Spiritual
Carnivores
Buddhist
Ex-Vegetarians Describe Their Experiences
With
Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Diets
Kim's
Account
I
was a vegetarian for 15 years, until the age of 40. I became a
vegetarian after being introduced to buddhism and yogic practice
because it seemed like that was one of the things I was supposed to
do. Back then it made sense to me that eating meat means killing
animals which directly breaks the basic buddhist precept of
nonharming. Now, I see that this kind of thinking is onesided but for
several years vegetarian, or to be exact, dairy-egg-vegetarian diet
worked fine for me. On the other hand, these years were ”easy”
for me as I didn't have a lot of responsibilities.
I
always ate a balanced diet of vegetarian food. However, for a period
of 7-8 years at the end of my 15 years as a vegetarian, my life got
really hard and stressful. I was badly burnt out for 3½ years, we
had two children with my ex-wife, I had to work overtime every day
and I was the one who had to earn enough money to pay the bills.
During this time, which also coincided with metabolical change that
comes around the age of 30, I had to eat big heaps of vegetarian food
to meet the demand of energy but already an hour later, I was
hungry. Veg food just didn't have the nutrition and energy my body
needed so I was hungry most of the time. I was also going to the
toilet 2-5 times a day. It just came through without providing
sustaining energy. I got so much carbohydrates from grains (bread and
pasta) that I gained a lot of weight. At the end of my vegetarian
days (in 2019), I weighed 115 kilograms which is way too much for
someone my height (173 cm).
By
2019 I was completely fed up having to eat so big portions while
being hungry all the time, while getting fatter and fatter. I had
taken iron supplements for 2-3 months that helped a bit but made not
big enough difference. It was at this point when my good friend Lama
Karl, who himself had suffered of constant tiredness and hungryness,
told me that his problems stopped by eating meat. I was also aware of
Dr Jordan Peterson's and his daughter's amazing accounts in favour of
carnivore diet.
I
started eating meat in July 2019. From my first burger, my energy
levels went up to make me feel normal. I felt very natural,
grounded, clear minded and well, and was surprised when I didn't need
to eat but a third of the meal size I did before. I didn't feel
constantly hungry anymore and I could, if necessary, stretch the
interval between meals up to 7-8 hours. That was revolutionary! Meat
was precisely what my body had needed for many years but my
unquestioned religious ideas kept me from even considering eating
meat.
I
admit that in the beginning eating meat was a bit like the second
challenge of Fear Factor where the contestants compete on eating
gross things. But then I developed appreciation about the fact that a
being, such as a lamb, pig or a cow had given their lives for me to
get proper nutrition. I didn't (and don't) take that lightly.
Ever
since my first meal of meat I have prayed for the animal or animals
that have given their bodies. I always ask Buddha Amitabha's
blessings for them and all production animals around the world.
Everytime I do that I perceive that blessings reach these spirits and
change their presence and future. Because I am a practicing tantric
yogi, eating their meat is a great blessing that directly affects
them. When it gets personal, me eating their flesh, the outcome of
the prayer becomes much more powerful than if I just prayed for any
or all animals without personal connection.
I
believe it is for these both reasons, 1. proper nutrition for a
layman with work and many responsibilities and 2. directly helping
animals who are on the lower spokes of the realms
of existence according to buddhist theory, that tantrics of
history have typically eaten meat. Like some other things in
buddhism, I think that vegetarian diet is something that the monastic
establishment pushed into buddhism and by doing so made an idealistic
disservice for those, who require more energy than monastics do.
Writing
this, I am 41 years old. I eat meat on all meals and have never felt
better. To finish my account I would like to share simple
instructions about how to pray for the dead animals.
When
you have the plate in front of you, look at the meat and try to
sense a connection with the animal spirit who inhabited the meat
before. Then in your mind or aloud, chant the mantra of Amitabha
Buddha at least three times,
”Namo
Amitabha, Namo Amitabha, Namo Amitabha”
You
can do more than three but three repetitions is enough and gets the
job done. Chanting of the mantra brings in or reveals Amitabha
Buddha in your mind. This energy is then automatically projected
through the meat into the animal spirit, and because of this, if you
have the sensitivity, you can directly see or sense how Buddha
Amitabha's blessing changes the whole karmic destiny of the animal.
