Alyson Hannigan, of American Pie and How I Met You Mother fame, recently revealed that her pregnancy forced her to go back to eating meat:
“I basically went from being a vegan to … well, now it’s meat and cheese. … I didn’t eat any meat or cheese before. Now, I have to.” -Alyson Hannigan, US Weekly
Bloggers are quite fired up about the part where she says she “has to” eat meat now.
So I wonder: what’s up with folks who go from being vegan or vegetarian to suddenly doing a 360 and it’s back to eating meat?
And is it safe to be vegan during pregnancy? I have the answer, and a POLL for you to take. Let’s discuss….
It is Safe for a Pregnant Woman to Eat a Vegan Diet
Yup, if you are a well-studied, successfully healthy vegan, a vegan diet is incredibly healthy during pregnancy. One blog commenter found this factoid:
“Statement from the American Dietetic Association concludes that she doesn’t have to give up being vegan while she’s pregnant. Here’s what they say at their website:
“Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence. Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits…and have been reported to have lower body mass indices than non vegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.”
I would think that not eating all the toxic chemicals and antibiotics in meat and dairy would be the best thing for her baby.” -blog commenter
Celebs Who Go Back to Eating Meat
Gwyneth used to live and die by her macrobiotic diet. Her raw food and juice fasts were splattered all across the tabloids. Then suddenly one day she’s in Spain with Mario Batali eating fish, buttered bread and cooked veggies. Go figure.
Well, she’s only human. For me to get confused or angry about a person going in reverse from veganism would be the same as a meat-eater (say Tony Bourdain) getting mad about a meat-lover going vegan.
We are humans and have to right to change our diets at anytime, without the approval of anyone.
It’s one of the great freedoms of life: our diet.
However, the interesting part comes when we ask the question: why did you become vegan in the first place?
I suspect that if someone changes their diet for temporary health changes or superficial reasons like ‘to lose weight’ they might easily go back to eating meat. However, those people who do it for a religious, moral or heart-felt reason might find it harder to ever go back.
I can honestly confirm that I will never go back to eating meat. I started my veggie ways by my love for animals as a child. I had no idea about the many health benefits. But now i choose a vegan diet for both the planet, animals, humans and of course my own health.
Why did you first go vegetarian or vegan?
I started a poll here:
I had terrible anemia and craved meat constantly when pregnant. My vegan friends dumped so much guilt and condenmnation on me that I went 360 meat eating for 5 years. Think of how Christian churches have pushed people away by judging their downfalls. Vegan attitudes can push people away because nobody is perfect enough for them.If somebody slips, just welcome them back.
One more thing…I also just checked out your poll and I don’t see a choice for someone like myself. From a young child (age 18 months) I was simply never drawn to meat. My entire family (even extended) knew from pretty much Day 1 that I was a vegetarian/vegan child. Does someone such as myself…NOT count in your eyes? I was a vegetarian/vegan before I even knew what it was called.
Wow… for all the sympathy and understanding you vegans complain about not getting you certainly aren't giving any to those who eat meat or switched back. It's not lazy to worry about protein intake when you're eating for two and to switch back to a meat-eating diet. I tried to go vegetarian but found that I was so tired all the time from lack of protein, and I know it's not because I was eating unhealthily. I've always been a healthy eater, balancing my fruits, veggies, lean proteins and good fats, but found that my busy lifestyle didn't allow for the crashes I was experiencing from giving up meat. It's not a personal insult to go back, so don't make it one. So get off your high horses and give some of the non-judgmental understanding you always complain about not getting. Love the blog Kathy, especially the smoothie recipes!
Those people went on and off a strict vegetarian diet, and back to an omnivore diet.People who say they “went vegan” for temporary health changes or to lose weight, and then simply go back to eating meat/dairy after a while, obviously never understood that veganism is about more than food, and that it’s not something you do exclusively or primarily for yourself.As one comment on that gossip site says, “Pregnancy doesn’t kill your ethics or beliefs, at least not in my family.”Most ethical vegans would object to your notion that (paraphrasing) “we have a right to eat animals because we are humans”.
My sister made it through vegan and pregnant. No problems. But some people get cravings I guess.
