Eating meat and feeling sick?

Question

For two weeks I didn't eat any meat or dairy products. During this time I was eating alot of green vegetables, peanut butter, beans, and I was taking calcium pills. I found that I had alot more energy and I felt really good. My mom got very angry with me as it started into a third week and made me stop, I am 15 and theres not alot I can do to fight back about the matter. This is the first week I have eaten meat sense and I feel very drained and weak. Is this due to the fact that my body is getting used to the change or is it the meat?

Answer 1

I doubt that your body would lose the ability to process meat and dairy in such a short period of time. Other possibilities:

- You have a food sensitivity. If this is the case, it's probably the dairy. Food sensitivities can make you feel fatigued and just in general not so great without making you openly sick. Eliminating them would solve this problem, re-introducing them would bring back symptoms.

- The saturated fat is back. It's a lot harder to get saturated fat if you're not eating animal foods. (Plant sources do exist, but they're not as common.) Fatty foods definitely can make you feel a heck of a lot more sleepy.

- It could be mental. When I'm eating vegetarian, I feel a lot more "clean" for some reason. I think it's because vegetarian foods are so much lighter. Whenever I was eating mostly vegetarian and got some meat for whatever reason, I could feel it.

- See if your mom will let you skip the red meat and poultry. Fish is still an animal, but it's a lot "lighter" and has lower levels of cholesterol and saturated fat (depending what kind you eat).

- Offer to help cook once in awhile. Make something vegetarian and delicious. (Veggie chili is super-easy and you can toss in some fake meat for texture.)

Good luck, friend, and I hope you get your energy back fast. Be sure that you're not replacing all of the green veggies with meat and dairy. Make an effort to eat a lot of fresh veggies, especially raw.

Answer 2

While your body may require protein it does not necessarily need the source to be meat. Legumes, nuts, soy products (comes in wide variety of products and flavors), cheese, and dairy products are all excellent sources of protein. I have been a vegetarian for 14 years now and prior to that ate meat on a daily basis. Now meat isn't the least bit appealing; even the smells can sometimes make me a little nauseated. Meat takes a lot of energy to digest, more than any other food. Also, women do not require as large of a protein intake as men. Meat bought at the grocery store is of an unknown source and is often given steroids and antibiotics. The meat of the animal also stores uric acid which had the animal lived it would have been processed into urine. As you can see there are many reasons to avoid meat especially from the grocery store. Being a vegetarian isn't so bad and you can always change your mind down the road or just decrease the amount of meat you eat. Give it a try it makes great conversation at big dinners.

Answer 3

Keep educating yourself about the benefits of eating a plant based diet. When you become more familiar, you can start talking to your mom as well. Or anyone that tends to give you a hard time, as many will.

For the time your at home, you can easily find options, such as fruit, nuts/seeds, vegetables. There are plenty of foods that can fulfill your bodies needs.

Good luck.

Answer 4

It could be psychological--you feel eating animal foods is "wrong" (and so do I), so eating them is a drag on you. Does your mom know you felt healthier eating vegan and crummy eating meat?

Why did your mom make you stop? You need to get information on healthy veganism--you might want to throw some fruit and some grains in your diet--and share it with your mom.

And yes, you want to help her cook, too.

Answer 5

Could be a myriad of reasons.

If you're eating meat, at least keep eating as much or more fresh produce than you were before. The more, the better.

Answer 6

meat is much harder to digest than plant foods. that is why it makes you feel heavy or tired. people who become vegetarian often feel lighter after a few weeks because their body isn't weighed down by the effort.

sorry about your mom.

Answer 7

Hard to say, maybe you are taking in too much protein and your stomach isn't tolerating it very well or it could be that your not getting the same nutrients as you were before.

Answer 8

It could be either-- the meat could be undercooked or something. But it's probably that your body has gotten used to the change.

Answer 9

ur body is too used to not eating meat