I was a vegetarian (near vegan) for at least three years, and I did not eat beef for more than 12 years. This was partly for health reasons, but also because my heart hurts when I think about animals dying. To some degree this is an over-sensitivity due to my largely city-girl upbringing (my parents grew up in the country and thanks to many visits to the small town where they grew up I can point out a meat vs. milk cow, but that's the extent of my farm skills). I have had only two pets in my life, both cats. One had to be put to sleep when I was in high school due to complications from feline leukemia, which devastated our whole family. The other lived to be a cranky old lady and died peacefully in her sleep. I never experienced the "circle of life" stuff that kids growing up on farms experience.
I gave up being a vegetarian when I stopped eating gluten. Partly because I was dealing with severe anemia and having cravings for meat (which I never had before) but also because there are only so many food restrictions I can deal with at one time without going insane. It's hard enough to find gluten and dairy free food in restaurants-- add vegetarian to that and you are guaranteed nothing but a bowl of lettuce in many restaurants. It got to be too much. So I compromised by committing to only eating pasture raised, organic meat knowing that at least the animals will have had a happy and healthy life and are more likely to have been killed in a humane way. Plus, healthier animals = healthier meat.
Then 5 fluffy, funny baby chickens came into my life. One of my classmates asked me today if I was still going to keep eating chicken. In order to make eating meat okay for me again last summer I had to disconnect myself psychologically to some degree from the source. Now the source (or at least the source's relatives) are sleeping in a box in my living room. I am having nightmares about hawks, raccoons, snakes and other predatory creatures hurting my babies and yet I am somehow supposed to cook their cousin for dinner? I don't know how to resolve those feelings. I am not going to go back to being a vegetarian but I also might not eat chicken again for awhile....
3 comments:
It sounds like you've come to a healthy compromise - both physically and mentally!
Re-read (if you haven't already read) Barbara Kingsolver's section about vegetarianism in Animal Vegetable Miracle. The act of eating, regardless of whether you are a vegetarian or not, requires the sacrificing of lives. It is part of the cycle of nature that some lives are expended to uphold the lives of others. Insects and small animals are killed in scores when we plow fields. But we have a very Peter Pan relationship with death here - much too long to go on about it a blog comment. Somehow, nothing's supposed to die but we are all supposed to keep living. Can't happen. The life death cycle is not ingrained as ok and normal in our current culture so I think we all struggle with it. I do.
Hi Bree, thank you for this bog. I have wheat/dairy allergies too. I have gone back and forth with various vegetarian diets as well. I appreciate your honesty here. I really believe in ETL but I think some of need more protein. You may want to check out The Hauser Diet which is brilliant at explaining why some people do great with a veg diet and others don't.
I can go a long time without meat but eventually I need to add it back in but I do agree with Dr. F's plan with the eating a ton of produce both raw/cooked. I also somewhat agree with the blood type diet. I'm an AB which means that I do well with a semi-veg diet. I feel stronger with animal protein but yet don't have the stomach acid to digest a lot of it. I've also experimented with high protein diets and I usually end up with high choloresterol and just not feeling right. So I think for people like us it's a matter of finding the right balance.
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