Deciding to eat meat again

Deciding to eat meat again was one of the biggest decisions of my life!

I know that sounds dramatic but being plant-based for over 30yrs was ingrained in me.  I REALLY believed I was doing the best I possibly could for the animals, myself and the planet.  I believed all the propaganda, I believed cow farts were killing us and I believed tofu & broccoli, and such were just as healthy, if not healthier than meat.  I judged meat eaters and did not understand why they kept killing themselves and us all.  And my heart hurt for the animals suffering for our gluttony.  I was completely brainwashed, thinking animal proteins caused heart issues and inflammation as well as all the environmental damage we are told about!

I’d been this way since I was a child and as the years moved on it only got worse, I doubled down, from pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan and raw vegan.  I even consider fruitarian and breatharian!

Then almost 4 years ago I started collapsing.  I was rushed through many tests at the hospital, and they found heart conditions, auto-immunity and thyroid conditions.  They wanted to medicate and then eventually I’d have operations! NOT a chance this was happening!  I’d been completely med free (not even a painkiller) for over 15 years.  So, I started researching another way.

Everything I read kept pointing me in the same direction though.  My body was basically eating itself as it had run out of some basic building blocks from all the years of being plant-based.  I’d done really well to last this long it seems and I put that down to all the supplements I’d taken and in the raw-vegan years, all the fats!

BUT, I went round and round in circles for months, not wanting to believe my ‘fate’, that the only way to heal myself was to eat meat again.

I felt a fraud (I was a plant-based health coach & author)

I felt shame

I felt disgust

I felt others would judge me (which has happened A LOT)

I felt triggered/dysregulated

And I felt the pain of the animals that I would have to eat

I felt their suffering

I felt disgusted at the idea of eating meat and the idea that another being would suffer for my gain.

This went against all my values!

BUT, I was getting worse, so I made a choice to go straight in and eat organ meats (raw) right away.  I’d eat the parts others did not, the most nutrient dense, if that helped I’d go from there.

And, it helped!  A lot!

The pain I put myself through though, the nervous system dysregulation was likely undoing the benefits of the animal protein, so I had to have a few stern talks with myself and tell myself if I kept this up then the animals have died for nothing!

So, with time I stopped giving myself a hard time and my health not only returned but I learned to really thrive.

Not only has my body healed from these chronic health conditions, BUT from loads of weird and wonderful things I’ve had going on for decades.  Old injuries have disappeared and cysts, lumps and bumps too!  Just further proving to me that to thrive we need animal fats and proteins.

Now I source my meat locally, ideally from friends’ farms and this year we’ve added sheep to our flock of birds, so we know they have had the best life possible right up until the moment they no longer do.  We hope to have cows one day too.

If you’ve been plant-based and considering moving over to animal-based please stop giving yourself a hard time.  If animals have to die for you to thrive then make sure your body can make the most of that and please let go of the shame/guilt &/or pain you are putting yourself through.

I also highly recommend you check out Leith Keith, an ex-vegan and environmentalist proving that rather than destroying the planet cattle are the only way to save it!  I interviewed her about her journey HERE.

Please reach out if you need help!