Vegetarians/Vegans, trouble believing someone MUST eat meat?

Question

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. :-(

Jewel · Accepted Answer

I sympathize. I lived for several years with a man whose body could not synthesize complete proteins from the amino acids found in plants and legumes. Biologically speaking, he was an obligate carnivore, like cats. 

While it's true that MOST people can do very well on a carefully balanced veg diet, there are exceptions to every rule, and you would be one of them. I don't know how you could convince your friends of this; you may need to eventually accept that either your friends will never get it, or that you need to find some new friends.

Suzy Q · Answer

I think actual medical conditions that prevent somebody from being a healthy vegetarian are very very rare. I don't think they are impossible.

If you say you can't go vegetarian because of a medical condition, I take that statement at face value. It's not like you have to justify not being a vegetarian anyway.

Maybe THAT is what you should concentrate on when your friends give you a hard time: you need to start realizing that you do not have to justify yourself. So stop engaging in discussion about your diet. Your diet is not a matter of public debate, so stop explaining yourself.

? · Answer

There are Millions of people around the world that don't have the luxury of money and grocery stores. These people have to eat whatever they have, can find, can grow, or can hunt, in order to just survive. 

Try telling someone that hasn't eaten in three days that eating meat isn't a must.

Daisy · Answer

Vegans and vegetarians are generally rude, arrogant and uninformed. They've made up their minds and no amount of facts are going to change them

I'd suggest finding new friends...but if you want to fight back, point out to them that tens of thousands of animals (mostly rodents and birds) are deliberately poisoned to keep them out of the big grain storage bins...so vegans and vegetarians can have their cereal. You, on the other hand, don't eat grain...so you don't contribute to the brutal, slow deaths of these innocent creatures. 

Why is it ok to kill a bird, but wrong to kill a cow? Surely they aren't speciest?

And take heart. A CBS news pol shows that, by far, vegetarianism is a passing fad for most people. In a few weeks, they'll be on to other fads. Just hang in there..and eat what you need to stay healthy.

Mara · Answer

Of course you can live without meat. I mean vegetarians and vegans are still alive and healthy so yeah. But you need some sort of protein in your body or it causes problems.

Vegetarians/Vegans, trouble believing someone MUST eat meat?

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