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Why the vast majority of vegetarians return to eating meat within a few years. Is eating meat, in fact, “in our genes”?
For the vast majority of vegetarians, abstaining from meat is only a phase rather than a permanent life choice.
According to Psychology Today, roughly 75% of vegetarians eventually return to eating meat with 9 years being the average length of time of abstinence. (1)
The most common reason former vegetarians cited as the reason they returned to meat was declining health.
One vegetarian turned omnivore put it very succinctly:
I’ll take a dead cow over anemia any time.
Other former vegetarians cited persistent physical weakness despite eating a whole foods plant-based diet while others returned to meat at the recommendation of their doctor.
Another big reason that vegetarians returned to meat was due to irresistible cravings. This occurred even among long-term vegetarians.
Respondents talked about their protein cravings or how the smell of cooking bacon drove them crazy.
One survey participant wrote:
I just felt hungry all the time and that hunger would not be satisfied unless I ate meat.
Another put it more humorously:
Starving college student + First night back home with the folks + Fifty or so blazin’ buffalo wings waiting in the kitchen = Surrender.
Even the hugely popular Netflix documentary What The Health was unable to name a single vegan population group that was successful long term!
Sustainable Meat Proves Enticing
About half of vegetarians originally gave up meat for ethical reasons.
Pictures of confined animals standing on concrete in their own excrement and the stench of factory farms on country roads from 5 miles away are no doubt good reasons to turn away from meat.
Some former vegetarians, however, have recognized and embraced the grassfed movement, finding their way back to sustainable and humanely raised, cruelty-free meats as a real ethical alternative.
Some of these converts view buying grassfed beef and other sustainably raised animal foods as a new form of activism similar to their boycott of factory farmed meats when they were vegetarians.
Berlin Reed, a long-term vegetarian with the tattoo “vegan” on his neck is one of these. (2)
Now known as “the ethical butcher”, he believes that promoting customer contact with butchers which has been lost in recent decades with the rise of factory farming is the key to an improved and sustainable meat system.
Is Meat Consumption “In Our Genes”?
The article in Psychology Today ends on a baffled note with the author wondering if meat eating could potentially be in our genes? (3)
I submit that the results of this survey are not surprising and are, in fact, a testament to the research of Dr. Weston A. Price.
Dr. Price, traveled the world early in the last century living amongst and studying 14 isolated cultures.
During this adventure, he documented these isolated people groups consuming their ancestral diet in great detail.
Amazing pictures and the data from his analysis of these foods can be found in his masterpiece Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.
Dr. Price concluded that while the diets of these natives varied widely, nutrient-dense animal foods high in the fat-soluble true vitamin A, D, and K2 (also known as Activator X) were the common denominators.
Consumption of these animal foods was revered in these communities as they bestowed vibrant health, easy fertility, healthy children, and high resistance to chronic and infectious diseases.
Vegetarian Cultures Compared to Omnivores
This discovery was actually a disappointment to Dr. Price.
He had expected to find the vegetarian cultures to be the healthiest cultures of all. This was due to the vegetarians of his day in the 1920s and 1930s being healthier than Americans eating a processed diet.
However, the ancestral vegetarian cultures he examined displayed far more degeneration and tooth decay than the omnivore cultures.
Dr. Price’s observation that vegetarians suffered from more cavities has been confirmed by peer-reviewed study in recent years.
Besides issues with caries, vegetarians also suffer from a high risk of fractures compared to the general population.
Dr. Price’s scientific integrity demanded recognition of the fact that the health of the indigenous omnivores far exceeded that of the vegetarian societies.
Those consuming a wide variety of marine seafood exhibited the most vibrancy of all.
Therefore, in the famous words of Pink Floyd, “Eat yer meat!”
And….crickets and other mass-produced bugs don’t count as a sustainable meat option despite what mainstream media claims! (4)
Ancestrally-inspired meat eaters hate factory farms whether it be for animals or insects!
(1, 3) Psychology Today
(2) Beating a Humane Retreat Back to Meat
(4) The Risks of Eating Commercially-farmed Insects
hmm
how odd. i’m a vegan and i have never missed the taste of meat. which is the reason i don’t eat mock meats, i don’t like the texture of meat, real or fake. even the smell of barbeque makes me think of burned cow flesh.. not beef. i am also definitely healthier on a raw vegetables/fruits diet and i had less energy when i used to eat meat. guess we’re all different.
