Hi everyone,

I'm relatively new to vegetarianism and I guess I'm still in the transistion phase. I started incorporating more and more fruits and vegetables into my diet as a way to get healthy (and lose excess weight) and over time, I somehow just ended up not eating much meat (subconcious vegetarian?).

However, now when I do eat meat (on rare occasions) I have some serious stomach problems. My stomach (as in, the organ) literally will hurt and sometimes (as in today's instance) I will throw up. I don't believe it is psychological, as I don't get all disgusted out or have overwhelming feelings of guilt. It feels literally like my body doesn't know how to physically break it down and handle the meat. It happens no matter what meat I eat, even something lean, like Buffalo.

I was eating meat about once every 2 weeks. Has anyone else had the same situation - maybe when you were transistioning and you may have had meat after not having it in a longer period of time? :confused: I'm a little worried. After I throw up, I'm fine and can eat anything (other than meat) and not feel nauscious. So I don't think I have some life threatening situation - but still, it would be nice to know whats up.

Anyway, after today, I'm calling it quits; I'm officially announcing my vegetarianism :vebo:

I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on the problems with my stomach though...

Thanks!

Um, I think you're asking this on the wrong website. I strongly suspect that everyone will say "well than don't it meat! it's better for you and the critters anyhow". But no. I've never had that problem before.

Back in 1996, I went veg for a month as a sort of cleansing diet. At the end of the month, I went to Denny's and ate the Meat Lovers' skillet breakfast.

Big mistake.

I was sick as a dog for literally days. A friend of mine claimed that it's the result of your body altering its digestive process and producing less or chemically different digestive fluids like bile to adapt to what you've been eating, and when you don't eat meat for a while, your body 'forgets' how to handle all the cholesterol and saturated fat.

In other words, what you are experiencing is an entirely normal reaction of your body to a food that's basically noxious and undesirable to it. It's like your body telling you, "Ugh, no more of that crap, please!" As Elis said, you can easily avoid it by sticking to it and not eating any more meat!

And don't forget (or realize if you didn't know) that all meat is fatty by definition, even those that are considered "lean." Chicken breast, one of the leanest meats aside from fish, is still 44% fat by calories if you leave the skin on, and if you take the skin off and trim all visible fat, I think you only get it down to ~35%. Ditto dairy products. "Low-fat" (ie, 2%) milk is still 31% fat by calories. These certainly are not compatible with a low-fat diet (ie, one in which you're trying to limit fat to 30% or less of your total calories).

In the vegetable world, the only foods that are above 30% fat by calories are olives, avocados, nuts/seeds, soybeans/tofu, and of course all oils and synthetic fats like margarine and shortening. One of the fattiest grains, oatmeal, is a mere 16% fat by calories.

Well, if it's anything like what happened to me.....



Your body won't allow trying to handle meat anymore. That's simply what it is. I know because it happened to me (actually, it's what kinda started me on being vegetarian.....) and just like you, I've found I can eat *anything* so long as it's not meat.

But put meat into me (doesn't seem to matter how much), and I'm down like a sack of potatoes. :flush:

Fortunately, there's a lot of other really good things to eat that won't hurt you (if you haven't found that out already :D ). Whole foods (beans, whole grains, veggies, fruits, nuts/seeds,) are the foods that keep me pain free. If you want the method, I'll be glad to share it so you can be pain free to. :)

Red meat is one of the most common irrritants for people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, so no, there's nothing unusual about meat making you sick. I'm not saying that you have IBS, but you might have a more sensitive-than-average digestive system. Some people can eat anything without having digestive distress, but it doesn't sound like you are one of those people. Easy solution: don't eat meat!

My kidneys are like a Meat Alert system. Whenever I eat meat, they hurt the next day.

I can always tell if a Restaurant is lying about something being truly veg*n or not.

I have found the same thing with dairy/eggs: I get acne if someone lies to me about food being 100% vegan.
I don't think I could eat meat at all to discover how sick it made me, but I tried a Greek cheese-laden dinner last summer after I started going vegan & I doubled over in a park- I couldn't walk home. I still remember the pain (& acne), so I find it easier to just say no to animal products!!
Good luck quitting the meat habit!!:sunny:

WOW!
Its so great to hear I'm not alone!

Tess: Thanks for the great info on all those foods. As for now, I don't think I'll be giving up dairy (I only eat the organic kinda tho). But wow- didn't realize there was THAT much fat in it!

I don't think I'll have having a hard time being vegetarian, as I mainly eat whole foods anyway (whole grains, fruits & veggies). :bobo: :vebo:

I tried my first Veggie Burger last night though - wow! SO yummy! (and I didn't get sick! Yay!)

Thanks again for all the support - you guys rock! :lovesign:

Random question: I've been a vegetarian for about 6 months now. Well, for the first month I ate fish, so I was technically a pescatarian...anyway. I'm trying to wean off all animal products, and I've been meat-free for almost half a year, but I'm still very much a fan of milk and other dairy. Any suggestions on how to start cutting back on that stuff? It's really, really hard, since it's in so many other foods, and I'd have to do sleuthing about everything I eat. Not that I don't want to commit--I'm just worried I'll get frustrated and give up, and this is a cause I want to pursue. Message me if you have any advice! Thanks! =)

I've been veggie for about 14 years, but along the way when I still ate at most restuarants, and occasionally I got some sneaky meat. I would know when because my stomach would flare up.

Now, as sad as it sounds, I only eat at a few select restaurants that I'm sure will cater to my diet. This means no diners, Olive Garden, most Chinese restaurants, most Thail restaurants.

Ohhh this sounds sooo familar... I quit eating meat one day and that was that, I never had a "transition period." Afterwards I also quit eating dairy also, about a week after quitting all dairy I remember I slipped and the dairy would make me feel soooooo sick. I think when you no longer eat those things youre kind of cleansing your system and when you put it back into your body it's going to have a reaction... I love the way I feel without the stuff in my body and that's enough alone to make me not even take a second glance at something I know contains dairy or meat.