I got out on my own, and started cooking for myself, I learned I actually do like meat."

Catlover5566

I gotta have meat. I love it. I'm sorry.

Do you have similar experiences? We'd love to hear about in the comments below.