?

I have many vegetarian and vegan friends, and many have said something similar to, 'well, if you had to eat meat or you'd DIE, then I could understand making that choice.'

For those of you who feel the same way, have you ever met someone who truly had to eat meat? Did you feel the same way when you were confronted with the situation, or is it different than you expected? Do you find it hard to believe that someone truly has to eat meat?

I ask because I am someone who has to eat meat if I want to live and some close friends really have a hard time believing it could be true. I have serious allergies, intolerances, and an auto-immune disorder that severely limit what I can eat. It's very frustrating and upsetting at times just to deal with my diet as it is. Dealing with my friends' constant skepticism makes it even harder.

I don't know how to convince my friends of what my limitations truly are. They will offer suggestions for how I could go vegan or vegetarian, and when they find out that their suggestion will not work in my case, they act as though I'm simply trying to be difficult rather than my physical limitations affecting my dietary options.

These limitations are relatively new for me, only a few years old, so I'm still adjusting to them. I was literally dying before I was finally diagnosed - losing over a pound a day, by the end there. I was wasting away so much that my head looked more like a skull than a face.

I'm much better now, obviously, but to stay that way, I have to accept what I can and can't eat and move on. Meat is a major source of my calories, my iron, and my protein. I cannot have any grains, pseudo grains, soy, eggs, or dairy. Legumes, nuts, and seeds I can only have in very limited quantities, and due to processing issues with my allergens, my sources for these do not have year round availability. Many dark leafy greens that are high in iron are out, too. I have yet to find safe vitamins, as I'm allergic to many excipients. I cannot even use spices, only herbs I grow myself.

With all these challenges, I'm confused about why it's difficult to understand that I actually need to eat meat if I wish to continue living. Is it that difficult to believe that sometimes, consuming meat could be a life or death issue for a human being? I would simply like to find some way for my friends to understand. They don't have to like it, and I'm not asking them to eat the way I do or anything of the sort. I just wish for them to understand so I won't continue getting comments about how I could be vegetarian if I truly wanted to. I seriously cannot think of a way it could be done, not safely, but so far, an explanation of the limitations of my diet does not seem to penetrate past their desire to have me be vegetarian along with them. :-(