I hate when people publicly announce they are vegan and then revert back “for health reasons”. It implies that being a vegan is less than healthful when the opposite is true. I have been vegan for over 20 years (and vegetarian for over 25 years) and never felt unhealthy or felt the need to relax my veganism. It has been challenging (visiting certain countries in Eastern Europe for example…), but I do what Orthodox Jews do. I bring my own food.I consider this to be as pathetic as Anna Thomas’s book The Vegetarian Epicure including a recipe for Turkey (the real animal) for Thanksgiving with an explanation stating that the recipe is so savory that even strict vegetarians are tempted…. Ms. Hannigan’s reversal and lame reasons really belittle vegans everywhere. Had she said that she just was too weak morally to commit to veganism nobody would be objecting or find what she said to be offensive.I consider my veganism to be part of my spirituality. There is no such thing as a person who is kosher for part of the time and the same goes for being a vegan.I don’t think that Alyson Hannigan was ever really a vegan, anyway. It just sounded trendy to say in Hollyweird.
I don’t understand why others seem to take it SO personally when someone else in particular a pregnant woman decides to once again eat meat. It’s her life, diet, body, and hopefully healthy baby. I also have some news for many of you PETA people aka “animal lovers” out there….plenty of people are vegan for health reasons, they just were never drawn to animal products, or simply because they were raised that way…due to being poor! It does NOT always have to do with loving animals. Don’t misunderstand me….I do NOT hate animals, but a human being’s health and welfare will ALWAYS come BEFORE any animal. This is the belief system of MANY, MANY vegans of color that I personally know (African, Asian, Indian…and so forth). Finally, I think vegan pregnancies are great! 😉 I intend to have one myself, but it has NOTHING to do with animals. It’s all about the health of my baby and myself.
I've been a vegetarian for over 25 years. I followed a vegan diet for about a year around a decade ago. I had no real difficulty being vegan – I just found the majority of vegans I met to be small minded and fundamentalist. I went happily back to my lacto-ovo diet. I'm frankly tired of the damage done by so many "I'm like totally vegan (until I fall for some meat eater or the whim hits me)" folks. They make it very difficult for lifelong vegetarians. A LOT more people would be vegetarians if the temp-a-vegans would just go directly to drugs or alcohol or religion or whatever other addiction they will wind up in. While I respect real vegans who can integrate it into a livable real world and not make meat eaters feel repulsed I really detest the stupid and judgmental jerks I often met.
I have a healthy, happy 19 month old who is vegan and I was vegan my entire pregnancy. I ate more as most pregnant women should and ate a lot of nuts to make sure that I got fats and protein and other nutrients they provide. I took Floramax when I was a little anemic, as many women need an iron supplement when pregnant. I seriously can’t stand when people say that they were veg and now eat meat because “they have to’. Often, its dietary changes that they need to make but are too lazy to do some nutrition research. The lazy way out is to go back to meat and dairy.
The notion that you have to eat meat through pregnancy is a big joke. I have been a vegetarian for 23 years. I have three healthy children who are 2, 4 and 6.Because of the way I eat, they don’t want to eat meat, either. My meat eating husband, the three children and i have recently begun to gradually switch over to a vegan diet. I never thought I could. After reading so much about the health benefits and buying a few cookbooks I realized that not only is it easy, it’s healthier, cheaper and better for the planet. My husband has realized the same. As long as the flavor of the food is good and satisfying, why does it have to have meat in it to be healthy?It’s called brainwashing. We’ve all been raised to believe we need meat and dairy, but we are the only species who continues to consume milk after infancy. And no other species drinks another’s milk. Blech.
I've been a vegetarian for over 25 years. I followed a vegan diet for about a year around a decade ago. I had no real difficulty being vegan – I just found the majority of vegans I met to be small minded and fundamentalist. I went happily back to my lacto-ovo diet. I'm frankly tired of the damage done by so many "I'm like totally vegan (until I fall for some meat eater or the whim hits me)" folks. They make it very difficult for lifelong vegetarians. A LOT more people would be vegetarians if the temp-a-vegans would just go directly to drugs or alcohol or religion or whatever other addiction they will wind up in. While I respect real vegans who can integrate it into a livable real world and not make meat eaters feel repulsed I really detest the stupid and judgmental jerks I often met.
Wow… for all the sympathy and understanding you vegans complain about not getting you certainly aren't giving any to those who eat meat or switched back.
It's not lazy to worry about protein intake when you're eating for two and to switch back to a meat-eating diet. I tried to go vegetarian but found that I was so tired all the time from lack of protein, and I know it's not because I was eating unhealthily. I've always been a healthy eater, balancing my fruits, veggies, lean proteins and good fats, but found that my busy lifestyle didn't allow for the crashes I was experiencing from giving up meat. It's not a personal insult to go back, so don't make it one.
