So, I don’t describe myself as vegetarian or vegan. My only “rule” that I really try to follow is “don’t buy or request others buy animal products for myself.”
Yesterday friends I was hanging out with decided on pizza for dinner. I’m pretty severely lactose intolerant and had already had cheese in a salad that was served earlier that day, so my stomach wasn’t feeling awesome. Another attendee who’s lactose intolerant also wanted an alternative. Burgers was suggested and she was cool with that, and I really didn’t want to be a pain in the ass and the grill was already going to be used, so I also agreed to a burger.
To my host’s credit, he’s awesome at grilling and it was an excellent burger. It did make my stomach a little sour after as I usually get with animal protein (I think this is psychological as I haven’t found any scientific studies that show a biochemical difference between animal protein and plant protein digestion).
Struggling with feelings of guilt now though, because it felt like I was breaking the “don’t request others to buy animal foods for me” part of my ruleset. The meat was already existing in the household and not purchased for me, but realistically, one more will be purchased now in the future than would have been had I not had it. Ah crap.
The only way to ensure no repeats of this kind of situation without being a huge pain in the ass guest is probably to start bringing my own backup foods to events, but that also carries the potential of insulting hosts. Then again my friends are pretty relaxed, accommodating, and open-minded (they have to be in order to enjoy my company and vice versa lol) so maybe I don’t need to worry about this kind of thing causing offense at all.
I guess I mostly wrote all this out as a way to augment introspection. Maybe it’ll help others who have had similar experiences not feel alone, I hope.
Guess I’ve got more thinking to do.
I was worried about being a pain in the ass too when I went vegan! Surprisingly, no one so far has been anything but kind and accommodating when I asked them to get me something else. Even my (usually) insane conservative parents were 100% on board, no questions asked. So maybe just try asking and you’ll be surprised how little they mind!
A little trick I also like to use is to specifically request a plant based dish that the host already likes making. So they don’t feel lost trying to find an unspecified alternative. For example, at the last grill party with my parents I asked my mom to make the marinated champignons that she loves making. She was really excited about it haha
marinated grilled mushrooms sounds bomb.
psychological
You absolutely have a physical reaction, your gut microbiome is not used to animal based food.
(and the biochemical difference is nutrient availability)
I wonder if it’s the iron and/or the comparatively large sudden dose of peptides overwhelming my proteases
Actually the iron would make a lot of sense since I can’t even take plant iron supplements on an empty stomach, and seem to be especially sensitive to it
If you feel guilty about how you’re living your life, you just need to bite the bullet and draw a line in the sand. Worst case you carry some acceptable snacks and eat them instead.
Definitely consider bringing your own snacks atleast. It does wonders
Argh, I had protein bars in my bag and completely didn’t even think of them!!! 🤦♀️
Yeah I suggest just expressing your discomfort to your friends. Say you’re trying to go vegan/vegetarian, or even just cutting back on it if you don’t want to commit to a label. Echoing what others have said, people tend to be accommodating in my experience. If you’re ordering food, most of the time that means just looking at a menu beforehand and picking a different place in the uncommon case where there’s nothing available. And in situations where it’s hard to accommodate, you can have snacks ready or eat before/after a gathering.
