I've mentioned in a previous thread that the only meat I eat is chicken.  I used to be vegan, for a couple of years, and totally lost the taste for meat. I managed to reaccustom myself to chicken and eggs (it was only 2 years that I didn't eat chicken for, but I haven't eaten red meat in nearly 20 years now, so it's more difficult, plus chicken doesn't look or smell as strong/offensive) but I find the smell, sight and thought of red meat utterly sickening. I mean, so disgusting that I wouldn't be able to eat it if someone offered me a million euros to do so. It seems as awful as a steaming great dog turd. However, I really wish I could eat it. How can I overcome this?  I actually tried hypnosis but the muppet practitioner was unable to hypnotise me, apparently a certain percentage of people are unhypnotisable.  Please don't say anything like, "Just eat it," I cannot stress strongly enough how impossible it is for me to do so.

I use to feel the same with way about salmon so I started with smoked that one of my daughters and a friend caught and smoked themselves in Alaska. 
Maybe you could have a friend make you up a batch of jerky…the smell, taste and texture would be different so that could be a way work into it.

This sounds like more of a mental block than a taste issue. I think first you have to address why you where vegan. You probably read all sorts of articles and heard many people talk about how bad meat is - especially red meat. The problem is your reasons were based on false information. I think you need to combat your fear of eating red meat with information about the health of red meat. I also think it is really important for you to make peace with the fact that we are part of the animal kingdom and that it is detrimental to try and make ourselves into something we are not. I suggest reading the following if you haven't already...

The Vegetarian Myth

The Diet Cure or the Mood Cure

The GAPS Diet

Neanderthin

The Protein Power Lifeplan

and just about anything by Sally Fallon

Because vegetarianism and especially vegans seem to have a direct link with anxiety issues - it makes a lot of sense that you developed a fear of red meat while being a vegan. Seems to be one of those things that spins out of control. Lack of red meat causes hormonal imbalances, which causes anxiety, which causes more fear of red meat, which makes eating red meat that much more important. Your anxiety will fade as you eat red meat on a physical level but it seems you'll need to address it on an emotional level first.

Basically replace the false thoughts and fears that have been so ingrained in your mind with ones based on scientific and logical information.

After reading on the benefits of red meat I would ask someone you trust to help you make your first meal containing red meat. I think it's best to have that person fix you a paleo meal adding a bit of red meat to the meal. For example have this person buy some ground chicken and some ground beef. They could mix them together and make burgers, or meatballs, or meatloaf. Eat this with a mango mint chutney or some sort of paleo topping that is really colorful and beautiful.

I think after you get over the initial first meal or two your anxiety will begin to dissipate. But I wouldn't worry too much about that now - it should happen naturally once you open yourself up to it emotionally.

One more thing that could be the breaking point for you would be if you are of child bearing age and plan to have children (or more children). The more you read about the science and how we evolved to eat red meat the more you will understand just how important it is for the health of not only yourself but of your offspring.

Best of luck - please keep us updated on your progress. 

Thanks for that answer, but I really don't think that's the problem.  I don't think red meat is bad or anything like that, I went vegan because at the time I believed that it helped one to lose weight and I didn't understand about nutrition then, I didn't know that we need iron, protein etc.  The problem for me is simply that because I haven't eaten it for so long I have just totally lost the taste for it to the stage that it's disgusting to me.  The same way people here have said that after they went cold turkey on grains and junk food, they began to find those things revolting and don't even want to eat them any more.  I know that vegetarianism & veganism aren't healthy! 

Red meat has a smell?  I can't smell meat unless it has gone bad.

I'd suggest starting with "less white" forms of meat, like dark meat chicken with the skin on, fatty fish, and pork loin.  If you can get alligator, it might be good too, as it tastes like chicken but has a texture more like beef.  You don't have to go to steak right away.

Maybe make a veggie-oriented dish like ratatouille or stew, but add in a moderate amount of ground beef and work your way up to more.

Lack of red meat causes hormonal imbalances

Where did you get this information from?  I've been looking it up and all of the information I've come across says that red meat causes hormonal imbalance.


I read just now that the only difference between red meat and white meat is that the white meat has been bled.  Is this right?

I read just now that the only difference between red meat and white meat is that the white meat has been bled.  Is this right?

No, it's not.  Both have had most of the blood removed.

The difference is that darker meats have more myoglobin in them.  Myoglobin is a compound that stores oxygen, and is found in muscles.  There's more of it in muscle that gets more exercise, because that muscle uses more oxygen; for example, in chickens, the leg muscles that they run on are darker, while the wing muscles that they don't use so much is lighter.  In ducks, which fly more and walk less, it's the opposite.  Whales, which spend a lot of time on deep dives away from the atmosphere, have extremely dark meat because the muscles need to store as much oxygen as they can.

Darker meats also tend to be a bit moister because the exercise that uses oxygen also burns fats, so the darker muscles tend to store some fat along with the oxygen.

From a nutritional standpoint, the main difference is that darker meats, including red meat, have a higher iron content because iron is a component of myoglobin.