Please help me..?!
Please help me..?
I am a vegetarian and have been for quite awile now. I have never had a craving for meat yet, except for today.. My parents are having a fish fry right now and for some reason I'm really tempted to eat a piece but I don't want to!! I feel bad about even wanting to eat it!! Has anyone been through similar things? I feel guilty for even thinking about it. What should I do? (please don't tell me to eat the fish)
Answers:
It's normal to have those cravings, you don't have to feel guilty about it, it doesn't mean your not a vegetarian! You have made a choice to lead a veg. lifestyle (I'm guessing partly to reduce cruelty to animals?), but for all the years that you weren't veg. you were psychologically conditioned to view meat eating as normal and positive... you have positive associations with eating meat - family gatherings, tasty meals, barbecues, etc.
Most people don't stop eating meat because they don't like the taste, they do it because they have made a moral decision to avoid animal cruelty for human consumption. So, even though you have made a conscious decision to not eat meat, your positive mental associations with it will not disappear right away.
I've been a vegetarian (now vegan) for 10 years, and I will freely admit that in the beginning I had cravings... like when you smell someone cooking steak in the summer it can trigger old memories and make you want it even if you really don't want it! After years of not eating meat, it increasingly becomes more of a foreign concept and really just gross. If you're anything like me, you will eventually begin to forget that you ever ate meat or considered it to be food. It's muscle tissue, just like we have all over our bodies! Gross!
It's funny, I've been vegan for a couple of months now, and I occasionally see an ad for pizza or something and I want it, cheese and all. But after the immediate reaction of 'mmmmm', I think about what cheese is, where it comes from, and what the animals go through in the process, and it suddenly becomes less appetizing. I just want to let you know I empathize with the cravings... but if you just stare at the food in question and picture it's origins... the blood and guts and slaughter... I bet you really won't want it after all.
Source(s):
Veg. for life!
Oh god quit the dang angst and eat the fish. You want to eat it.
dont feel guilty about being tempted, we do at one time or another. dear dont eat the fish.
It might have helped to answer if you had defined "been vegetarian for quite a while". I stopped eating and using animal products in any form because of my growing awareness of the cruelty and explotation behind the practice, not to mention how unnecessary using animals is for our well being. But that doesn't mean I don't have memories of fish frys and other "meat-related" get togethers with family and friends that are pleasant. I was ignorant then. If you ate the fish, it may even taste good, because dipping things in flour and/or cornmeal and deep frying them in grease is good. But you shouldn't eat it because it is not necessary to take part in the senseless death of the fish you would be consuming. No matter how good it tasted, if you are really on this path, it would bother you for some time. If you overcome this, use it, remember that you put your ethics in front of your appetite. Which is really more important in the long run?
Everything is appealing when you're hungry. Eat something you enjoy, and you won't be as tempted!
Your body may possibly be experiencing a protein deficiency. Perhaps you have upped your physical activity in the past few days or weeks, and you're needing an increased intake of protein and/ or iron in your diet. Perhaps you could choose a veggie friendly very high protein and/or iron rich food and see if your cravings subside.
i know your trying to respect nature and your beliefs, but fish is actually healthy for you! Fish is very healthy! It has something that your body needs! And plus...what's the point of being vegetarian if you don't enjoy it? Not trying to be rude when I say this but...a true vegatarian, will think fish is gross and won't even want to eat it! Don't feel guilty, being vegetarian is no a religion, it's like you have to follow it. It's your life...enjoy it!