Veganism not an option any more

[Annemieke]

People are different. Plus, as you get older you develop all sorts of minor and major imperfections. I happily was a vegetarian for years, never so much as thought of meat. Then I was treated for cancer (cervical - chemoradiation) and after that my digestion was messed up. I could not absorb nutrients well and lost electrolytes in my urine. It was a matter of either expensive (artificial) supplements or eating meat! Not a lot, just say twice a week. I'm fine as long as I do that, and have various supplements as well, even so.
My husband was a veggie too, for years, till he started to get fatigued. It lasted and lasted till he started eating (red) meat. Now he eats meat every day and seems to thrive on it. Supplements might have helped him, but he is not that sort of person.
I think we should accept that we, and our digestions, are different, without judging.
And when eating meat, eat the good stuff: from top to tail (http://readmeatdc.blogspot.co.uk/2009/0 ... -tail.html), and organic, or at least free range.
With love from Annemieke Wigmore, Somerset UK: http://thoughtforfood-aw.blogspot.com.

[mrsflibble]

I wondered if there were any tribes of people that had to be vegan, not people who were on religious or ethical grounds

I doubt that. There is always edible bugs around for protein in a foraging diet, even if they're not catching animals for meat.

There are tribes of people who don't keep animals for milk and they are all lactose intolerant as they have never needed to evolve the tolerance gene. We all used to be lactose intolerant past the age of about 5 when a child is fully weaned. In cultures which started to heard animals and milk them, the people gradually became milk tolerant into adult hood, as those who were able to drink milk into a later age would have been better nourished and less likely to die as a child and then they would grow up and reproduce and pass on the genes to their offspring. Thus our milk drinking cultures today are mainly lactose tolerant.

I kinda like the idea that my family are a dying breed hahahaha
(we're all LI)