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Confessions of ex-vegetarians

Food

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

January 18, 2012|By Anna Marden

(ESSDRAS M SUAREZ/GLOBE…)

Rita and Bob Mott were vegetarians for 40 years. After spending more than half their lives meat-free, the couple decided to become omnivores again when Bob Mott realized he was getting headaches after eating meat substitutes.

“He did some research where he found that a lot of people have problems with soy, and mostly all of the vegetarian analogues are made from soy products,’’ says Rita Mott. “We feel that was the main problem.’’ When he began eating meat and stopped eating meat substitutes, the headaches went away.

The Motts, who had believed the vegetarian diet was truly healthier, fixed a health problem by going against their beliefs. Since the back-to-the-land movement in the 1960s, when vegetarian diets became common, meat-free lifestyles have steadily gained popularity over the years. Vegetarian Times magazine reports that 3.2 percent of US adults choose a nonmeat diet. But maintaining a diet without meat or other animal products can also pose a number of social and nutritional challenges.

Some former vegetarians say they didn’t feel strong enough for rigorous physical activity, some felt they had incomplete diets, others left home and found themselves living or dining with meat eaters. Eventually, these vegetarians decided to cross the line and reintroduce meat into their menus.

The Motts, formerly of Lancaster and now living in New Mexico, were members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which encourages vegetarian diets. Their daughter, Roberta Mott, 47, a resident of Marlborough, ate meat as a child until her parents converted. She was a strict vegetarian for a few years, but when she was a teen - though never at home - she ate meat with her friends. To this day, she has a taste for meat substitutes, such as soy steak or veggie burgers.

“If you were to go in my cabinets right now, you would see a mixture of the vegetarian products alongside the nonvegetarian products,’’ Roberta says. “If you go into the freezer, there’s frozen veggie chicken next to a real chicken.’’

It can be easier for people to maintain a vegetarian diet if it’s a family-wide decision, or if you are doing it with a partner. The Motts had no problems, since the family ate meals together.

Emily Murphy, 22, of Cambridge, was a vegetarian for six years, living among a family of meat eaters. But she had a problem getting enough protein and other nutrients. She ate mostly carbs. Ultimately, her doctor recommended that she try eating meat again. “I didn’t have very much energy and I was definitely feeling a lag in terms of feeling healthy,’’ Murphy says.