Celebrating 2 years of Vegetarianism

Let me guess...you think I'm a freak.

Two years ago, I would have thought I was one, too.

(If you like eating meat, do not read any farther.  If you do, don't say I didn't warn you...)

We celebrated the New Year in 2008 with me making an awesome dinner; the main course was prime rib.  A few days later, I read the book Skinny Bitch.  I borrowed it from my sister, who bought it thinking it was a funny book about being healthy.  That was half true.  What we didn't realize is that it was going to change our life!

It really was a good book, and I think everyone should read it.  It gave a lot of great information about what is really in the food we put in our bodies.  That I can handle; most of us know what kinds of foods are bad for us, and we might think about it for a split second before we eat it anyway.

What I couldn't handle is reading about the horrors of factory farming.  We all know where meat comes from, right?  Animals are raised on a nice farm and then painlessly killed for us to eat, right?  Not even close.  Although I won't  go into too much detail, I will just say that the conditions the animals live in are horrific; the deaths they die are slow, excruciating, and just downright cruel.  While they are alive they are beaten and tortured and crippled and blind and helpless.  They are crammed into tiny cages and sit in their own filth and chickens peck each others eyes out, so to stop the pecking their beaks are seared off.  They are pumped full of steroids and growth hormones so that they grow so fast that they can't support their own weight.  Chicken's feet grow into the cage wires so they can't move.  Slaughterhouses are scenes out of a horror movie.  The animals are stunned and paralyzed and skinned alive and plunged into scalding hot water.  Their throats are cut open for the blood to pour out, while they are still alive.  And that is only the very beginning of the story. 

It was in that moment of finishing the book, that I knew that I would never eat meat again.  I continued to do research, which only strengthened my beliefs.  Since the day I made my decision 2 years ago, it hasn't even appealed to me; not even a little bit.  Before that day, I ate meat for every meal, and it wasn't a meal without meat.  Ignorance is bliss I guess.  They do say that if slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarians.

So now you have read this far (even though I warned you not to), and you are still thinking that I am crazy, and you are still deciding that you could never be without meat.  "What do you eat?" you ask.  That's easy; I eat anything and everything that isn't meat (and for the record, chicken and fish and other seafood count as meat).  And most importantly, there is no meat in chocolate. 

"But how do you get your protein?"  That is the second question everyone asks.  Are you kidding me, do you really think that meat is the only source of protein in the world?  Cheese, milk (I drank soy and rice milk up until I got pregnant, then I craved real milk), eggs, (yes I do still eat these things, I'm not vegan, although I have very much cut back on eggs and I get my eggs from my mom's chickens, who I know are not abused), beans, nuts, peanut butter, tofu, whole wheat and grains, yogurt, cottage cheese...the list goes on and on.  We don't need nearly as much protein as Americans think we do either.  You can build muscle and be completely healthy (healthier) on a vegetarian diet.

Oh and I also want to add that in a week or two of quitting eating meat, I lost like 8-10 pounds.  It's funny what eating straight fat will do to you.

It definitely isn't always easy being veg.  For starters, my husband wouldn't consider eating anything without meat in it.  He thinks I'm crazy, but luckily he still loves me.  So this creates some difficulty with meals.  If I can help it, I try to make something where meat can be added to a portion.  Like spaghetti or pasta that I can add ground beef or chicken in for Chad, or if I make a meal with meat as the main course I just (obviously) won't eat the meat, and I will eat the sides (like a salad, baked potato, and broccoli or whatever).  Every now and then I trick Chad and make a meal with a meat substitute and he eats it and doesn't complain too much.  Other nights I end up cooking two meals.  For the first few months I refused to even buy or cook meat, since I do the grocery shopping and that is an industry I don't want to support, but I value my marriage so I eventually gave in.  Then I would only buy meat that didn't look like it did when the animal was alive, so this pretty much meant I could only buy ground beef or hamburger patties or hot dogs.

Many restaurants around here are not vegetarian friendly either, which annoys me, because I know I'm not the only vegetarian in the world.  I was also always worried that I would be at someone's house for dinner and they would prepare an all-meat meal and I wouldn't know how to get out of a situation like that without being rude, but by now, most people know and they are very considerate. 

Anyway, I can honestly say that I'm proud of my decision to not eat meat.  I read somewhere that if you are a vegetarian, you save the lives of up to 100 animals per year.  (That's not to mean that you would eat 100 whole animals, but for each chicken nugget, one animal had to die for you to eat it).

Here are some resources to help you get started in your new life as a vegetarian (hey, you never know...)

Free Vegetarian Starter Kit

Pledge to be Veg for 30 days

Meet your Meat

Free Vegetarian Recipes

Oh and I know you are also wondering if I am going to raise Lyla as a vegetarian...it is absolutely, positively, 100% safe and healthy to raise children as vegetarians.  Yesterday, I did give Lyla her first bites of chicken.  I am not going to go overboard on the meat with her, but I will give her some here and there and let her make her own decision on if she likes it or not.  Then, when she is old enough, I will let her read this blog and teach her about the horrors of factory farming and let her make her own decision.... :-)