# Raised Vegetarian, Wants to Become Carnivore **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412 "2010-01-10T18:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/1 "2010-01-10T18:44:18Z")
Apparently a friend of mine was raised by vegetarians and hence was never given meat while growing up. She says that now, when she eats meat in appreciable quantities it causes her stomach to get upset and possibly even leads to vomitage. Is there any particular remedy for this? She’d be happy enough to become a carnivore if it wasn’t for this issue. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/2 "2010-01-10T18:51:01Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Is there any particular remedy for this? She’d be happy enough to become a carnivore if it wasn’t for this issue. She’s a human being and is fully capable of digesting meat. Just tell her to eat a little bit at a time for now. Maybe a salad with a little bit of chicken or ham in it for example. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/3 "2010-01-10T18:55:08Z")
I don’t really know the biology of it, but your body adjusts when you go from a diet that includes meat to one that doesn’t, or vice versa. If your friend wants to start including meat in her diet she can, but she should start out with fairly low quantities and work her way up so that her body will more gently adjust to the change. Fish and lean meats will be easier for her at first. Fattier meats will make her more nauseous until her body gets used to them. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/4 "2010-01-10T19:16:16Z")
Congratulations to your friend, BTW - tell her that, no matter how hard it is for her to get used it meat, it’s worth it. At the end - she can eat BACON! ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/5 "2010-01-10T19:16:32Z")
I was veg for 15 years and just started re-eating meat this past year. A little at a time is key, plus consuming the lower-fat stuff to begin with. I can eat, say, a couple slices of bacon now but not a full serving of red meat (for example, a burger or piece of meatloaf is out of the question). Personally, I haven’t vomited yet because of this but the stomach cramps/gas/diarrhea can be horrible. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/6 "2010-01-10T19:31:47Z")
> [@booklover](#): > > I was veg for 15 years and just started re-eating meat this past year. A little at a time is key, plus consuming the lower-fat stuff to begin with. > > I can eat, say, a couple slices of bacon now but not a full serving of red meat (for example, a burger or piece of meatloaf is out of the question). > > Personally, I haven’t vomited yet because of this but the stomach cramps/gas/diarrhea can be horrible. Maybe your problem is that you shouldn’t re-eat meat. It’s really only good the first time around. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![unclelem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ac91a4/32.png) [@unclelem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclelem)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/7 "2010-01-10T19:57:19Z")
most likely her gall bladder has “atrophied”. It is dangerous to eat a lot of fat until the gall bladder ramps back up by slowly introducing fat to the diet. This is pretty common with people who go on very fat-restricted diets for long periods of time. (and so is gall bladder removal when they ignore the above advice and binge after a long diet). Mr spurlock suffered from this in “Supersize Me”. The fact that his doctor didn’t warn him about it says something about the quality of his doctor. The fact that he didn’t mention it in his film says something about his integrity as a documentarian. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/8 "2010-01-10T20:55:49Z")
> [@unclelem](#): > > most likely her gall bladder has “atrophied”. > > It is dangerous to eat a lot of fat until the gall bladder ramps back up by slowly introducing fat to the diet. You’re assuming she’s eating a low-fat diet. I’m a vegetarian and my diet isn’t low fat much of the time, yet I still get nauseated eating meat. (No, I’m not being all fluffy-bunnies, poor-widdle-critters about it.) She should start very gradually. Light fish with little fat or cholesterol, even starting at tiny slivers of flesh at first, and work her way up. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/9 "2010-01-10T21:05:32Z")
> [@unclelem](#): > > Mr spurlock suffered from this in “Supersize Me”. The fact that his doctor didn’t warn him about it says something about the quality of his doctor. The fact that he didn’t mention it in his film says something about his integrity as a documentarian. Why would eating McDonald’s food for a month cause the gall bladder to atrophy? I thought the point was to show what happens when you eat a _high_ fat diet. ---
**Author:** ![unclelem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ac91a4/32.png) [@unclelem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclelem)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/10 "2010-01-10T21:19:03Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Why would eating McDonald’s food for a month cause the gall bladder to atrophy? I thought the point was to show what happens when you eat a _high_ fat diet. Mr Spurlock proudly exclaims about his vegetarian chef wife and how much he missed her cooking in the film. Just like the OP he was on a low-fat (vegetarian) diet _before_ he started eating at McDonalds, and then jumped into eating meat and fried food 3-meals a day. It is no surprise at all that he started vomiting. What is a surprise is that he didn’t suffer a gall bladder blowout and have to visit an ER. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/11 "2010-01-10T22:32:04Z")
> [@unclelem](#): > > Mr Spurlock proudly exclaims about his vegetarian chef wife and how much he missed her cooking in the film. > > Just like the OP he was on a low-fat (vegetarian) diet _before_ he started eating at McDonalds Neither Spurlock’s remark about his wife’s cooking nor the statements in the OP say anything about the eater in question having been on a _ **low-fat** _ diet before starting their new dietary practices. Yes, vegetarian diets in general are somewhat more low-fat than ones that include meat, but as **Ferret Herder notes** , not all vegetarians eat very little fat. For all we know, both the OP’s friend and Spurlock could have been constantly chowing down on cheese and eggs and avocados and nuts and other fatty foods in their vegetarian days. [This site sez:](http://www.chow.com/stories/10827) > [@](#): > > David Levitsky, a nutrition professor at Cornell University, said the levels of enzymes that digest protein and fat can drop when you stop eating meat. But they quickly rise again once you fall off the wagon. “If you haven’t eaten meat for a while, it’s going to stay in your stomach longer,” but it’ll take only a day or two to recover your meat-digesting ability entirely, he said. Maybe the problem is that would-be carnivores eat some meat, have trouble digesting it and feel unwell, and consequently avoid meat for a while, thus never getting their digestive enzymes boosted back up to normal carnivore levels. So maybe the solution is to start off eating very small amounts of meat every day, and then gradually increase the amount while decreasing the frequency. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/12 "2010-01-10T23:15:00Z")
I didn’t eat meat for a little over two years. It took about a month for my system to readjust itself. She should start with small amount and grind the meat up (or use baby food). Like she could buy a jar of baby food and put a small dab of meat on a cracker, as kind of a dip. Then increase it a little more each day. She’ll get used to it ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/13 "2010-01-10T23:27:44Z")
Just keep some Slim Jims in your pocket to nibble on. Maybe [heat 'em with a lighter for a hot snack.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg9AqnKSmZI) ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raised-vegetarian-wants-to-become-carnivore/524412/14 "2010-01-10T23:40:30Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I didn’t eat meat for a little over two years. It took about a month for my system to readjust itself. > > She should start with small amount and grind the meat up (or use baby food). > > Like she could buy a jar of baby food and put a small dab of meat on a cracker, as kind of a dip. Then increase it a little more each day. > > She’ll get used to it I imagine that pate would be another option.