Just felt a little bit of stomach pain while eating steak for the first time in as long as I can remember.

The reason why was obvious:

I got the wrong kind at the store (Brahman instead of Brangus—something you have to look for in Colombia), so the meat was TOUGH. Was very difficult to chew, so I was swallowing much larger chunks than usual.

When a plant-eater tells you: "Meat feels heavy in my stomach", I'd bet the house that the problem is this - they simply aren't chewing the meat enough.

"Chew your food" sounds simple, but you'd be surprised, when people spend years of their lives basing their diet around oatmeal, bread, fruit bowls and salad, not only are their jaw muscles underdeveloped from never using them, but when they do, they don't have a strong grasp for the concept that tough food like meat needs to be chewed longer than plants. (This chewing of tough food is critical for dental health by the way, and lack of it is a major reason why dental health has never been worse worldwide, but I digress...) 

TL;DR: When someone says meat makes their stomach hurt, the culprit is very likely improper chewing. Have them eat ground beef instead for a couple weeks as a warm-up, then make sure they know that when they do upgrade to Steak Gang™, there IS a bit of a learning curve when it comes to chewing, and they shouldn't be embarrassed, but STOKED they're finally giving their jaw + teeth the workout they've evolved to get from eating a species-appropriate diet 👊🥩

[Final note: If someone hasn't eaten ANY meat for a very long time, it is possible that their gut is simply unhappy that it's not getting the carbs & sugar its microbiome has become accustomed to. If they're eating ground beef or certain they're chewing their steak well and STILL feeling digestive pain, it may just be because their gut hasn't had enough time to adjust to the diet change. Bone broth would be a great choice to try here, as it's even easier to digest, and can get that microbiome moving back in the right direction! 💪]

For more on the importance of meat for dental health, I recommend my below podcast with Dr. Kevin Stock. As far as I'm concerned, he's the #1 dentist in the world for the work he's doing, and explains all of these concepts far better than I can! 👇

https://youtu.be/P4hzpm1oT78?si=l6hRQbHQonA7h29D