Health: My Life As An Ex-Vegetarian by Precious Williams

 

first published in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

Last week, after 12 years of strict vegetarianism, I tucked into an oozing pink slab of sirloin steak. By the time the meat reached my plate, I hadn't eaten a morsel of meat during my entire adult life. The idea of going vegetarian had hit me - literally - one morning during my first year at Oxford. On my way to a lecture, I was bashed in the face by a blood-caked dead pig that was dangling outside a butcher's shop. Already feeling hung-over and fragile, I promptly threw up and vowed never to eat meat again.

That evening, while my friends dined on beef Wellington at Formal Hall, I nibbled smugly on sautéed spinach with a side dish of broccoli. I had become revolted by meat when I was 10 and a classmate at school informed me that sausages (which I loved then) were made of pig testicles and wrapped in slivers of intestine.

Despite my horror at this, I continued eating meat and simply made a huge effort not to associate sausages with pigs or hamburgers with cows. But once I'd left home (where everybody ate meat and lots of it, at every meal) and started university, I felt keen to assert my newfound independence.

I became a vegan overnight - and found this surprisingly easy, mainly because I naturally hate the foods that veganism forbids: eggs and dairy products. Then I moved to New York, home of the obscure food fad, and I immediately upgraded from veganism to macrobiotics - the brown rice and seaweed diet that reputedly keeps Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna slim and serene.

Sadly, macrobiotics didn't really work for me. I ended up looking pale and feeling immensely hungry. I decided that the reason I felt washed out was because my diet, despite being organic and meat-free - wasn't healthy enough. So I cut out sugar, white bread, white rice, pasta, dairy products and wheat and, after reading that fashion designer Donna Karan was following a "raw food" diet - I stopped cooking my vegetables.

Karan had apparently lost a stone and a half and gained loads of energy by eating raw vegetables and "sprouted" grains. I tried it and gained half a stone and felt so extraordinarily sleepy that I could barely stagger to the local organic supermarket to buy my vegetables. Why, I wondered, did my friends who lived on pizza, pasta and hamburgers look so much healthier than me?

By this time, vegetarianism had become a huge part of my identity. I frequented health food shops, secretly looked down on people who ate meat, thinking them unenlightened and Neanderthal. I fantasised that I was doing wonderful things for my health by rejecting meat.

The truth was that with each slightly more extreme variation of vegetarianism I tried, I grew slightly weaker, more lethargic, more depressed and - worse still - slightly fatter.

Every time I had a late night, I seemed immediately to get a cold afterwards. Often, I'd faint during the first day of my period each month. I felt ravenously hungry immediately after I'd eaten.

No amount of chickpeas, tofu, vegetables, fruit or lentils seemed potent enough to fill me up. When I looked at my reflection in the bathroom mirror I would be disgusted by how pale I looked. Even my tongue and lips looked pale.

I consulted my GP, who did a blood test that confirmed I was anaemic. She suggested that I gave up vegetarianism, because, she claimed, red meat is the only easily assimilated source of dietary iron. In being anaemic, I was far from alone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 per cent of women of childbearing age in America are iron deficient.

As well as making you feel weak and tired, anaemia apparently gradually undermines your intellectual performance. "Women especially need to know this is actually affecting their brain and the way they're thinking," says Laura Murray-Kolb, a postdoctoral fellow at Penn State University.

I decided to persevere with vegetarianism anyway (although I did buy iron tablets, which didn't seem to do much good). Then, a few months ago, something strange happened. While shopping for my groceries at the local deli, I started lingering by the organic meat counter, stealing surreptitious glances at slabs of marbled beef and chunky lamb chops. I was like a little girl eyeing the glamorous clothes in her mother's wardrobe.

Around the same time, I read that Elizabeth Hurley was following something called the Blood Type Diet, started by a naturopath called Dr D'Adamo who claimed that there was no such thing as a one-size-fits-all healthy diet. In short, vegetarianism simply couldn't work for everybody.

D'Adamo claims that it all boils down to your blood group: people whose blood group is A can thrive as vegetarians and shouldn't eat any meat, while those of blood group O can't thrive without red meat. My blood group is O. I suddenly started to feel that meat, the only thing I hadn't tried eating in recent years, was the missing link to good health.

"There are certain people who simply need meat in order to thrive," says Meg Richichi, a New York doctor of Oriental Medicine. "I can look at people and tell that vegetarianism simply won't work for them. Chinese medicine dictates everything in moderation, including red meat."

