crave meat?

[greenfeline]

Not me! But when some people hear I am a vegan they say they could never do it because they crave meat (completely disgusting if you ask me). I always tell them all foods have protein, and my levels are just fine with veggies, fruits, nuts & seeds, but they still insist they crave meat for the protein. Is this just an emotional thing or what?

[Veronica01]

They're chemically addicted to it. Just like people who wouldn't give up Coke or Smoking. I don't think everyone's addicted to meat, i think a lot of people force themselves to eat it because they think they need to have meat at lunch or dinner. I used to eat grilled meat every day with veggies for dinner and i ate it because i thought i was supposed to and i didn't eat pasta or bread. I ended up being able to eat less and less because it's so hard to sit down and eat a bunch of it. A lot of guys I know say they would die and crave it, but i think people are over exaggerating their needs.

[SweetTangerine]

I agree, I think it is a lot more mental than physical. I went vegetarian nearly four years ago, and I did it cold turkey. Before this I ate steak and burgers a lot. After I became vegetarian I just told myself I don't want this and I don't need this and that was that. It really is a manner of will power.

[greenfeline]

Yes, I suspect it is in their heads also. Personally, I never loved meat, but I just thought that is what you are supposed to be eating!

[T-Bird]

I think it is difficult to get away from what you were fed as a small child....even a nursing baby starts to pick up on the flavors from the breast milk of what the parents eat, they say.

There is an emotional bond there to the flavors, textures, and bodily reactions - that I don't think can ever be 100% broken. And I think people vary by how far they CAN get away from where they started.

So I guess maybe for some people, it's true - they can't. Some of us search for "perfect" health and the "perfect food/diet" to get there. Some people just don't care - they were brought up on something and have no desire to deviate.

[RawHeaven]

IMO, I don't think it's so much that they're craving meat, inasmuch as they're significantly malnourished and need OOGLES more dead foods to reach only a miniscule amount of energy and nutrition their body TRULY craves and desires. And so the self-depreciating circle continues and manifests upon itself - over and over and over again.

[appifanie]

i haven't eaten it all in so luck that it no longer seems like food to me.

[Bookish Lass]

I was reading in Gabriel Cousens book Conscious Eating that jittery feelings, feelings of anxiety when going raw can be from being too alkaline. I was thinking meat cravings could be your body trying to become less alkaline. Seems like eating acidic type raw foods would take care of this, but I haven't tried it yet.

[juliebove]

Some people just crave meat. I'm not one of them. I crave vegetables.

[Amberly]

I think people are bs-ing when they say they are craving meat for protein, because I doubt most of them know what 'craving protein' means. They may crave some feeling they get from meat, and they hear that meat is good for protein, so they assume they are craving protein. Just sounds dumb to me. Whatever. :rolleyes:

[Dimond]

To this day, I will occasionally crave a hamburger. No other meat just that. It means nothing. I started cravings them a few years prior to raw, even though I had basically given up red meat. Then I started again, but primarily ate chicken and seafood. Yet oddly enough I never crave them. I just look at cravings as another part of brainwashing. I will, out of the blue, have a strange craving for something I haven't had in years. Something I don't even like or want ever and usually has zero nutritional value. It goes away immediately especially when I can have a delicious, healthy salad or something else raw.

[didi_dancer]

I dont understand the whole Craving meet thing either. Alot of people say to me you need to EAT MEAT! they dont even know that I am raw foods. I wonder what they would say if they found out that I dont eat cooked foods. Funny thing is even though I am smaller then them I have 10X the amount of energy.
Even before I was raw foods i never really ate meat, better yet craved it. Strange I think when you are not tuned into knowing your body's silent language, then you think you crave meat when in reality you are probably diffecent in minerals that are found in vetables and made from the earth.

[jurence]

I craved meat a few days after going raw. I was vegetarian for 9 months and never craved meat until I went raw. That went away when the detox symptoms went away.

[ginayashere]

I was a massive carnivore before i went raw.
i'm from a nigerian family-meat is very much a staple of our diet.
I didn't crave meat, and was surprised by how little I missed it.
I went to my mother's house on mother's day -it's in March in the UK, and she was cooking chicken, and I got hit with a craving so hard, that I ended up succumbing, and I aint gonna lie- it tasted good!
i'm not going to beat myself up about it- i didn't go on a burger binge-i'm back on the raw wagon, and hopefully won't fall off again.
that craving was almost physical in it's intensity, so i wouldn't dismiss their existence quite so easily

[circle]

i don't remember ever craving meat in my life, so i have a difficult time relating to people when they say that to me. i couldn't do that because i need to eat MEAT or something like that. i don't understand it.

[SekhemNefer]

I can go not eating meat for a long time, but sometimes I crave it. I am giving up meat for heathly reason of not trying to consume a lot of fat in my foods and to avoid processed meat, but honestly, I love the taste of meat. It is just I don't want it all the time, nor do I want to eat large amounts of it. Meat for me is the rare treat. Not something to consume every day.