Now you have done a dharmic deed that greatly helps the animals and
blessed your food.
Thank
you for reading. May all beings be free,
Kim
Rinpoche, 15.5.2020
Rorik's
Account
My
good friend Kim Katami has asked me to write a little piece about my
journey to an ancestral diet . . . eating meat. I’ve never met Kim
in person, but I have a strong feeling of kinship with him; we are
very similar people, and I admire his work in presenting a practical
Dharma system for Westerners.
Like
Kim, I was a vegetarian for the better part of 15 years because of
spiritual motivations, and the guidance of many great teachers, and
most recently was a vegan for 3 years. Being a vegan simply destroyed
me. You could say that the 3 years of veganism quickly finished off
what few reserves I had left from the slow starvation of
vegetarianism. I didn’t know it at the time, but 100% plant-based
diets are worse than total deprivation of nutrients for people of my
genetic heritage; I know this because I have found fasting to be very
healing. I bought into all the happy feel-good propaganda of the
Vegan SJWs and their Marxist vision of a world without suffering,
where every animal is worshipped and divine, and humans are the
monsters.
As
a vegetarian I noticed that I tired more easily, and that I was
always tired to some degree; low in energy, and placid in mind; the
sort of placidness that tends to mental laziness rather than alert
vigilance. This developed into chronic fatigue after some years. The
first 6 – 8 months of 100% plant-based diet was relatively good; I
got some positive results with weight loss, and a temporary boost of
energy, but a year later the weight began to come back, the energy
levels plummeted, and I began to have other problems such as sleep
apnea and fibromyalgia, with high levels of joint and muscle pain. I
also felt very smug in my new peak of ethical behaviour; oddly
enough, I did not then draw a connection between my diet, and the
flood of new health problems coming to me, or the constant mental
fog.
Let’s
be clear about mental fog . . . it is a physical condition caused by
systemic inflammation and the deprivations of fatty acids,
contributed heavily to by a gut-biome that is very unhealthy. It is
also known as depression. Vegans have one thing in common across the
world: more than half of long-term vegans have clinical depression
and anxiety.
Some
will question whether I did veganism properly. The answer to that is
that I have a couple years of university level nutritional education,
and that I have eaten what is commonly understood to be an almost
ideal diet for most of my life. As far as veganism goes, I did
everything right; I took supplements, ate nutrient dense foods,
stayed away from the vegan faux-meat/cheese products, and took in
plenty of greens, and whole vegetables in large variety. I had an
ideal vegan diet, and had great discipline in maintaining it. None of
this protected me from the consequences of veganism.
Earlier
in my life, in periods that I was not fully vegetarian (but held it
as the ideal to be attained) I noticed that whenever I consumed a
large medium-rare steak, that for the next few days I would have more
energy and zest for life. At the time I simply did not understand why
this would be so. For me, my departure from veganism coincided with
my discovery of the Marxist takeover of animal rights groups and the
major Vegan movements. When I saw through all their propaganda and
coercion, along with all the collusion and corruption coming from big
Agra, I was fairly furious. It was then that I began to examine the
facts about environmentalism and a traditional farming model. I
quickly realized that almost nothing cited by the prominent voices of
environmentalism and a plant-based diet were true. Sure, big factory
farming meat production is horrendous and not as healthy as it could
be, but even at that . . . meat from these sources is still far
healthier for you than eating an Impossible Burger/Beyond Meat, or
any of the other highly processed manufactured protein
meat-imitations. I made a decision to put animal-based foods back
into my diet. At this point a lot of things started to get better
slowly. But then I began to pay attention to various voices talking
about the ancestral diet, and why one simply cannot go against
thousands of years of specific regional evolution.
