Does eating meat when your body has never consumed meat make your body feel like it’s a foreign food substance or does nothing. Would meat take longer to digest in a vegetarian’s alimentary canal or no?
what’s the exact biology that happens inside?
I’m a vegetarian from birth, and recently I ate half a burger by accident (ordered an impossible burger, they gave me the real thing - since I’ve never had it I didn’t realize it until my husband pointed it out) and nothing happened as far as I can tell? I didn’t feel sick or anything.
You transform into a lion and proceed to live the rest of your life in the African Savannah. Seriously, nothing happens. Your ability to eat meat isn’t determined by habbit, but by genetics. It has been engrained in the human genome since the start of Homo Sapiens, and your body knows how to handle it regardless of previous consumption.
I grew up seventh day Adventist so I had a lot of veg from birth friends. Antidotally, having seen this about a dozen times over my life, it completely depends on the person.
I’ve seen some not notice at all and I’ve seen others get so sick they appear as if they got food poisoning.
It’s really individual.
The human body is pretty good at not making what it doesn’t need so in this case specifically digestive enzymes and bile. There are specific enzymes for digesting proteins and fats that are secreted into the small intestines during digestion. For people who do not eat meat, these enzymes are less plentiful in the body. Also, the amount of bile needed for a vegetarian diet is different than the amount needed for an omnivorous diet. So again the body will make/use less bile if meats are not consumed. Based on the biology, I’d expect a long-term vegetarian to have difficulty eating meat at first. I don’t know what this means exactly, maybe nausea, indigestion, etc. I’d expect with continued meat-eating the problems would dissipate as the body adjusts. It’d be beneficial to start slow and gradually introduce meat products.
For me, when eating meat after vegetarianism, I got the runs for a few days with a bit of an upset tummy.
Its not really a meat-thing, its about your body not being used to eating a “new” food. I did a round of whole30 and had the same issue with milk, after not having it for so long.
Can’t speak for meat, but after being vegan from birth I ate a chocolate bar when I was like 10 and threw up. It’s not that it’s inherently unhealthy for you, your body just isn’t used to it and tries to reject it initially.
Food digestion is heavily determined by your gut microbiome. Which means some people will be fine. They’ve got enough variety that their body can handle new introductions just fine. Others have a more limited variety and their body will either struggle but manage or say wtf nope and send it all out, fast.
IME people who eat a really varied diet can handle even more variety. People who eat a limited range struggle. It’s why people that begin restricting kinds of foods end up restricting more and more due to side effects. They e damaged their ability to process and it just gets worse.
Vegetarian foods tend to be lower in fat and protein so it is possible that switching to a non-veg diet could make the person feel unwell due to the sudden change. However not all vegetarian foods are low in fat or protein so it depends on the diet of the individual and how much meat the person eats. 1 serving of meat is unlikely to do much if anything, especially if the person already eats plenty of fat and protein.
But this is just speculation, I have no evidence
There is bacteria that accompany the digestion of meat, eggs, and possibly also dairy. If you do not eat these regularly, such as someone born not eating it, there is an adjustment period where the person develops those bacteria to aid in the digestion. Hence, people can get sick and throw up, even if it has been a long time since they have eaten it.
My sister was vegetarian for a while not since birth but once she ate meat again she said she felt no different. Nothing happens biologically when you consume meat other than your body breaking it down. Different foods digest at different rates that comes with everything. I wouldn’t be worried but I would probably start with something like chicken tenders or a burger. They are standard, simple and relatively good wherever you go.I hope this helps a bit. Xoxo
I can only speak from experience, but I became a vegetarian 4 years ago and when I was about 2 years into this lifestyle, I allowed myself to eat one weisswurst sausage at a German restaurant, and I became ill later that night. I don’t know if it had to do with eating meat again or if the meat I chose was not good quality. Anyway, I have not done that again since that experience.
Some people have digestive distress, I believe due to the lack of enzymes needed to digest meat. Others have no reaction. It’s definitely not the same for everyone. I was vegetarian for like 12 years, and I never reacted when I accidentally (or eventually, intentionally) ate meat. I was not vegetarian from birth though.
Your body evolved to eat meat. It is natural to you. Some people do feel initially certain discomfort, but it goes away when your gut develops the microbial population needed to help you process meats.