I love duck, lamb and fish sushi like nobody's business. I just eat it once in a full blue moon these days. But I grew up on beef, chicken, catfish and perch that I no longer want those type of meat anymore.

These days I am just a holiday meat eater, except for sushi which I can't give up and must have at least twice a month. My body craves raw fish and on occasion raw beef served as an Italian dish called carpriccio...basically steak tartar.

In all purpose I am trying to be raw vegan but there is something so primal and satisfying...for me... in eating raw meat on occassion.

Some people do crave meat, or even raw meat. I don't think it is in their heads, but a body thing. You know it is like those so called Vampires who claim that they need to drink human, or animal blood in order to feel satisified. It may be odd, but If a person knows their own body and certain cravings whether it be psychological or biological...what difference does it make in which...if someone feels the need and craving for it, they feel that they need that thing.


There a carnivore raw food diet called The Tiger diet. Mel Gibson is on it. Where you eat raw fruits, veggies and raw meat and eggs. Some people do crave meat, or raw meat. C'est la vie.

I just know that when I eat raw meat sushi, my body gets an high that it never feels eating cooked meats. Not everyone's body is the same where there is a need for a certain kind of food. One man's disgust or misunderstanding is another man's pleasure.

And yes, I am one of those people that feel like if I don't have sushi or sushimi (raw fish without the rice) or carpriccio on occassion the I wil just plain old die.

I am 80% vegan raw and out of that about 15% carnivore raw.

I can't explain it. I used to think it was disgusting to eat meat raw or medium rare or plain rare (basically raw) until I tried it and then my body just "came alive" in some strange weird way. I don't mean to be freaky, but it almost seem primal and sexy or erotic to eat raw meat for me. I never felt that way eating cooked meat. In some odd way I can relate to people who claim to be vampires, yet I don't because consuming human flesh and blood is sort of way too freaky for me.

[kaybee]

SekhemNefer--oftentimes the "high" or "aliveness" that you feel from eating meat or raw meat could be the result of the hormones in the meat, and also the adrenaline that floods the animals system as they experience extreme fear before and during slaughter.

Sometimes cravings are cravings from addiction, but sometimes they may be a sign that a body needs/is lacking something. Cravings for meat may be a sign that the body needs something thats in meat, but everything thats in meat can be gotten from other, non-animal, sources.

[klomasius]

I loved the taste of meat, especially chicken. Not sure if I ever craved it though, maybe for the taste. I think what T bird said about the emotional bond is very true. Some people may 'crave' (psychologically, not physically) meat because of the emotional, flavour, texture connotations it has.

It's interesting, because my son who has never tasted meat is not a big fan of meat substitutes, whereas I love the taste of them. And without even knowing what it is, he smells meat cooking and thinks it smells revolting, whereas I still think it smells good (if I can just forget where it came from), even after all this time.

What we grew up with has a huge impact on what we 'crave', until our bodies are cleared of crap and we totally rearrange that craving mechanism to align it with what the body actually needs.

[mattshor]

I used to really love the taste of meat, but I am finding more and more that what I really love is the taste of the sauces and flavorings that go with it. I can see myself by the end of the year being pretty much exclusively vegan.

[T-Bird]

Thank you SekhemNefer for bringing your contrary and disturbing experiences to the fore!

Although - I have to confess, when reading your emotional reactions to eating raw meat - I did thing about how serial killers are so excited about their murders.......even when they don't sexually assault their victims, frequently there is a sexual feeling by the killer.

I haven't had any flesh food for over 20 years and would never ever go there again.

I do remember enjoying meat prior to becoming a vegetarian, and I have been enjoying meat analogs for most of my time as a veggie - and then cheese analogs after going vegan. I don't usually crave anything meat related - sometimes fish actually - and I always hated fish, lol.

I generally take a craving as an indication that my body needs something, and is trying to find out where to get it. When I crave fish - I try to up my seaweed intake, and that usually does it.

Cravings are cravings - sometimes - maybe they do mean something, sometimes - maybe just random neuron firings.

If someone has eaten and enjoyed something for decades - crave it? I certainly wouldn't discount it!

I do crave twizzlers sometimes! And I'm sure they have nothing even slightly nutritious at all!