Our
ancestors ate specific foods that worked for their region and weather
patterns for tens of thousands of years, and one person coming from a
genetic stream is not going to change that in just 50 years of their
life. One is literally trying to swim up a water fall, if you will. I
would go so far to say that if you have a significant amount of
genetic heritage from Northern Europe or Asia, you simply cannot be
healthy without meat. During one of my elimination diets, used to
determine food reactions, I found that I could handle butter, and
cheese from Europe (but not North American cheese). This was odd. Why
no cheese or milk from North America? (I can get into that later if
anyone wants to know.) I found out that I could not tolerate any
processed vegetable oils. I discovered that bread, pasta, or anything
produced from wheat was completely intolerable. I found out that all
processed sugar is slow suicide; and in the end I discovered that
virtually any packaged (frozen, canned, in a box, or pre-prepared)
food was uneatable. This brought me to an anti-inflammatory diet,
composed of just whole, fresh prepared food from a limited list of
options. At this point I was feeling much better, and I knew I was on
to something great. Then I discovered that the more meat I ate, and
the less vegetables, the better I felt . . . more energy, better
mood, sharper mind, more strength, etc. Here is where I began to
seriously listen to proponents of the ancestral diet, those who
advocated for a keto-genic diet, and the carnivore advocates. I have
adopted most of their guidelines. Now I eat mostly meat (beef, lamb,
some pork, foul, and fatty fish) with some fermented vegetables and
small amounts of well-cooked greens. During periods of several days
when I eat nothing but meat I notice a big difference. Why is this
true? I have no doubt that it is because this is the way my ancestors
ate for eons of time. Humans were never plant-based eaters.
Humans
evolved into what we are because they began to eat large amounts of
animal fat; our brains evolved to have higher functions, and
developed greater size and capacity because of heavy protein and fat
intake. Humans are naturally carnivores, who in some scenarios
developed the capacity to ingest limited amounts of plants as a
survival strategy (for when wild game was scarce). For most of us
Europeans and Asians, we have a surprising amount of Neanderthal
genes, along with some Denisovan, and Homo Heidelbergensus genes
(otherwise called “an unknown species”). All of these ancient
ancestors were exclusively carnivores. One does not go against nature
and win. Genetic science and paleo-anthropology trumps ideas held to
be sacred. There may be people in the world who can be on 100%
plant-based diet for many years and appear to do well, but most of us
cannot. Vegans say you can survive on a plant-based diet, and that
may be true for a period of time, but you cannot thrive on it. This
does not even figure in all the chronic health problems that arise
from nutrient deprivation, or the major diseases that can precipitate
from inflammation and a glucose burning metabolism. Human metabolism
is naturally a fat-burning metabolism, but we have developed the
ability to shift to glucose burning, for survival during times of
scarcity. Even at that, being in glucose burning metabolism is less
than ideal, and is not conducive to exuberant vitality and long-term
health.
Today,
with the modern industrialised diet, systemic inflammation has become
the root of all modern diseases. Some call it the S.A.D. (standard
American diet) but the truth is that this is endemic to all modern
industrialised nations. Most packaged foods have enormous amounts of
refined sugar, unhealthy salt, and ridiculous amounts of processed
vegetable oils. This appeals to human instinct because we are
genetically programmed to go after nutrient rich food, with high fat
and salt. Salt was often scarce in ancient diets, so much so that
salt was as valuable a precious metals. Fruits, berries, and honey
were seasonal treats, so sweet foods were coveted. This hunger for
fat, salt, and sweet is the formula for all junk food; only now food
is being produced using refined sugar and highly processed vegetable
oil. Both are highly inflammatory to the body and generate disease.
Now here is the conundrum: if you eliminate all processed foods, and
eat only whole fresh foods that are seasonal and regional, what do
you have left to eat that will build health, and heal illnesses? The
answer is meat, and butter fat. Meat heals; butter and fat heals. Our
bodies and especially our brains and nervous system craves high
quality fat. Meat and animal fat is the only super-food there is.
This presents a dilemma for someone who believes that abstaining from
meat is required to live an ethical life in harmony with standard
Dharma teachings, to attain enlightenment.
How
did I reconcile the spiritual dimension of food, with the fact that
my body requires animal fat? My reasoning may not satisfy the rigour
of some people’s expectations or demands. I can only honestly
present how I understand and approach it. First, it is a given for me
that science trumps religious claims (yes, veganism is a religious
cult). The facts of genetics and paleoanthropology are clear that up
till the dawn of specialised agriculture (9,000 years ago) and the
early appearance of cities, humans were dominantly carnivore;
especially the human races who lived closer to the Arctic Circle,
i.e. my ancestors. The genetic group that my body hails from were
Mammoth hunters, and then moved on to auroch herd predation. Just at
the beginning of the end of the Ice Age some of them moved north, and
over the next 8,000 to 10,000 years became the people that we are
now. This is where my genetic heritage comes from . . . from hundreds
of thousands of years of eating mostly meat, probably with seasonal
berries, some herbs and small amounts of non-cultivated fruit, some
honey occasionally, and . . . 8 to 9 months every year with preserved
and fresh meat during the long cold winters.