So get off your high horses and give some of the non-judgmental understanding you always complain about not getting.
Love the blog Kathy, especially the smoothie recipes!
One more thing…I also just checked out your poll and I don’t see a choice for someone like myself. From a young child (age 18 months) I was simply never drawn to meat. My entire family (even extended) knew from pretty much Day 1 that I was a vegetarian/vegan child. Does someone such as myself…NOT count in your eyes? I was a vegetarian/vegan before I even knew what it was called.
I don’t understand why others seem to take it SO personally when someone else in particular a pregnant woman decides to once again eat meat. It’s her life, diet, body, and hopefully healthy baby. I also have some news for many of you PETA people aka “animal lovers” out there….plenty of people are vegan for health reasons, they just were never drawn to animal products, or simply because they were raised that way…due to being poor! It does NOT always have to do with loving animals. Don’t misunderstand me….I do NOT hate animals, but a human being’s health and welfare will ALWAYS come BEFORE any animal. This is the belief system of MANY, MANY vegans of color that I personally know (African, Asian, Indian…and so forth). Finally, I think vegan pregnancies are great! 😉 I intend to have one myself, but it has NOTHING to do with animals. It’s all about the health of my baby and myself.
I had terrible anemia and craved meat constantly when pregnant. My vegan friends dumped so much guilt and condenmnation on me that I went 360 meat eating for 5 years.
Think of how Christian churches have pushed people away by judging their downfalls. Vegan attitudes can push people away because nobody is perfect enough for them.
If somebody slips, just welcome them back.
I hate when people publicly announce they are vegan and then revert back “for health reasons”. It implies that being a vegan is less than healthful when the opposite is true. I have been vegan for over 20 years (and vegetarian for over 25 years) and never felt unhealthy or felt the need to relax my veganism. It has been challenging (visiting certain countries in Eastern Europe for example…), but I do what Orthodox Jews do. I bring my own food.
I consider this to be as pathetic as Anna Thomas’s book The Vegetarian Epicure including a recipe for Turkey (the real animal) for Thanksgiving with an explanation stating that the recipe is so savory that even strict vegetarians are tempted….
Ms. Hannigan’s reversal and lame reasons really belittle vegans everywhere. Had she said that she just was too weak morally to commit to veganism nobody would be objecting or find what she said to be offensive.
I consider my veganism to be part of my spirituality. There is no such thing as a person who is kosher for part of the time and the same goes for being a vegan.
I don’t think that Alyson Hannigan was ever really a vegan, anyway. It just sounded trendy to say in Hollyweird.
The notion that you have to eat meat through pregnancy is a big joke.
I have been a vegetarian for 23 years. I have three healthy children who are 2, 4 and 6.
Because of the way I eat, they don’t want to eat meat, either.
My meat eating husband, the three children and i have recently begun to gradually switch over to a vegan diet. I never thought I could. After reading so much about the health benefits and buying a few cookbooks I realized that not only is it easy, it’s healthier, cheaper and better for the planet. My husband has realized the same. As long as the flavor of the food is good and satisfying, why does it have to have meat in it to be healthy?
It’s called brainwashing. We’ve all been raised to believe we need meat and dairy, but we are the only species who continues to consume milk after infancy. And no other species drinks another’s milk. Blech.
I have a healthy, happy 19 month old who is vegan and I was vegan my entire pregnancy. I ate more as most pregnant women should and ate a lot of nuts to make sure that I got fats and protein and other nutrients they provide. I took Floramax when I was a little anemic, as many women need an iron supplement when pregnant. I seriously can’t stand when people say that they were veg and now eat meat because “they have to’. Often, its dietary changes that they need to make but are too lazy to do some nutrition research. The lazy way out is to go back to meat and dairy.
Those people went on and off a strict vegetarian diet, and back to an omnivore diet.
People who say they “went vegan” for temporary health changes or to lose weight, and then simply go back to eating meat/dairy after a while, obviously never understood that veganism is about more than food, and that it’s not something you do exclusively or primarily for yourself.
As one comment on that gossip site says, “Pregnancy doesn’t kill your ethics or beliefs, at least not in my family.”
Most ethical vegans would object to your notion that (paraphrasing) “we have a right to eat animals because we are humans”.
My sister made it through vegan and pregnant. No problems. But some people get cravings I guess.