Social pressure, health problems, fed up… The reasons why vegetarians abandon their diet to return to a diet based on meat and fish are varied. But when our body has not assimilated it for years, how will it react after receiving a tartare, a rib of beef or langoustines?
To mark Veganuary, the annual challenge encouraging people to adopt a healthy lifestyle vegan during the month of January, we asked ourselves this question: can the body of vegetarians easily assimilate meat, or do we necessarily get sick from the first chicken wing we eat?
Can a vegetarian’s body assimilate meat?
Well without any problem, replies Laurent Chevallier, nutritionist doctor at Montpellier University Hospital. “Even vegans have all the equipment to be omnivores. » According to him, if you stop eating meat and start eating meat again, then… not much happens. However, according to nutritionist Raphaël Gruman, animal proteins are more difficult to absorb than plant proteins. To dissolve food, the vesicle diffuses bile acids into the stomach. “In people with a vegetarian diet, the gallbladder produces fewer bile acids. When they eat meat again, the food is less dissolved, it remains more whole in the stomach. And the latter grinds food for longer to successfully assimilate it. »
The body can therefore assimilate meat even after a long break. It will just take more time, and will be less simple than for a carnivorous person. But Laurent Chevallier qualifies: “The gallbladder will break down fats to improve their absorption, whether they are animal or vegetable fats”. For him, therefore, it is more a question of the fat content of the food eaten than of whether it is meat or not.
Can eating meat make us sick?
“There is no reason for the person to become ill,” says the nutritionist. According to him, when it is not fatty, meat is fairly well tolerated. For Raphaël Gruman, people changing their vegetarian diet may, however, feel discomfort, particularly after eating fatty meat. This can cause bloating, gas, constipation, but “nothing more serious”. The nutritionist wants to be reassuring: “Everyone reacts differently but generally, after 10 or 15 days, you find completely normal digestion. » If some people who have banned animals from their plate report having vomited after eating meat, it is more psychological than physiological, according to the doctor.
Obviously, it also depends on the amount of protein consumed. Ingesting a massive daily dose of meat after years of vegetarianism may not be the idea of the century. The nutritionist recommends one or two doses of animal protein per week to start.
How to resume without risk?
So it’s a question of quantity. But not only. “The amount of fat in animal proteins also plays a role,” repeats the nutritionist. Red meat, lamb, salmon, for example, are rich in fat and should not be favored when returning to an omnivorous diet.
“If we want to reintroduce animal protein, it is better to start with lean proteins like chicken, which will go through digestion better,” advises Raphaël Gruman. More than meat or vegetables, the main thing to feel good is not to eat too much fat.