This
is the body I was born with; it requires meat to be healthy and
vital. A plant-based diet has proven to me that it does not work. It
produces fatigue, low energy, joint and soft-tissue pain, low mood,
and depression with anxiety. Proper meat intake healed those
problems. As long as I eat plenty of fatty meat and offal (nose to
tail), fatty fish, eggs and lots of butter, I have energy, I don’t
get tired, depression fades away, and I have the mental clarity and
sense of well-being to function as a normal human being. My meat
based diet has also healed other serious chronic diseases that I’m
not specifying, but could talk about later. My noetic practices
(meditation) are richly benefitted, as I don’t automatically
descend into a lethargic state of mind that I have to fight to rise
above. The mental clarity and quality of awareness shining through my
synapses now is brilliant!
From
a Dharma point of view, is it immoral or unethical for a tiger to eat
only meat? No. A tiger is designed to eat the deer and gazelles. I
was designed to also eat like a tiger. The wolf is the same.
Interestingly, by categorisation humans fit the definition of a
cursorial predator; with our eyes set forward (like wolves and large
cats), and our capacity to run prey down – our ancestors used to
hunt just like wolves, running the animals in large circles, tag
teaming them until the prey was exhausted and then taking the game.
Our so-called closest cousins by genetics, the chimpanzees and
bonobos also hunt, and require meat, and they hunt in teams just like
we used to.
I
recognise that my body is a part of Samsara, that it is an integral
aspect of the endless cycle of relativity, that has arisen through
dependent origination, and that its nature is not changeable to a
more ideal standard set by beliefs. It is what it is. I also
recognise that the samsaric nature of suffering is not effected by
anything that we do, no matter how ethical or pure we think it may
be. We can only eradicate the sources of suffering in ourselves, and
act with the hope that we can aid other suffering intelligent beings
who have made themselves receptive to our aspirations.
Being
a part of the cycle of nature, I understand that the animal’s body
is given to me for sustenance, because that is its purpose. Its death
is not in vain, or meaningless, or even a tragedy, but fulfils its
own dharma, or reason for being. If we understand the cycle of life
and nature, accept it as it is, if we honour and value the animals we
eat, if we give thanks for their lives, appreciate the depth of the
cycle of nature, and pray for their liberation, there is no moral or
ethical issue at all. The sin/error is in being mindless consumers
devoid of any thoughts about the ethical, and with no regard to
optimising our bodily health. People who follow the ancestral diet
contribute positively to the health and balance of the planet’s
ecology, and diversity of species in ecosystems. Ruminates prevent
soil-erosion, contribute to diversity of species in their ecosystem,
and restore land to health – they even effect weather patterns
positively.
For
all the SJW types out there who will be outraged by what I have said,
there are only a few solutions that will work to heal the earth from
the devastation of the industrial revolution, and mass consumerism:
1) encouraging grass-fed, free-range ruminates for food; 2) a massive
campaign to plant trees of all differing species across the earth,
and planting industrial hemp in the arid regions; 3) and the
intelligent and compassionate decision to bring human populations
down to manageable levels, to live in perfect harmony with our
ecosphere – not by systematically destroying ourselves with an
unnatural diet of just plants.
The
irony of veganism is that it is only highly privileged first-world
people who can meet their ideal of an animal free diet, and most of
them do it by filling their guts with faux foods made with intensive
industrial processes (anything but natural). Their primary sources of
food such a beans, rice, and soy products are derived from industrial
agricultural operations that are highly destructive to the
environment. They fill their stomachs with exotic fruit and
vegetables that do not grow where they live, but have to be
transported by aeroplane. The greatest destruction is from the sugar
and oil industries. But the person who eats close to the land,
produces his own food, and raises his own beef, pork, lamb, and foul
is actually helping to regenerate the environment. I think at this
point that the most ethical and positive thing we can do for the
world is to embrace our true biological nature and requirements, and
to eat what our bodies are meant to eat, and insist that our food
comes from grass-fed ethically farmed sources.