Jessica
What about the fact that human bodies are not designed to eat meat?(We have herbivore teeth(our “canine” teeth are bs and could obviously not rip into an animal.I’d like to see you try to eat a chunk of raw meat,let alone a live animal),saliva,intestines,etc..and clearly drinking milk from another species is unnatural) ,so it makes no sense that you would be deficient in anything without it. I’ve been vegan for 7 years and I’ve never been healthier. I haven’t gotten a single cold/flu,etc.since I cut all of that crap out of my diet,my skin looks amazing,I have more energy..I also think it would be almost impossible to become deficient in any vitamin/mineral or not get enough protein unless you’re eating total crap. Almost everything now-a-days is vitamin fortified,and as long as you eat a varied diet you get everything you need…
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Jessica, we have both canine and herbivore teeth .. hence we are “omnivores”. Denying the obvious when it is sitting right there in your mouth is foolishness. Our bodies not designed to eat meat? What ludicrous propaganda is this? Dr. Weston A. Price studied 14 indigenous cultures that were all supremely healthy and they ALL ate animal foods .. and were healthier than the indigenous vegetarian cultures.
Emily @ Butter Believer
Hey Jessica, have you ever accidentally bitten — and thus, ripped into the flesh of — your lip? Gee, how could that *possibly* happen with those herbivorous teeth of yours?
Take a look at an actual herbivore’s mouth. Pretty sure my horse, goat, and the neighbor’s cow are lacking those “BS” canines.
Annette K. Scott
Sarah, Thank you for this post. Clearly, by virtue of the sheer number of responses and their length, you have hit a chord! My quest to eat in accordance with my concurrent desires to be radiantly healthy and in alignment with my ethics regarding our place in the web of life on this living planet began in earnest at 16. I will turn 42 this year – I share this so that I might illustrate the number of years that I have wrestled with the “how to”. Over that span of years I have moved through years of being a vegetarian, a macro/micro eater, a vegan, a juicer, a raw foodie. For the past 4 years I have used Nourishing Traditions and Weston A. Price’s work as my guide.
I continue to adapt and learn as I go forward but it is here, eating grass-fed or naturally reared animals, eating local, seasonal fruits and vegetables, that I am best able to integrate my emotions and my critical thinking skills regarding the environment and my ethics. I work diligently to walk softly upon the earth, live simply and beautifully knowing that I am putting the very best of myself on offer because I am healthy and resilient. Nutrition is the key and foundation to that for me and yet, I know that conscious eating is a very personal journey. May we ultimately all meet in peace and eat together. Be well and thanks for the thought provoking work!
April
Sarah, I didn’t know if you were aware of this…
Yesterday evening (June 30) i was watching the news, and saw pieces of a report. It seems that an international coalition of chicken farmers selected representatives to come to the US and take a good look at “how we do things.” Of course the idea is to increase efficiency and decrease financial loss in factory farms around the world. I am afraid I have just witnessed the early stages of decline in the health of countries that have far surpassed us in the recent past.
jami
I was an on again off again vegetarian for 10 years, beginning in high school. As mentioned in your post, I began abstaining from meat after becoming aware of the conditions these animals are kept in, which are truely horrific. But I ALWAYS had cravings. I never felt healthy, and I cheated a lot. And really, what was I doing to actually address the problem I had with the care and treatment of animals? On a whim I got a few ducks to put in my yard for eggs, which led to wanting more ducks, needing a bigger yeard, getting a bigger yard, then hey, why not get a few goats out there too? The absolute joy I get from caring for these animals, and yes, raising some as a meat source now, has opened my eyes so much more to how people can have unbound love for animals and eat them too. I get the rest of my meat from small local farmers, and am fortunate enough to have an open invitation to any of these farms any time I want to check things out. Instead of just standing by with the “Well I don’t eat meat, so I’m not part of the problem” attitude, I have found a great network of omnivores who have such admirable passion and dedication to increasing awareness of how we can have our animals and eat them too.
Primal Toad
This is my first time here… great blog! Thanks for posting this on my facebook fan page! This is an awesome post that all vegetarians should read.
A vegetarian diet is simply not healthy. I mean, does a vegetarian realize that Vitamin B12 is an ESSENTIAL nutrient? And that the ONLY natural source is from animal products? Without supplementation and fortification, a vegan would DIE soon. Who would a vegan want to see die first? A healthy cow that grazes on grass or him/herself?
