Why I Stopped Being Vegan

My body and Mother Nature said it was time for balance.

For a long stretch of time, when people asked me about my diet, I said that I was vegan. It was shorthand so that I could avoid a lengthy explanation of my views on food, animal welfare, labeling, etc.

Maybe now you’re getting why I just used the shorthand “vegan” instead of trying to explain why I didn’t want egg in my Pad See Ew from my local Thai place or scrambled eggs from my local diner.

Simply put, while wavering between veganism and vegetarianism, I tended to eat a lot of meals where animal products were not the centerpiece, and if they were included, I rejected anything that didn’t meet my standards for animal welfare.

But after several years of this practice, my body rebelled. It really started to get upset with my diet. Painfully so, replete with nausea, gas, and a general malaise, followed by rashes. After a lot of soul-searching, experimenting, and some guidance from Mother Nature, I now occasionally eat meat — maybe once or twice every few weeks, and I regularly allow myself dairy and eggs.

It has taken me a long time to reconcile my body’s needs with my compassion for animals and a deep desire not to contribute to the destruction of this planet. It has also taught me a lot about the limits of veganism and vegetarianism and what it means to honor the body’s needs.

For many years, I ate meat every day. Before paleo and keto were trends, I was eating chicken breasts and steamed vegetables regularly. Back then it was called the Zone Diet, or the South Beach Diet, or the Atkins Diet. Then I began to reduce the amount of meat in my diet, primarily for ethical reasons.

I became increasingly aware of the conditions under which meat was produced in the U.S., which are deplorable. Animals…

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