And so, last Monday, while shopping for organic vegetables at Dean & Deluca in Manhattan, I decided to buy a steak. Looking at the vast bloody array of tenderloins, sirloins and ribeyes, I felt dizzy and overwhelmed.

Finally, I pointed at any old steak, said: "Give me half a pound of that" (nobody in New York ever says "please") and scuttled to the checkout, feeling slightly sordid.

When I got my parcel of steak home, I put it on the kitchen table, unwrapped it carefully and stared at it. I felt as though I had just brought home something dangerous, something that I had no idea how to use: like a gun.

My steak (medium rare and served with organic asparagus) was delicious. I felt daring and grown-up as I ate it. I'd expected to want to throw up at the first bite, but instead I felt satiated and bubbling with energy. Two days later, I had a small, organic lamb chop for lunch and the following day, a leg of corn-fed chicken.

By the end of the week, I felt overwhelmingly full of life. My tongue was pink again and when I went to the gym I was able to run for 40 minutes without stopping, instead of flaking out after 20.

Since re-establishing myself as a carnivore, I've also lost 5lb in one week, perhaps because after eating a meal that contains meat I don't feel hungry again until the next meal-time.

My vegetarian friends are, of course, horrified. I agree that it's a drastic leap, but I love making snap decisions and I love testing my willpower.

When I decided to give up smoking four years ago, I simply opened my sitting-room window, tossed a full pack of Marlboro Lights out on to the street, closed the window and never smoked again. Of course, everyone agrees that smoking is bad for you.

But the best health decision I've ever made was giving up vegetarianism.

 

Comments

[George]

Yup Yup
ON MAY 2ND, 2010 QONJO SAYS:
I have heard about many vegans and vegetarians that decide to go that route in order to prevent overconsumption. The way I look at it, the Earth has a system that allows her to take care of herself and her inhabitants. It is a check and balance if you will, the circle of life. For example, there is a fish that prevents the release of a deadly gas from a portion of the ocean. But because humans have overconsumed the fish, the gas is being released into the ocean. Back to my point. Humans have been on Earth for many centuries. As we begun to evolve and develop, the brain and body required more in order to survive. Which is why we started to consume meat and cook. Now, Afrika's residents from way back in the day before King Menes united north and south Egypt, ate meat and worked with the Earth. According to Afrikan philosophy, we are to work with nature and become connected with it. This connection with mother Earth also kept the human population in check like other elements the Earth uses to keep her residents in check. However, the change came when Europeans came with the idea of totally removing themselves from nature and trying to find a way to beat the caps that Earth set up to keep everything in check. So now that they have some what accomplished this through industrial revolutions and ways to make food cheaper, faster, and at larger quantities, we have more humans on Earth. Not to say that technological advances were bad at all, but protecting the Earth was not apart of the plan. Also, a lot of the diseases that we fight are because of our diets. Now, what we are witnessing, with global warming, overconsumption, and diseases, is Earth's way of trying to save herself or she is dying. Do I believe the answer is to stop eating meat and slow down technological advances, no. I believe we have to get back to nature and embrace that we must work with her in order to be nurished. Also, who is to say that if everybody became a vegan, that plant overconsumption would not occur. And plants keep our air clean best they can and help with good soil. There has to be a balance and cleaner ways have to be produced in order to meet the needs of the population.

[Ramu]

