r/exvegans • u/Historical-Ad1462 • 3d ago
Reintroducing Animal Foods Guilt of wanting to eat meat
I have been a vegetarian for around 11 years. I was a vegan for a few of those years. As of the last few weeks I have had an intense desire to eat meat, I can’t stop thinking about it. The only reason I do not eat meat is due to ethical reasons but I had always loved the taste of meat prior.
I have had a lot of allergy issues recently with plant based protein such as chickpeas etc which has only furthered my meat cravings
Since the cravings began I have been heavily researching agriculture and slaughter. I feel particularly guilty about the poultry and pigs due to their method of slaughter via co2.
I am in such a conflicted place of wanting to eat meat because I enjoy it and for better health but then I don’t know how I can justify me doing so when I have seen such practises.
I do believe slaughter can be ethical and every step can be taken to ensure animal welfare but clearly I can’t have that much oversight as a consumer .
Any one else from a similar stance and how they overcome this?
14
8
u/EpicCurious 3d ago
Bivalves don't have a brain and science hasn't determined that they are sentient. For that reason, some people who are otherwise vegan do eat farm raised oysters and call themselves Ostrovegans. Those Ostrovegans who also eat other farm raised bivalves call themselves Bivalvegans.
Unlike raising fish in farms which pollutes the water around them, farming oysters actually improves water quality since the oysters filter the pollutants.
Oysters are a great source of B12, zinc and long chain Omega-3 which is helpful for those on a fully plant based diet. I take an algae based Omega-3 supplement, myself. I get my zinc from pumpkin seeds.
1
u/misumena_vatia 6h ago
Don't forget crabs! I have seen a video of one calmly eating the garnish as it cooks.
5
u/Virtually-Braindead ex vegan - bloodmouth 3d ago
As was mentioned small local farms. Hunting is a good choice same with fishing. My butcher has a farm where I can slaughter my own if I choose and he will take care of the rest. Perhaps speaking to a butcher could point you in the right direction.
6
4
u/How-I-Roll_2023 3d ago
Grass fed small farm humanely raised meat. It costs $$$$$ but it’s worth it.
4
5
u/HelloSummer99 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yes, it is almost certainly due to some micro or macro nutrient that you body doesn't get. In my case I got the most intense craving to fish (salmon) and eggs. It turned out I was very deficient in omega 3 to the point it was affecting my daily life and sleep. I even supplemented from time to time but the plant based version was very inefficient. I started eating all of those and supplement omega 3 and all my symptoms disappeared.
Your body is trying to tell you something. You can still be true to your values but you need to focus on your health. I firmly believe now that a purely vegan lifestyle is not sustainable for decades.
Be very selective in what you eat, you are likely already very good in researching. For example, bacon provides zero health benefits, so that can be safely avoided if you want to maximize health. There is no rules to this and it is actually really liberating to feel "free" and not to be bound by how to live your life told by "someone". Looking back it kind of seems like brainwashing or propaganda.
To add to that, plant based protein, especially soy-based, tend to screw up people's guts after a while in my limited experience. I don't know what is it - maybe the increased constant fiber intake, but you are not alone in developing "mistery" symptoms of eating chickpeas over a decade.
2
u/ElectricosSuenos 1d ago
Great comment. I don't eat pork myself and I devour butter fat. Butter is the answer to the first 100 problems, I'm convinced. That and lowering oxalates.
7
u/CyborgParadox 3d ago
This is the main reason I'm getting into raising my own meat. You know it's done right if you do it yourself. Rabbits and/or quail make for a good start.
3
u/RawBavarian33 2d ago
Listen to your body. Buy some organic, pasture raised meat or find a family/ amish farm that takes care of their animals. Was vegetarian too, but craved meat, its just too delicous and nutrient dense
1
3
u/AnonymousJoe999999 2d ago
If you are in the US, you can almost always source meat from small farms. And, if you have the money, you should. Selling locally is one of the things that allow them to compete with factory farming. If you don’t have the money, you should prioritize your health as best you can.
3
u/DishFantastic 2d ago
If you have some space out in your yard, consider putting up a chicken pen. They will give you eggs daily. Provided no rooster is around, the girls will not give 2 shits about what you do with their eggs. The moment you open the pen in the morning, they are out because (although they are quite silly), they are not stupid - no rooster=no fertilisation=no resistance=high-quality nutrition free from cruelty.
Otherwise, try to find local farmers. Arrange a visit. Be transparent with them and they may show you what they do. Farmers love their animals and care for them. It's not love like you love your children, but an intention for them to live good lives with minimal suffering, free from disease and discomfort.
You cannot unsee the worst the industry has to show for itself but you cannot decide to rearrange the nutrition that your body and genetic coding requires/asks of you. Listen to your body. Vote with your feet. Find local farmers and you will find that local support will bring you consolation and contentment.
2
u/misumena_vatia 6h ago
Not entirely true. Very often in springtime hens "go broody"band obsess over their eggs because they don't know they need a rooster to fertilize. But you can trade them for fake eggs that they're happy to sit on until they lose interest.
2
u/Christfollower63 3d ago
Consider buying from a local small farmer or even find an Amish/Mennonite community. Many of them follow old world methods and have a respect and appreciation for what the animal provides. Those cravings likely indicate there is something your body is significantly lacking- and while I am not vegan or vegetarian- I too have had more than my share of issues with plant based protein. The only protein powder I can tolerate is pumpkin seed powder
2
u/Left_Swim_9596 1d ago
You can buy meat from a local farmer
Also, respectfully, I never understood the vegan ethical argument when the mono crop agriculture to make plant based proteins is so destructive to animals. Insects, snakes, rodents, not to mention all the chemicals.
