Meat Relapses

When people find out that I'm a vegetarian, one of the questions they get around to asking goes something like this: "But don't you miss meat?" The honest answer to that question is yes; I do miss the rare steaks, barbecued ribs, and pot roast of my old diet. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I have, from time to time, longed for things like pork chops, beef-on-toast, and ceviche.


Yes, I have had a few meat relapses in the past ten years or so of vegetarian-eating. For the most part, these relapses were unintentional. But sometimes I intentionally seek out and eat meat, even though it runs counter to my new diet. For example, right after the one-year anniversary of my ER trip, I got a craving for pork roast. I figured since I'd made it a whole year without meat, eating a little bit of pork roast would be a good way to reward myself for getting my blood pressure under control. It was a great meal, and it satisfied my craving enough that I didn't have another meat relapse for months.

Most of my other meat relapses were either accidental (eating a bowl of soup from a diner that was supposedly vegetarian but actually contained chicken stock) or a result of poor planning on my part. In my opinion, the very occasional meal including meat isn't a bad thing for vegetarians, especially if they haven't been eating healthy and need a quick jolt of protein.

Don't beat yourself up if you are chasing a vegetarian diet and accidentally or intentionally eat meat from time to time. As long as you keep your diet under control, a relapse every now and then can be a good thing.