Meagan
I was a HARDCORE vegetarian for 4 years and within the last year have come back to the omnivore side. My original reason was for moral/ethical reasons. I did not agree with commercial factory farming due to the waste, animal cruelty, quality of meat, as well as the treatment of workers. Being pressured to slaughter 450 animals a day in a line with dull knives leads to very serious injury with immigrant workers having no medical/insurance protection whatsoever. The entire business practices of these huge factories are completely corrupt.
I also opted out because at the time I was reading controversial information about the health benefits of going RAW and vegetarian. And that more meat equaled more risks of cancer. I do agree that going RAW and vegetarian for a brief amount of time is cleansing, but I am a firm believer now that an omnivorous diet is best. During the 4 years that I was a vegetarian I lost too much weight, my joints were always somewhat sore, my hair was dull and lost a lot of its natural curl, my skin had no color, I tanned less well and couldn’t maintain the little bit of tan I had at all. I did feel “lighter” in the sense that my digestive functions were a breeze and after a meal I was never tired/lazy. However, I had less energy overall. My family harassed me constantly to gain some weight and I was never once complimented on my figure. ( I was flat chested and had no butt!)
In the last year I have gained back about 15-20lbs (I always seem to fluctuate between those last 5lbs) I have a full curvy figure again and have received so many compliments. My hair is shiny and the natural curl is back! My skin isn’t colorless anymore and when I get some sun, it stays nice and tan for a long time. I still have my normal 2 bowel movements a day, but instead of them being extremely soft they’re the healthy #4’s. (Bristol Stool Chart)
I eat limited amounts of meat, no more than 7 ounces a day, however I eat a lot of eggs and dairy and try to limit my amounts of grain. I do not eat meat when I eat out at a restaurant, unless they purchase locally. All my meat is organic grass-fed beef or poultry. And I try to eat fish at least once a week. I actually have a lot of hunters/fishers in my family, so we always have some elk, foul or freshwater fish in the freezer. I have to say I have never felt better in my life. It takes a bit more work, but eating an omnivorous diet with whole foods cooked the traditional way really makes a difference. I can vouch for it!
Kelli
Everything on this planet lives on the death of others, its been that way for millions of years. Animals and plants decompose in the soil making it fertile again. Humans need animal fats so the least we can do is raise the animals humanely. You can never be truly healthy without cod liver oil and butter.
Jack Carone
None of these warnings about health problems and recidivism are reflected in my personal experience, either with my own health or the condition of the hundreds of vegetarians and vegans that I know. if you must eat the flesh of abused animals ( and don’t kid yourself about “organic” or grass-fed animals not being abused, no one wants to die, you realize), then do it, but skip the rationalizations.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist
Jack, this is not so. Study of the Native American tribes which depended and followed on buffalo herds for survival document how a buffalo would typically “sacrifice” itself to the tribe when the time for slaughter came near. The buffalo would stand away from the safety of the herd and willingly offer itself as food for the tribe. Of course, the Indians were grateful to the buffalo and never wasteful – using every part of the animal for food, shelter or clothing. Grassfeeding of animals attempts to replicate this in some ways by being respectful and grateful to the animals which provide us the food we need to be healthy and treat them with utmost respect and care while they are under our stewardship.
Jack Carone
http://www.humanemyth.org
you can rationalize killing, but it is still killing.
Lava
Better start rationalizing the tiger, and the lion, and the eagle. And the vulture.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist
Exactly. It is the circle of life after all. What about all the bacteria and bugs you’re killing as you walk on a sidewalk. Where do you draw the line? The fact is that humans are omnivores (note the pointy canine teeth in our mouths! We are not meant to subsist only on plant foods!) and denying this is not only foolish but leads to rapid health decline which is why most folks come to their senses within a few years and once again eat meat. Hopefully, from sustainable family farms!
Emily @ Butter Believer
Ack, you beat me to it, Lava. Was going to ask Jack if he believes all predatory animals are “abusers.” Lol! Darn that food chain… so cruel! 😉
Nienke
So then, what would you call the broccoli (as said before) on your plate?
Still alive and happy to be chewed up?
Killing is not such an awful thing, people do it on a daily basis (though, most of them, don’t do it themselves). It’s the life before the killing that counts, and also the way the killing is done. Monoculturing a crop, feeding it on fake minerals, and then ripping it out of the earth with heavy machinery really isn’t so much better than bio-industry meat.
Killing an animal with respect, an animal that has lived a good life until you take it; that really isn’t so much different than growing a healthy crop and harvest it when it’s ‘ripe’.