[ruffsongraw]

i agree it is brainwashed into us from birth. it is HARD to change diets completely. it is so ingrained in our minds that we need meat to live. it is HARD to drive past all the resturants, food chains, watch commercials, hear them on the radio--it is a way of life to be SAD and so is Raw a way of life and it requires first belief and second commitment and third will power.
i do miss meat, but i dont "crave" it.
i think about the LOGIC of this way of eating. if it didnt add up for me intellectually, i couldnt stay on it. but it makes SENSE that we require these enzymes, it makes SENSE that meat is already in a state of advanced decay before it gets to a plate, it makes SENSE that our teeth are nothing like a dog's teeth (i have a GSD and OMG his teeth are like white daggers! nothing like my little nibblers) and for me logic prevails over deisre for a taste or feeling.
BUT i contradict myself when i dont resist temptation & eat 2 or 3 times per month steamed veggies with rice (no meat) b/c in my head it is not that big of a cheat. and i DO cave in. it is my only downfall so far. if i was faced with a plate of grilled catfishg or a thin cheese pizze and i was hungry---i might give in. but i avoid situations like that!! i think will power develops and gets stronger the farther one goes. (at least i hope so!!)

jen

[SekhemNefer]

SekhemNefer--oftentimes the "high" or "aliveness" that you feel from eating meat or raw meat could be the result of the hormones in the meat, and also the adrenaline that floods the animals system as they experience extreme fear before and during slaughter.

Sometimes cravings are cravings from addiction, but sometimes they may be a sign that a body needs/is lacking something. Cravings for meat may be a sign that the body needs something thats in meat, but everything thats in meat can be gotten from other, non-animal, sources.

Do those hormones "die" when cooked? Because I don't get that same feeling when eating an hamburger versus having tuna or salmon sushimi (raw fish).

[SekhemNefer]

Thank you SekhemNefer for bringing your contrary and disturbing experiences to the fore!

Although - I have to confess, when reading your emotional reactions to eating raw meat - I did thing about how serial killers are so excited about their murders.......even when they don't sexually assault their victims, frequently there is a sexual feeling by the killer.

I haven't had any flesh food for over 20 years and would never ever go there again.

I do remember enjoying meat prior to becoming a vegetarian, and I have been enjoying meat analogs for most of my time as a veggie - and then cheese analogs after going vegan. I don't usually crave anything meat related - sometimes fish actually - and I always hated fish, lol.

I generally take a craving as an indication that my body needs something, and is trying to find out where to get it. When I crave fish - I try to up my seaweed intake, and that usually does it.

Cravings are cravings - sometimes - maybe they do mean something, sometimes - maybe just random neuron firings.

If someone has eaten and enjoyed something for decades - crave it? I certainly wouldn't discount it!

I do crave twizzlers sometimes! And I'm sure they have nothing even slightly nutritious at all!

I was thinking about this. I find this similar to other animals killing their prey. Although humans no longer kill their prey for food, they shop for it, but there must have been some biological explanations of our ancestors getting a thrill or charge hunting down their prey and having the satisfaction of eating the meat soon after.

Just look at lions getting all excited tearing up their prey after just killing it. They seem to have a "high" of sorts.


However, I would like to investigate the theory about it being hormones from an animal know it will die. Yes, I can say with Westernized practices animals are terribly aware of their death by witnessing other animals die right before the.

Yet, this is not suppose to be true of all slaughters practices around the world. I know that Kosher Orthadox Jewish and Halaal Orthadox Muslim practices (Halaal is similar to Kosher) the animal is not suppose to know what hit them. Meaning, the kill of the animal is a surprise by not being aware of dying. And they are suppose to sever the animal by the neck a certain way so that hormones and blood is not suppose to spoil the meat.

So in essence, Kosher and Halaal is "cleaner" than other types of meat.


But I do agree that aggressive types of people just love them some meats. It is no wonder that most of your vegetarian and vegan types of the most passive sorts.

I think there is a correlation between meat eating warring societies versus meditative vegetarian societies.

I mean, lack of red meat (somehow chicken and fish doesn't have the same aggressive charge as red meat) along with eating a certain kind of vegetables produces passivity. That is why men like avoiding fruits and vegetables and just want meat and potatos...men just crave huge amounts of red meat and potatos. Why don't men crave fish and chicken and another type of vegetable like spinach, corn, or carrots...it is always the starchy potato that gets them off.

And it is women who crave more vegetables than protein.

Now one can say that men need more protein and women more variety of nutruients for her continous developing body for child rearing, but ever wonder why men are more aggressive and women more passive. And if you look at countries where men are passive and kind of effiminate that will be mostly Asian countries that are high in vegetarian or vegan diet. Especially countries were men eat a lot of soy based products like large amounts of tofu...they have the most feminine men.

In the West, men have the epitome of masculinity, but they eat a lot of meat as well. The more meat they consume the more beefier and macho-esque they become in physique and personality.

It is an interesting correlation.

[divinity]

Just because one does not understand something, does not mean it does not exist in others. Some people crave meat...not for protein, just for biochemical or emotional reasons. Some do only during certain periods of time, e.g. pregnancy. It just happens...not for everyone, but it does.

[dawLs]

i don't think that i have ever craved meat, even when i did eat it. i ate it because thats what my mother cooked, but what i do remember is begging her to make spinach! as soon as i found out that vegetarianism existed i jumped on that ship and never looked back. i guess the thought of meat has always grossed me out.
my boyfriend, on the other hand, says he craves it... he used to eat a ton of meat but for financial and environmental reasons has decided to limit the amounts he eats. he says after awhile all he can think and dream about is meat.
weird, huh?