If someone is vegetarian for a long time, there is a tendency to be deficient or insufficient in zinc. This can cause some issues with tasting food as you need zinc as an enzyme for this process. For this reason, sometimes the meat can taste funny or unpalatable to someone who is zinc deficient.
https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/de-gruyter/zinc-status-and-meat-avoidance-in-anorexia-nervosa-Ub60YeDap9
https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/130/5/1493S/4686425
As for your alimentary canal, meat is digested in the small intestine. It does not hang out in your colon. If your stomach acid is good and your digestive enzymes boosted you may find you actually poop less because the meat is very well absorbed in the small intestine to make amino acids. There is not much waste with meat consumption because of no fiber. So you may find your bowel movements to be less large (but not necessarily less often, depending on the rest of your diet).ur diet). diet).t).
This compounds the zinc deficiency because meat is very high in zinc. And you get into a potential cycle where zinc gets lower, meat is more avoided, etc. etc.
When I work with clients who are vegetarian or vegan and are moving back to animal foods for whatever reason, we always supplement zinc and we also provide digestive enzymes, until their body is good at making what it needs again. With vegetarians, I will supplement 30mg of zinc a day (w/o copper because often they are high in that already) for 3 months, and then move to 15mg daily w/copper (Jarros has a good formula for this). The enzyme I recommend is Betaine HCL
When I work with clients who are vegetarian or vegan and are moving back to animal foods for whatever reason, we always supplement zinc and we also provide digestive enzymes, until their body is good at making what it needs again. With vegetarians, I will supplement 30mg of zinc a day (w/o copper because often they are high in that already) for 3-6 months (up to 50mg a day in separate doses if there are psychiatric issues), and then move to 15mg daily w/copper (Jarros has a good formula for this). The enzyme I recommend is Betaine HCL w/pepsin or any good digestive enzyme will help.
As for your alimentary canal, meat is digested in the small intestine. It does not hang out in your colon. If your stomach acid is good and your digestive enzymes boosted you may find you actually poop less because meat is very well absorbed in the small intestine to make amino acids. There is not much waste with meat consumption because no fiber. So you may find your bowel movements to be less large (but not necessarily less often, depends on rest of your diet).
This compounds the zinc deficiency because the meat is very high in zinc. And you get into a potential cycle where zinc gets lower, meat is more avoided, etc. etc. es boosted you may find you actually poop less because the meat is very well absorbed in the small intestine to make amino acids. There is not much waste with meat consumption because of no fiber. So you may find your bowel movements to be less large (but not necessarily less often, depending on the rest of your diet).
You could take anecdotes from POWs or prison inmates who are exposed to regular food after extended incarceration.
Usually exposure to more calorically dense food might result in mild stomach troubles or even diarrhea.
Nothing really serious though.
Maybe you’d get gas?
Our GI tracts are made to handle meat and vegetables. So it stands to reason that it should still be functional.
https://www.livescience.com/53483-omnivores.html
Someone brought up a good point about bacteria in the gut. For my money I would bet you’d get gas because your intestines won’t have the same composition as if you’d been eating the omnivore diet your whole life.
Been vegetarian for years. The gut biome has specific bacteria that break down food that you usually eat. If something has a different makeup than your usual food there may be some temporary distress as certain colonies of bacteria suddenly multiple… likely causing excess methane farts and maybe some stomach distress. If a long-term vegetarian continues to eat meat there will likely be a period of adjustment resulting in temporary diarrhea and bloating…but should go away as gut bacteria colonies normalize.
This happens with any new diet, such as when a person moves to a new country and starts eating their cuisine.
In my own experience, when I’ve eaten meat at one meal nothing much has ever happened.
Anybody who says that they get sick is probably suffering from some placebo effect. Even taking gut microbiome into consideration, I’m pretty sure the pancreas creates protease by default, meaning every human being on the earth aside from genetically cursed people have the ability to digest meat. There’s even different varying amounts of amino acids in veggies, grains etc, those get digested just fine. I imagine it’d be the same as if someone just went from eating 2000 calories to 5000 calories overnight. A bit of bloating and lethargic feelings, but no, a vegan, vegetarian, even a pescatarian who accidentally ate beef is not gonna go into anaphylactic shock from beef.
I’m probably different than everyone (Vegetarian by birth but not really looking to be one) I have an extremely strong gag reflex. Even eggs make me gag and puke uncontrollably (taste, texture and smell) and it’s almost the same with meat. I can eat a bit of chicken now but only prepared in certain ways. If anyone can also help me, that would be great lol