'I Was Vegan for Years Then Quit—My Health Problems Stopped Instantly'

One day, when I was 12 years old, I was walking around my neighborhood the day after Halloween with a friend of mine and happened upon what appeared to be a disemboweled cat. We were horrified.

Growing up I never cared much about meat, but seeing a dead animal in front of me stripped me of any desire I had to consume it. As I grew older it became more of a moral stance, but I had never really enjoyed meat to begin with.

I told my mom I wanted to become a vegetarian, but she said she wouldn't be cooking anything special for me, so I was on my own. As a kid it was difficult to know what to eat—I didn't know anything about nutrition and had no idea there were certain things I needed to be included in my diet.

Initially, I would start my day with something like cereal for breakfast and then make a peanut butter and jelly or cheese sandwich to take to school. At dinner time I would eat whatever my mom was serving but without the meat, which typically meant just noodles or a salad.

It took a while for the lack of nutrition to catch up with me; I was fine at first, but after several months I started feeling very tired and low on energy. Eventually, my mom took me to the hospital to see why I was becoming so lethargic.

The doctor told me I was extremely iron deficient and would have to start taking supplements. However, initially, because my iron levels were so low, the tablets he prescribed wouldn't absorb into my bloodstream fast enough to help me.

"I'm prescribing you a bloody steak," my doctor said.

I was very upset, but because it had been recommended to me by a doctor, I did go and eat a steak. At that point, it was disgusting to me—I felt like a monster.

Afterward, I started taking supplements and did more research on what I should be eating, implementing things like leafy greens into my diet to boost my iron levels.

As I got older, I found that the less animal fats and proteins I was consuming, the less my body could handle them. Any type of animal product would upset my stomach so much it felt like I had food poisoning.

I started having to cut out milk, cheese and anything made with animal stocks or oils. Slowly, I became more and more vegan. At this stage, I had been vegetarian for a long time, so I incorporated lots of plant proteins and nuts into my diet—I was doing all the "right" things.

In 2010, I became a full-time athlete. I had started taking aerial classes, in which I perform acrobatics while hanging from a specialist fabric, and was very quickly enamored by it. Soon I was doing it every day and eventually started teaching and performing aeriel.

As my lifestyle became increasingly active, my body needed more protein to keep up, but I wasn't getting enough from the plant sources that I was eating.

Once again I began experiencing extremely low energy, even though this time I was taking iron supplements regularly. I was napping all the time and constantly felt tired. My skin was pale and pasty. Friends started telling me I didn't look well, but I just told them it was because I wasn't sleeping.

My hair started to fall out, my nails were brittle, and my teeth became loose in my gums. I would look in the mirror and my tongue was white. My stomach was constantly having bad reactions to food and I didn't understand why. There were multiple things going on.

At first, I thought these symptoms were the result of a lack of sleep or stress, so I kind of wrote them off, but when I saw the more severe impacts on my skin and hair, it really started getting to me.

Initially, I couldn't figure out what the cause was, because nothing had changed about my diet. It didn't occur to me that my new lifestyle was changing how my body processed protein.

I never went to a doctor, but my body started to crave things that it hadn't for many years. For example, if my roommate cooked fish or chicken it smelled delicious to me.

Normally both the smell and sight of those things would put me off—I never had a problem with people eating meat around me, but I preferred not to look at it. At first, I couldn't figure out why; I think I was in denial about it for a few months.

By this stage, being a vegetarian or vegan had become such a big part of my life. It had become more of a moral stance and felt as though it was ingrained in my identity. I didn't want to harm animals or support their slaughter.

It was very emotional for me to realize that something may be wrong with my diet, and that I might need to make a change that I disagreed with.

Eventually, I told a good friend of mine about my cravings, and everything that was going on with my body. She said it sounded as though I was craving meat because I needed it, and that maybe I should try giving my body what it wanted.

I was very hesitant originally, but the guy I was dating at the time encouraged me to reincorporate meat into my diet—he wanted to share "more high-quality cuisine with me," whatever that means.

So, after 20 years of avoiding meat, I very gradually introduced animal products back into my diet, starting with a salmon roll, which was fine. After trying fish I eased into poultry, having a chicken dinner a week later.

Gradually I worked my way up towards red meat, starting with very small amounts of things like bacon fat. It took a full two weeks for the complete transition.

I was shocked at how dramatic the change was—it was almost immediate. Instantly, my skin became healthier and my complexion improved. In a matter of days, my nails thickened up, my teeth were no longer loose, and my hair started growing normally.

After so long of not consuming any animal byproducts, I thought my system would take longer to adjust, but it was a really quick transition from feeling deathly ill to completely normal health.

I had conflicting emotions at first; not consuming animals had been a moral thing that I centered parts of my identity around. But now I just try to be ethical about the animal products I do consume, making sure only to buy free range, ethically sourced food.

It was very surprising to me that something as simple as eating meat changed my life so drastically, because I was doing everything I thought I was supposed to, but it just wasn't working for me.

I believe that plant-based diets can work for some people, and I have seen people on the other end of the spectrum, who gave up red meat and are much healthier for doing so. I think our bodies are all different and what works for one person might not work for everyone.

If I was going to offer any advice for anyone considering a plant-based diet, I would say just listen to your body and don't let anyone else tell you what's right for you.

Beckett Arnold, 38, lives in Los Angeles, California. You can follow her on TikTok at @beckettla or Instagram at @beckettla.

All views expressed in this article are the author's own.

As told to Newsweek's My Turn associate editor, Monica Greep.

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