Finally,
years ago, I remember one Buddhist teacher saying in response to a
question about eating meat, that these animals we eat, came into the
world with this purpose, and that they fulfil their dharma by giving
their lives for us, and thus move toward liberation. I agree. There
is no ethical problem at all . . . unless we fail to appreciate this,
and offer thanks and gratitude. The stories about high Lamas and
Rinpoches having a special fondness for double-cheese burgers, and
washing them down with vodka comes to mind. Many of them publically
teach the necessity of a vegetarian life for serious practitioners,
but in private life they don’t believe it at all. It’s no wonder
. . . Tibetans for tens of thousands of years have depended on a diet
composed mostly of yak meat and butter. There’s not much that can
grow in Tibet besides a few herbs and animals. One cannot go against
nature and win. Even Guru Rinpoche had no compunction about eating
meat, drinking wine, and . . . a few other practices we “moral”
people consider as vices. Did this negatively affect his outstanding
achievement, and the attaining of the Rainbow Body? No. Case closed.
Matt's
Account
Matt:
I'm half-Finnish and was vegetarian for ~2.5 years total due to my
Buddhist practice. I no longer wanted to eat factory-farmed animals,
which are raised in conditions of extreme cruelty, or even any living
thing that had been killed for meat. I was careful to get enough
protein and other nutrients. During my vegetarian phases, I generally
gained weight, felt bloated & slightly nauseous, and was never
completely full or satiated no matter how much or what types of
vegetables I ate. These symptoms would disappear as soon as I ate
meat. I have greater mental clarity when eating meat as well. I
finally came to the conclusion that I’m constitutionally best
suited to an omnivorous diet. It was easier to accept this knowing
that the Dalai Lama is apparently the same way--he had health
problems that only abated when he stopped practicing vegetarianism. I
primarily eat meat and vegetables with no starches and few
carbohydrates in general. I also incorporate long periods of fasting
(with appropriate electrolyte supplementation). This diet has
produced the best mental and physical health for me overall.
Lucy's
Account
I'm
glad this has been raised. I don't think all vegetarians suffer from
low energy. Some people are suited to it but I wasn't. My
daughter and her partner are vegans and persuaded me that eating meat
was unethical. I also went off the texture of meat and felt giving it
up was the right decision at the time.
I
only did it for a year and got severe anaemia. I lived on iron
tablets and extra spinach and kale, all the while having mad cravings
for red meat, usually steak. I even dreamt about eating red meat,
steak pies covered in gravy, or oxtail stews where the meat falls of
the bone. Much to my disgust, at the time.
I
had brain fog and just limped through that year. I was tired all the
time and put it down to age. On my days off I could sleep in and
still nap again in the afternoon then sleep through the night. I
thought my days of high energy levels were over. I went to stay with
Lama Karl at the sangha house in Birmingham. The smell of pork
chops grilling made me salivate and cravings for meat were at an all
time high. I'm certain my body knew what it was lacking, just
as it did when I was pregnant. I would crave certain food types
that my body required and reject others.
Once
I made the decision to eat meat again, a few weeks later, my energy
levels rose really quickly. I wasn't tired all the time. Consequently
my skin improved. I no longer had dark shadows around my eyes.
The ideal diet for me includes meat, fish, vegetables and full fat
dairy. My digestive system is at it's best then.
Carbohydrates
also have a negative impact on my body, although I still eat them.
I try to listen to my body though. I was sick for a year.
Karl's Account
By Lama Karl Eikrem: I
have been interested in spirituality, meditation and yoga for about a
decade. For most of that time I have also believed that there was
something “unspiritual” about the practice of eating meat.
Looking at the spiritual scene with its widespread focus on
plant-based diets and black and white interpretations of the
principle of non-harm, this isn’t very shocking. Thus for the past
decade I have periodically avoided eating meat, and during the
periods I have eaten meat for various reasons, the idea that it was
“bad” somehow kept lingering in the back of my mind ultimately
directing me back to the kingdom of plants.
In fact, the idea seemed
so to me so integral to spiritual practice that I would probably
never have questioned its validity if it hadn’t been for the fact I
am a long time sufferer of various chronic health problems. These
problems include digestive issues, more specifically IBS, as well as
systemic inflammation of the body manifesting most notably as an
array of skin problems.