Sorry about this long and personal boinrg story.I dont really wish anyone to read this essay its just a way for me to vent my feelings!!!i come from India where vegetarianism is the NORM in a majority of the states and meat-eaters are generally out of view. I originate from one of the exclusive non-vegetarian communities among Hindus. We do exist in large numbers but all my life i ve grown up in regions where vegetarians dominated. That has influenced my food habits and even when i was a meat-eater, I would relish it mostly once in a week or rarer. 95% of the time, I would stick to the same food as vegetarins surrounding me did.Only one person in my current circle of friends and contacts eats meat (apart from the ex-me, a recent vegetarian convert). Most people I know have never relished the joys of non-vegetarian fare for their whole lives they consider it something abnormal, not to mention sinful due to the all-pervasive influence of Hinduism!!!Its not like the vegetarians have a problem with meat-eaters (or ex-meaters like me) as people but their strict dietary principles can cause a lot of annoyance for those who relish tasty chicken, mutton and fish. As you know Indian food has quite a lot of culiniary diversity when it comes to non-vegetarian fare. However, vegetarians in India can be real fanatics. They want to make you feel guilty for eating meat. Its not like they love animals or birds its just they consider themselves superior to you! Vegetarians in India put up segregated residential areas where they do not allow non-vegetarian renters or home-owners. At the school cafeteria or dining halls, the vegetarians wont sit next to you if youre having meat on the table. Being an ex-non-vegetarian, I had endured years of abuse and bigotry from vegetarians. They always tried to influence what I could eat, or what I could not.As a sign of rebellion, as soon as I sprung on my own feet, earning money, I decided to middle finger these vegetarians. I became a militant non-vegetarian and would deliberately annoy these vegetarians with discussions on meat. I experimented with pork (which is not very common in Indian cuisine) and started enjoying the taste of swine flesh. I also doubled or tripled my intake of mutton, chicken, turkeys, prawn, lobster I just didnt try beef for my own religious taboo. However, I would have done that too just if I had the opportunity to piss off a few vegetarians!Howver, 3-4 years of being a voracious carnivore means I had abused my body a lot. I gained 50 pounds extra weight, had to constantly empty my bowels to take a shite as I really used to shit a hell lot when eating all that rich, tasty meat! I always felt lethargic and depressed even though I wasnt really eating as much meat as Americans do! Things came to a head when I developed knee problems at age 28 I had severe recurring pains in my knee. The doctor told me it had everything to do with my excess weight. That comment stung me for days at end! My pro-meat lifestyle was wrong, and doing me endless damage. Soon, I saw the source of the problem. It wasnt the meat per se, but the gluttony that it was encouraging. No doubt non-vegetarian fare is much more delicious than vegetarian fare. But, a look into my surroundings confirmed my worst anxieties I took a critical and observed that the vegetarians living near me enjoyed much better health than I did. They were usually leaner, the right shape, shit only once a day and seemed to enjoy their lives better. I also did a statistical research on this subject to find vegetatrian communities in India also tend to be the RICHEST communities. I suddenly started associating the same vegetarians who I middle fingered in the past with success, and wealth. I wanted to be like them the aspiration was that immediate.Over the last six months I ve been vegetarian. It has profoundly healed my body and mind. I have lost 25 pounds (still on target for another 25 to regain my lost shape). My knee problems have disappeared. I also feel more active, energetic and the feeling that I'm not killing animals does feel good. Although, I still believe eating meat in moderation is good. I still eat eggs and dairy. So, I m more of a lacto ovo vegetarian. Unlike before, I also feel more accepted in vegetatarian surroundings. Earlier, I used to mock their dietary habits, now I'm one of them. So, I'm no longer a pariah at the table.

[Vikramrao]

First, I love your website and have been sinhrag it w/ my vegan husband who also loves it so thank you! I have always eaten the WORST diet imaginable until a few years ago, my husband's vegan example (not lecturing) gradually influenced my food choices. This past year during Lent (hey, if 1/5 of the world is suffering, I can too!) I decided to go strict vegan. Mind you, I was only vegetarian once during a different Lent (6 wks long and I hated it). Well, it was miserable to say the least. The first 3 weeks are torture, but after that it gets MUCH easier! I held steady and finished out the 6 weeks, then I ate a homemade fried chicken & 5 cheese pasta for Easter Sunday and felt so horrible I continued to be vegan for another 4 weeks. Since then I have made a decision to eat vegan for almost every meal (about 95% of all my meals). When I want a cheese steak, pizza or egg sandwich or any other crappy food, I make myself wait 2 weeks. If I still want it, which is almost never, I eat it. But when I finally eat it, it doesn't even taste that good so I don't eat that item again. The pros for being vegan (since you know the cons): more energy, less fat in the diet, poop w/ regularity (not as much of a problem for guys, I know), less swelling while being active, less mood swings (another girl thing), weight loss, clearer mind. I have ALWAYS enjoyed cooking & baking, but I know what you mean about it being different not cooking meat. When you go vegan, it's super fun to learn about flax seeds replacing eggs in baking and trying almond, rice, hemp, & oat milks. Try cashew cream to replace cream in sauces & nutritional yeast helps w/ a cheesy flavor. I know I'm not even 100% vegetarian, but I hope this helps.