Someone alert PETA
I am no longer a vegetarian
Go ahead and gasp, tell me I am a hypocrite, be excited, or shake your head in shame. All done? Good, then let's carry on. First, a little back story. I first tried out vegetarianism at around 14 years of age. I don't honestly remember the exact time, so let's just say 14, shall we. I didn't really do any research, I kind of remember just deciding that meat was gross and that I wasn't going to eat dead animals.
Fast forward a few years and my world expanded causing me to do a lot and I mean A LOT of research. I delved into the horror of factory farms, animal abuse, and all of the horrible things that eating a diet rich in mainstream animal products does to your body. I love animals and could not imagine them suffering their entire lives just so I could eat some meat that I didn't "need" anyway! I was so convinced that I became a strict vegan cutting out all animal products and even many things made from animals products.
I was vegan for a number of years and out of pure laziness, really, I went back to being vegetarian. I'd switch it up and become vegan for a while and then back to vegetarian, but there was absolutely no meat passing these lips.
I stopped doing extra research years ago, already convicted of my strong feelings toward the industry, and went about life as a vegetarian. When I fell pregnant, I even decided to raise my child vegetarian long before he was born, and have been doing so for the past two years. I considered raising him vegan, but it was clear that the very young, developing brain needed more than what a vegan diet could supply. Of course I am not saying that if your kid is vegan that you are depriving them, it just takes a whole hell of a lot of work to make sure they are getting all the nutrients they need from a vegan diet and I didn't want to do it, see laziness comment above...
Anyway, I decided that once solids were introduced, we would include whole, raw milk diary and pastured eggs. Well, as you know I don't like to leave well enough alone so I began to do more and more research about the brain of a child and how food is directly related to its formation and function. Holy shit is there a lot of information about this. I was completely in awe of how much I didn't know about the human body, the brain, and its connection with food.
I decided to put both Caches and myself on a few supplements that would help us stay healthy while remaining vegetarian, though one of them was fish oil. I decided it was worth it and we began taking fish oil and an essential amino acid that helps vegetarians metabolize vitamins A and D. Then we started taking extra vitamin D and glycine, another amino acid that is not present with a vegetarian diet. I felt good about how we were eating and the supplements we were taking...until I didn't
When I was pregnant with the baby that we lost, I began to crave meat. Something that hadn't happened before. I was seriously craving it so intensely that I would fantasize about stealing it from other peoples plates at restaurants. Iron I thought, I just need some iron. So one more supplement down the hatch. At the time I was talking nearly 10 different supplements every single day and it wasn't until Ryan questioned my need for them that I stopped and really looked at what my diet had become.
I wasn't healthy, a healthy person doesn't need 10 some odd supplements, and I wasn't listening to my body either, I was forcing perceived health upon myself and possibly even upon my child. This new line of questioning hit me hard, but I wasn't ready to do anything drastic until I learned more.
I wandered around my brain for a long time as I often do when I am questioning myself, and I kept coming back to the horrible images from factory farms and the disgusting additives in mainstream meat. I thought about all the people over the past decade who reminded me that humans were designed to eat meat. I thought about the standard american diet and how drastically it has changed over the past few decades. I imagined hunter gatherer tribes and the design of the human body. I thought about the diet of traditional cultures, all which include animal products and robust health. I thought long and hard until my wandering finally led to sleep.
It was a lot to think about, I was questioning the way I had been living for more than half of my life. There had to be a better way, I thought. There had to be an in between where a person can eat a traditional, real food diet that includes nutrient dense meat while not contributing to factory farms. A place where I didn't need to down 20 supplements to be "healthy." A balance. Well, turns out there is, and it is kind of amazing.
It is the often forgotten world of real/traditional food. Or as our ancestors called it, food! In this world there are no factory farms, no crowded wire cages, no GMO feed, or antibiotics. There is not flagrant animal abuse, waste or disrespect. There are just animals being animals until they are humanely slaughtered for food. My feelings about factory farmed meat and dairy have not changed, not even a little bit, what has happened is that I finally realized I can have it all.
I can give my son a hot dog that is made from pastured cows rather than an array of soy products constructed in some kind of lab. I can cook his rice in nutrient dense, gut healing bone broth that I make myself, using the whole animal that gave it's life so we could eat. I feel way better about him eating french fries cooked in pastured beef tallow than I ever did about man made vegetable oil. I have found that many of my struggles to eliminate heavily processed food have disappeared because I am no longer looking for a substitute.
Now I know that passionate vegetarians and vegans are not agreeing with me and believe that killing any animal for any reason is completely unnecessary and cruel. That's okay. I also know that those who do eat factory farmed meat and dairy as a main source of their diet are feeling like I'm being judgmental, and that's okay too. Because if I have learned anything over the past 31 years it is this, you will never, ever make everyone happy, EVER! So might as well worry about me and let everyone else figure out what makes them happy for themselves.