I have always believed
these problems to be related to diet somehow, and therefore I have
experimented with many different ways of eating throughout the years.
Diets I have experimented with range from high-meat/low carb, such as
the Paleo diet, to fruit-based raw veganism. Because of this
experimentation with a wide selection of diets, I have gained a
pretty good picture of what works for my body and not. Nevertheless,
I must admit that despite my personal knowledge, the ideology of the
“spiritual” plant-based diets skewed my thinking for years,
leading me to go back to diets I knew were not optimal for me.
In fact, it was quite
early on in my experimentation that I realised the benefit of a high
meat diet. Regardless, it took me years and years of going back and
forth between eating meat and not eating meat until I simply had had
enough and started trusting my own experience.
I remember driving back
from the Pemako Buddhist Spring Retreat of 2019, dealing with severe
bloating and stomach pain, as well as badly inflamed skin, having
eating the high-carb vegetarian diet that was the standard for our
retreats back then (ironically I was the cook!). It was then, in the
midst of my physical pain, that my teacher casually mentioned
something about tantric practitioners always having eaten meat.
Now, a few weeks prior to
this I had come across a particular diet called The Gut and
Psychology Diet (GAPS), which had seemed promising in dealing with my
particular ailments. The only problem was of course that it was
highly meat-based, including very little plant foods at all.
Nevertheless, when I heard my teachers comment something clicked in
my mind and I said to myself: “Fuck it! I am done with this veggie
bullshit!”
So when I got back I
started the diet. Now, the GAPS diet is an elimination type diet
where you eliminate all foods but bone broth, meat and maybe one or
two vegetables for up to a week. Then over a longer period you
introduce more and more foods like eggs, fermented dairy, some
veggies and fruits until you have a relatively normal diet that is
high in nutrient dense ingredients that are supposed to be healing
for the gut.
The reason I mention that
is that during the first few weeks of primarily eating bone broth
soups with meat and a perhaps a carrot or squash, I saw major
improvements. This was especially the case with my digestion but also
to a certain degree regarding the skin problems. However,
interestingly enough, as soon as I started introducing more plant
foods into my diet my problems started flaring up again. It was then
that I started wondering whether perhaps plant foods were a major
contributor to my worsening health.
Subsequently, I went full
carnivore, eating a diet consisting only of meat, fish and eggs, salt
and water. What happened after I made the switch was way beyond my
expectations. Not only did my IBS completely go away within a week,
but my skin healed fully as well. No more itchy eczema on the face,
no more dandruff, no more weird red dots on my forehead.
Furthermore, after a few
more weeks a whole array of problems that I didn’t even know I had
started lifting. My frequent headaches, my bad breath, flaky skin on
hands and feet, the body odour, all went away within a month. Even my
mood swings balanced out and my energy levels improved. When working
out I felt like I had an extra gear that I hadn’t previously been
aware of and my body’s ability to deal with lactic acid build-up
improved greatly. In short I felt great for the 4-5 months were I
strictly ate animal products only.
Importantly, I saw
absolutely no adverse effects on my meditation practice from eating
meat. On the contrary, the positive effects it had on my body and
mind actually made me better able to practice due to having more
energy and a clearer mind.
Unfortunately, because I
travel a lot and because I am not the most disciplined person in the
world, I eventually started cheating here and there, eating “normal
food” at restaurants etc. This would always lead me into a spiral
of eating more and more carbohydrates as they are highly addictive by
nature. Interestingly, what happened whenever I did this was that my
symptoms come back right away. On the bright side, as long as I eat
enough meat, it doesn’t get as bad as it used to be, but
nevertheless, the carbohydrates and plants in general seem to affect
me very negatively and I always start healing again when eating
animal foods only.
In short, over the past
year it has become obvious to me that “spiritual”
vegetarianism/veganism is little more than ideology. Unexamined
beliefs passed on from one person to another, spreading like a virus.
And while I have nothing against people who eat in this way or that
way, I believe it is highly problematic when certain diets are
presented as being more in accordance with spirituality than others.
To me, such notions are nothing but religious fundamentalism and, as
such, quite contrary to authentic spirituality. Thank you.
:)
