World Vegetarian Day

Today is World Vegetarian Day. Now I admit that up until the last couple of years ago I was a real meat person.....give me the choice between candy and a nice, juicy burger and I would pick the nice, juicy burger hands down. Then unfortunately I started becoming educated on what really happens on factory farms and as I consider myself an animal activist I began to feel guilty eating regular meat as in my mind it is hypocritical. I have decided I need to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.


Last year I started eating what I call "seafoodtarian". Unfortunately, especially in Northern Wisconsin restaurants, "seafood" means fried in as much oil as possible so there is absolutely no taste left whatsoever while adding as many fat calories as possible. But I did go quite a while eating fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy and seafood. Then I had reached a point where not only my chiropractor in Pickerel but one in Mexico told me that it was possible I had a wheat intolerance or "leaky gut" and that could be contributing to my fibromyalgia. So I became angry and frustrated....if I couldn't eat anything with wheat, didn't WANT to eat meat, didn't LIKE beans, what in the HELL was I going to eat? So I allowed myself to eat meat again although I had to forcibly remove guilt from my mind when I did so.


Then last week I saw an interview that Wolf Blitzer did with Former President Clinton. Now I remember when Clinton was in office and he was constantly jogging and still was pudgy and fighting with his weight. Today he is absolutely thin. Granted he is 10 or so years older and that can happen to older adults but he credits his weight loss to eating a plant based diet and from reading several books including The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. The China Study examines the relationship between the consumption of animal products and illnesses such as cancers of the breast, prostate, and large bowel, diabetes, coronary heart disease, obesity, autoimmune disease, osteoporosis, degenerative brain disease, and macular degeneration. And who's to say it doesn't contribut to fibromyalgia?


So I am going to try again but this time it seems easier as I have been there before. There are many good reasons to try eating a more plant based diet besides health reasons and they include the fact that we can use less resources and water to raise plants instead of animals and an animal-friendly diet allows you to stop contributing to the cruelty of factory farms and the unnecessary death of innocent animals. I will probably still eat meat that is certified as being humanely raised -- not just where the chicken sees the light of day through cracks in the roof.  I have seen many herds of cattle on miles and miles of pasture land here in Utah. That, I believe, is humane. What isn't humane is when they then send the same cattle to the feed lots for months to finish them off on garbage, antibiotics and who knows what else. Why can't the same cattle stay out on the range being grass fed until an acceptable age? Maybe the price of a T Bone would go up but look at the difference in the product that you are receiving. Unfortunately it is difficult enough finding humanely raised meat in grocery stores much less in restaurants most places in the country.

I also have never been a fan of dried beans in any form but am making a huge effort as they are full of protein, fiber and other nutrients and are better for you than meat. I have found a white bean that I can tolerate with salsa and hot sauce added to take away the "bean" taste. The only remaining problem is the fact that most canned beans are very high in sodium and bags of beans take time to soak, boil and then refrigerator room to store them, something we don't have much of in the rig. Last week I did find a canned white bean that is 50% less sodium than the regular style. So I am really making an effort to like beans. I told Bill that if I could try to like beans he could do the same with vegetables.....no deal.