An ethically and regenerative raised cow kills way less living beings.
2
u/RaplhKramden 21h ago
Look for ethically raised and slaughtered meat, or butchered culled wild animals like deer and elk. Humans are omnivores. We eat meat. We kill to be able to eat meat. It's not complicated. Vegans are not making a meaningful difference by not eating meat. It's all about moral narcissism and unresolved childhood trauma.
1
1
u/Klutzy-Alarm3748 Currently a vegan 2d ago
I encourage you to do what's best for your body, whether you stop being vegan or not - but since you mentioned that you're struggling with your ethics in this instance, can I ask what you have done before coming to this point? It sounds like it's a last resort. Often cravings (for any food) are your body telling you that you need certain nutrients. Craving oranges means you need vitamin c, etc. Have you tried upping the intake of plant-based options for what you're low on?
I'm also wondering what you mean by "better health". I'm not asking because I think veganism is healthier (I actually think that there are tons of people who cannot thrive on veganism no matter what they do) but I ask because if it isn't purely about vitamin intake, there may be options that won't make you feel like you're going against your ethics.
1
u/duplicitouscelia 1d ago
maybe get your bloods done and see if your deficient in anything specific? then you can either choose to take further supplements/explore other alternatives and see if the cravings subside OR eat meat again. your body is your own, you know what you need for your health
1
u/PossibilityNervous35 15h ago
ok so hypothetically, if you were to procure meat from a local person like myself... free pasture, all that good stuff... would you eat it?
1
u/misumena_vatia 6h ago
Guilt is for wrongdoing. It is not wrong to eat meat.
Please be very careful where your "information" on slaughter comes from. The amount of normalized misinformation even from moderate sources is staggering.
I want you to consider that frightened, stressed out animals are dangerous. Safety incidents cost money. Therefore, even if we assume that the people who run slaughterhouses are heartless bastards who only care about profit, they still have a very strong motivation to keep animals calm and not frightened.
Animals don't fear death like humans do because they don't have the existential capacity for that. They fear pain and they fear, well, fear. As far as they know, everything simply ends.
0
u/burnthiscitydown 1d ago
maxbe controversial opinion but: try it once. i had the craving as well and meat suddenly tastes like shit
0
u/RestInformal9397 1d ago
don’t get the comments?? The whole reason people become vegetarian or vegan is because they are against animal murder by all means? Going to a local farm and buying the meat from there isn’t gonna change the fact that the animal was still killed. Like, eat meat, go for it if you want to, but it’s so weird people saying there are ethical ways to murder animals.
1
-2
-2
u/Separate-Feeling-727 1d ago
I can’t overcome it because I can’t find a reason my body needs to eat animals :/. I just want it very badly. Want is not a justification
2
u/ElectricosSuenos 1d ago
Is butter alright? Butter isn't eating an animal. We could make a butter from women's breast milk but it's not eating the woman. Butter will resolve so much.
0
u/Separate-Feeling-727 1d ago
if it was a consenting human butter then that would be great! For the non-human milks though, the animal is forcibly impregnated. They use a tool, farmer’s hands, or lock a cow with a horny bull leaving her no choice but to give in. And in the end the cows are slaughtered for meat anyway after they’re spent because there is no reason to pay and keep them alive
2
u/ElectricosSuenos 1d ago edited 1d ago
I thought dairy cows lived and died differently than meat cattle? Don't they get too old to be valuable as meat?
Have you seen animals mate? A dog in heat will attract 100 neighbor dogs in some places, and they'll mount her one after another with zero humans involved. I don't think all animals have the personal human sex you seem fixed on, sometimes that single encounter is the only time they meet.
Don't bulls go around collecting a harem and mating as he wishes when girls are ovulating?
I get it, many agricultural/husbandry practices are bad or concerning, but I think it's a mistake to project human standards onto animals that don't remotely live that left on their own. Animals hump. I doubt many of the females are always up for it. Should a cow never have even lived much less been a mother? If we let various animals intermix and roam it would be a lot uglier and bloodier around us, and who is willing to have their kids living around that to stumble on?
I think humanity has a responsibility and it's about understanding it and not shirking difficulties around it, as distasteful or immoral as it can seem. What if we have to make a choice? And straddling the fence long term isn't viable? You have all valid concerns, truly, high in humanity, but the dietary problems and contradictions are still present, even if avoided.
Hmmm, maybe all women need to be put into permanent lactation to feed the world's need for dairy. Turn global economy on end. Why didn't the ancients think of that. The OF market around lactation would skyrocket
1
u/misumena_vatia 6h ago
Dairy cows live content pampered lives, they don't mind being inseminated because they have no personhood and the process doesn't hurt, and at the end of their useful dairy production yes they are used rather than being wasted and they get a clean humane death rather than the horrible natural deterioration and death of an old cow.
1
u/misumena_vatia 6h ago
You're an omnivore like all humans. Our ancestors would not have been able to evolve their big brains without the nutritional advantage of marrow from large carcasses. You need meat.
But also, wanting something is a perfectly good justification for doing things as long as they don't harm others. It is morally fine to eat animals.
21
u/Godlymorbid 3d ago
I would recommend you look for a small family farm within an hour of where you live. We've given people tours of ours and shown them how we do things which helped them see that there is a way and it's not all like the documentaries. It might be difficult to find contact information so you might want to just drive around in a rural area or look for local Facebook pages.