**I chose not to go into detail about why I have the feelings I do about factory farmed meat and diary because I figure if you want to know you will research it yourself and if you don't want to know then you probably don't want to hear it from me. I do encourage you to do some research though. Our food supply is becoming pretty scary if you ask me. But you didn't. Thanks for reading
Go ahead and gasp, tell me I am a hypocrite, be excited, or shake your head in shame. All done? Good, then let's carry on. First, a little back story. I first tried out vegetarianism at around 14 years of age. I don't honestly remember the exact time, so let's just say 14, shall we. I didn't really do any research, I kind of remember just deciding that meat was gross and that I wasn't going to eat dead animals.
Fast forward a few years and my world expanded causing me to do a lot and I mean A LOT of research. I delved into the horror of factory farms, animal abuse, and all of the horrible things that eating a diet rich in mainstream animal products does to your body. I love animals and could not imagine them suffering their entire lives just so I could eat some meat that I didn't "need" anyway! I was so convinced that I became a strict vegan cutting out all animal products and even many things made from animals products.
I was vegan for a number of years and out of pure laziness, really, I went back to being vegetarian. I'd switch it up and become vegan for a while and then back to vegetarian, but there was absolutely no meat passing these lips.
I stopped doing extra research years ago, already convicted of my strong feelings toward the industry, and went about life as a vegetarian. When I fell pregnant, I even decided to raise my child vegetarian long before he was born, and have been doing so for the past two years. I considered raising him vegan, but it was clear that the very young, developing brain needed more than what a vegan diet could supply. Of course I am not saying that if your kid is vegan that you are depriving them, it just takes a whole hell of a lot of work to make sure they are getting all the nutrients they need from a vegan diet and I didn't want to do it, see laziness comment above...
Anyway, I decided that once solids were introduced, we would include whole, raw milk diary and pastured eggs. Well, as you know I don't like to leave well enough alone so I began to do more and more research about the brain of a child and how food is directly related to its formation and function. Holy shit is there a lot of information about this. I was completely in awe of how much I didn't know about the human body, the brain, and its connection with food.
I decided to put both Caches and myself on a few supplements that would help us stay healthy while remaining vegetarian, though one of them was fish oil. I decided it was worth it and we began taking fish oil and an essential amino acid that helps vegetarians metabolize vitamins A and D. Then we started taking extra vitamin D and glycine, another amino acid that is not present with a vegetarian diet. I felt good about how we were eating and the supplements we were taking...until I didn't
When I was pregnant with the baby that we lost, I began to crave meat. Something that hadn't happened before. I was seriously craving it so intensely that I would fantasize about stealing it from other peoples plates at restaurants. Iron I thought, I just need some iron. So one more supplement down the hatch. At the time I was talking nearly 10 different supplements every single day and it wasn't until Ryan questioned my need for them that I stopped and really looked at what my diet had become.
I wasn't healthy, a healthy person doesn't need 10 some odd supplements, and I wasn't listening to my body either, I was forcing perceived health upon myself and possibly even upon my child. This new line of questioning hit me hard, but I wasn't ready to do anything drastic until I learned more.
I wandered around my brain for a long time as I often do when I am questioning myself, and I kept coming back to the horrible images from factory farms and the disgusting additives in mainstream meat. I thought about all the people over the past decade who reminded me that humans were designed to eat meat. I thought about the standard american diet and how drastically it has changed over the past few decades. I imagined hunter gatherer tribes and the design of the human body. I thought about the diet of traditional cultures, all which include animal products and robust health. I thought long and hard until my wandering finally led to sleep.
It was a lot to think about, I was questioning the way I had been living for more than half of my life. There had to be a better way, I thought. There had to be an in between where a person can eat a traditional, real food diet that includes nutrient dense meat while not contributing to factory farms. A place where I didn't need to down 20 supplements to be "healthy." A balance. Well, turns out there is, and it is kind of amazing.
It is the often forgotten world of real/traditional food. Or as our ancestors called it, food! In this world there are no factory farms, no crowded wire cages, no GMO feed, or antibiotics. There is not flagrant animal abuse, waste or disrespect. There are just animals being animals until they are humanely slaughtered for food. My feelings about factory farmed meat and dairy have not changed, not even a little bit, what has happened is that I finally realized I can have it all.
I can give my son a hot dog that is made from pastured cows rather than an array of soy products constructed in some kind of lab. I can cook his rice in nutrient dense, gut healing bone broth that I make myself, using the whole animal that gave it's life so we could eat. I feel way better about him eating french fries cooked in pastured beef tallow than I ever did about man made vegetable oil. I have found that many of my struggles to eliminate heavily processed food have disappeared because I am no longer looking for a substitute.
Now I know that passionate vegetarians and vegans are not agreeing with me and believe that killing any animal for any reason is completely unnecessary and cruel. That's okay. I also know that those who do eat factory farmed meat and dairy as a main source of their diet are feeling like I'm being judgmental, and that's okay too. Because if I have learned anything over the past 31 years it is this, you will never, ever make everyone happy, EVER! So might as well worry about me and let everyone else figure out what makes them happy for themselves.
**I chose not to go into detail about why I have the feelings I do about factory farmed meat and diary because I figure if you want to know you will research it yourself and if you don't want to know then you probably don't want to hear it from me. I do encourage you to do some research though. Our food supply is becoming pretty scary if you ask me. But you didn't. Thanks for reading
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