Is steak too heavy?? Only if you want to eat one so big you can't lift it on to your plate. ;)

I was a vegetarian for 14 years. When I started eating meat, I did it in small quantities and as I felt comfortable, added more.

I now eat meat 2 x a day, most days & I can eat a steak anytime, though I m particularly loving steak & eggs for breakfast at the moment!

Kombucha helps me to digest and I often have 3 oz with a meat meal--though I am not finding it so necessary now, after 15 months Primal.

In my experience (not a former vegetarian, though), no. Steak tends to satiate without giving you that "OMG I ate too much" vibe. Disclaimer: I am in a meat CSA and eat steak frequently.

Mrs. D, I was a vegetarian for 35 years, and I had to start with eating small pieces of meat, and not every day. I still find eating very small amounts at a time works best for me.

Also, I make sure to eat enough fat so that the proportion at the meal is one part lean to three parts fat.

There are references to this ratio of three to one, and explanations for that proportion in Dr. Blake Donaldson's book, Strong Medicine.

I eat brains and liver, which I find sit better, digest and eliminate more easily than muscle meat. I also eat egg yolks. (Pressure cooker roast sits better than crock pot roast, for me.)

I follow Dr. Jan Kwasniewski's recommendations for eating the foods that are the most nourishing, as well as his recommendations for how much protein, fat, and carbs.

Dr. Richard Bernstein's recommendations for those who have slow stomach emptying (gastroparesis) actually helped me solve the way to eat meat so that I enjoy it and it is not uncomfortable for me physically. These are on page 392 of his book, The Diabetes Solution. I have put the ones I use in bold type.

- Drinking at least two 8-ounce glasses of sugar-free, caffeine-free fluid while eating, and chewing slowly and thoroughly.

- Reducing or eliminating dietary fiber, or first running fiber foods through a blender until nearly liquid.

• Eliminating unground beef, veal, pork, fowl, and eliminating shellfish.

- Reducing protein at supper.

- Eating four or more small daily meals, instead of three larger meals.

• Introducing semi-liquid or liquid meals.

(I apologize for those two with the bullets in front. I couldn't get the list to come out right with the bold type.)

I like brains and liver good for meals, as I eat smaller amounts of them easily. They are very nourishing and satiating/satisfying. I have been working at it for a couple of years now.

Egg yolks, meat/bone broths with an egg yolk stirred in, braised egg yolks, softly cooked eggs, etc. I sometimes add cream or a bit of cheese.

I also cook bits of soaked-and-rinsed beef bacon pieces and then add egg yolks, or liver.

Wild salmon with a bit of beef bacon sits well.

It is often the case with older women, that we like foods which are easy to digest and eliminate, and not to eat too much at once, or too much meat at once.

I don't use regular onions or garlic. Chives and the green part of spring onions are all right in small amounts.

I try to eat 6 - 8 ounces (uncooked weight) of beef liver each week, six ounces (cooked weight) of wild Salmon. I eat two - four egg yolks each day, occasionally that is fewer or more.

Half-and-half sits all right with me, and I use that with heavy cream to make yoghurt. I also use the half-and-half with beef drippings in my tea.

An egg yolks is 3 grams of protein. (Actually protein grams not yolk weight.) An ounce of cooked meat is about 6 grams of protein. One ounce of half-and-half is 1 gram of protein. An ounce of cheese (that is a one-inch cube) is 6 grams of protein.

I have 12 - 15 grams of protein easily at a meal. Sometimes I can eat 20. The rest of my protein I drink, using the half-and-half.

This plan makes it easy for me to get 55-75 grams of protein in a day.

I hope this helps you. It took me a long time to find the right foods, the right amounts and the right times for the what/how much of each thing.

Dr. Kwasniewski's plan and Dr. Bernstein's have given me a wonderful way to eat and not worry about what will happen after I swallow a piece of food.

To sum up the what: offal, muscle meat (all beef), wild salmon, egg yolks (occasionally whites), butter, cream, cheese, yoghurt, herbs, and low fiber veggies. (Grass-fed does better with me than commercial, grocery store.)

I have something with early morning tea, and three small meals. If I find I need a small bit of something else, I have it: usually an egg yolk and a bit of yoghurt, or a piece of cheese, or even a couple of bites of meat.

Carb grams are usually 6 per meal, and I have about another 6 in half-and-half. Two egg yolks is ca. 1.2 grams of carbs. Liver is ca. 5 grams for 2 ounces if I remember correctly. Half-and-half is just over 1 gram of CHO per ounce. A cooked vegetable is about 6 grams of CHO for 2/3 cup. (Raw is one cup for six ounces. I rarely eat raw vegetables as they are harder to digest and the nutrients are more available when the fiber is cooked. Mashed vegs = 1/4 cup for 6 grams of carbs.) Reference: Dr. Richard Bernstein. His carb amounts take into consideration the effect of the volume of the vegetables on blood sugar.

I drink a bit of tea, but stop after lunch. No coffee or alcohol.

Also, I try to avoid eating when I am not calm. My food sits betters, digests better, etc., if I am calm and can mindfully enjoy the meal. Having quiet helps, too.

I wish you much joy with your food plan, and good health! :)

Feels heavy in your stomach? I feel a bit bloated if I eat cheap beef, but the good stuff never bothers me.

I was a vegetarian for a decade and the first meat I ate after was a steak. No issues. You may find that eating a large amount of meat late in the evening makes you feel warmer than usual overnight. Keep your portion sizes reasonable and you'll be just fine.

I'm kind of surprised at the unhelpful bad answers/joke answers this thread has. Oh well...

If eating steak, or any other meat gives you a heavy-sits-in-your-stomach kind of feel, then you're not producing enough stomach acid. This can be fixed once your leaky gut is healed and you absorb enough zinc, potassium, magnesium, etc. Supplementation with those minerals helps here until you're passed it, and then you'll get the rest from your food.

If you just started paleo, this takes about 30 days, but be sure you have zero exposure to things that cause leaky gut (wheat, soy, other grains, legumes, etc.)

Meanwhile, try betaine-HCL or digestive enzymes (the latter, especially if you've had your gall bladder removed.)

Take upto 5 pills of the stuff before a meal. To find out how much you'd need, place your hand at the top of your stomach, take a pill and feel for heat, if you don't, add another, and repeat upto 5. Then, eat the steak. Make sure to chew thoroughly.

Another way is to tell by the shape of your stools the next day. They should look like long smooth cylinders. If instead, they're clusters of spheres, you're not producing enough stomach acid, and need either more digestive enzymes or betaine-HCL, or more minerals in your diet.

Unlike the bad advice in the previous answer do not drink a lot of liquids while eating meals containing meats. This will dilute your stomach acid, which is needed to break down the proteins. Drink a few hours before or after your meals so you're hydrated, but not during and not immediately after.

Gut flora is important too. Fermented foods such as home made kefir, and kraut will help you get there.

If you still can't do steak yet, start off with some grass fed burgers and work your way up.

Some people get weird about this and think "I didn't need to take these things before I was paleo, so why do I need them now?" The reason is that you (and your gut flora) were adapted to eating mostly carbs before, and you had a leaky gut, and thus weren't in a healthy state. Now you're on the way to a healthy state, so it takes time to adjust to it and undo years of damage.

Since you were vegan, you were probably more health conscious than most SAD eaters (assuming you weren't eating mostly crap-in-a-box), so you probably have less of a way to go than someone who ate mostly fast foods and other junk. But the damage from the grains and legumes still has to be reversed before you see large results.