I came thisclose to eating salmon last night, it looked so good! I resisted though. It's so hard living with a meat-eating family. Does this make me a bad vegetarian? Does anyone else struggle with missing meat? Don't judge me please
When I first turned veggie (age 13 I think) I had terrible cravings, as our family had eaten so much meat before and I had replaced it with junk and sweets (being 13 and all) I remember caving once and eating a sauasge roll, and I cried and vowed never to again and to read up on nutrition. I never ate meat again I havent once craved it since that day...now I just get completely grossed out. Itll go away
In my opinion forcing yourself to be a vegetarian when it's not what you really want is like forcing a vegetarian to eat meat....but as long as you're happy i guess
Its hardly forcing, and I assume it IS what the poster wants or they wouldnt be doing it in the first place! Its only natural to crave things weve eaten for such a long long time after just stopping...you cant expect your mind and body to just accept it immediately with no reaction, you have to adjust. Its perfectly normal. Old habits die hard. Doesnt mean we should always just stick with them
So if you have to force yourself to stop smoking, you shouldn't do it? Nothing worth having comes easy. Even health.
Yeah it's not that I want to eat meat all the time and have to force myself not to eat it! Most of the time I am sickened by the thought of eating meat, just as I was when we had salmon and I was thinking about it swimming happily...I am so much healthier and happy being veggie. Thanks for all the helpful posts.
I love smoking...ill never quit because it makes me happy even with the health hazards. I'm just saying is all...not trying to piss you guys off.
I understand what smittys saying. Not trying to be a jerk in any way, just with some people who become veggi never look back. I know that's how it was for me, I never once craved a piece of meat after the day i made that decision. But everyone's different; same goal in the end
When I quit, it was for no particular reason. So my cravings were not quashed by anything other than my desire not to eat meat anymore. But as soon as my craving became too much, I considered why I was not eating meat. The pros out-weighed the cons...so it was easier to temper my cravings. Because I knew why I was doing what I was doing. Do you? It is hard to live with a meat eating family, especially if they try and tempt you back into their fold. If your new to vegetarianism...talking it over with like minded people should ease the cravings a little...because - generally speeking most vegeterians have had the same experience as you. So they can relate. Good luck.
But just because you have cravings doesn't mean that you don't want to do it. I love junk food. But it's not good for me so I stay away, but I still want it. Does it mean that I don't want to be healthy? I chose to be vegan. But I still crave animal products. Does that mean that I don't want to be vegan? Of course not. It was something that I thought long and hard about.
This is me right now. Im doin the MC, prepping myself for a mostly vegetarian/raw diet. But man, comming from a lifetime of smoked BBQ ribs, ribeye steaks, fried chicken. It's tempting! O God, please give me strength...
I struggle with it also. I'm living with some family temporarily and they eat a lot of meat.. even after being vegan and vegetarian for 4 years it still can be hard. You're not a bad vegetarian or person, just a normal human being. Like you said, you feel happier and healthier being veggie so continue on!
after 28 years, I still think that seafood and fish smell good. It's probably as close as I get to almost uncontrollable temptations. I also think we are wired as a species to equate the coals of a grill/fire with food. Might be a good time to remember why you chose this journey: are you into AR? against the way we raise animals/overfishing (or other it could be Ok, but not how we do it now thought or environmentalist aspects)? here for your own health? just sort of squicked out by dead creatures (that's a perfectly viable reason. Yeats was and aesthetics vegetarian--as were many Victorians who had issues with bodies of all kinds) MAybe it's spiritual, or a personal challenge. All good reasons, but all with differing motivation. Know your motivation, and how to handle the temptation becomes a bit more clear. An example: I want to stop drinking cafeine as a matter of course. I don't think I want to pitch it all, but to have one , and really enjoy it, on occasion, not as an every day or every other day thing. Since I'm doing it as more of a "keep it moderate" mindset rather than "Caffeine is poison" mindset, my strategies are different. I can simply avoid, until I'm allowing myself a treat. As I transitioned from "pestatarian" (the pest who orders fish as a default) to a real L/O veg (now barely l/veg) in my first months, I knew I wanted to be veg for some pretty fuzzy reasons. 13 year olds are like that. I had a spiritual aspect, a feeling that taking life for a whim was wrong, and a vague feeling that it was "enlightened" and, yeah, "cool." My 13 year old ego was pretty chatty! But it worked: I didn't want to be just another burger chowing yokel. So I didn't and was pretty unsufferable. but I made it firmly on the path of a veg journey. and you can do it, too. No matter what your reasons are.
bbq sauce is usually veg, and tasty on tofu. or bread. Just sayin'. Denver has a barbecue joint, Wolfe's, that smokes tofu as well (on the top rack to avoid drips. It is really good in taste (he needs to freeze it first, I think, for texture). I make tvp sloppy joes, with Q sauce and liquid smoke. G-d bless Elgin, Texas.
yeah my motivation is that I don't think it's right to kill another animal for food- plus the disgust of the modern meat processing industry...whenever I am tempted I picture the animal running/swimming around in its rightful habitat (kind of cheesy I know) but it works! Plus I think that humans have got past the point of needing flesh for nutrition- with all the alternatives it's unnecessary to kill other creatures to eat.
I still crave foods... rarely, but it happens. But it always seems to be the foods I have a genuine allergy to rather than those I choose not to eat, so I'm "stuck." When I first switched, I thought I was craving hot dogs (yuck!) but after thinking about it awhile I realized it was really the ketchup I wanted. So now when the family grills hot dogs, (all of 4 or 5 times a year) I grab some baked fries for my "ketchup fix." Recently it was a pepperoni pizza, and then some sort of sausage that smelled particularly divine to me. My husband pointed out that everything I "crave" is a heavily seasoned & cured meat... and suggested that perhaps it's not the meat at all, but rather that cured/seasoned aspect that I am missing. He is now on a quest for the ideal marinade for some grilled mushrooms & veggies for me. Gotta love a meatosaur that can "think veggie" for his wife! love, mom
