The ironic thing about my vegetarianism and slowly converting Andrew is a class I had this morning. It is a nutrition class and is mostly about food preparation. We couldn't find a good schedule to fit for everyone, so we had to be at a meat packing plant by 6am (for me, that meant getting up at 4:30 to leave the house by 5:10...) Not too bad with a big mug of hot green tea, but not something I want to do every morning; especially when it is so dark out. Now back to my story...
Since learning a lot about the meat industry, I have become a strict vegetarian and am even thinking vegan. Considering what the animals go though, I can not imagine eating one. There are many studies and diets out there saying that meat is bad and others saying that meat is good because we have eaten it since the beginning of time. I would like to add here that, yes, humans have eaten meat for hundreds of years, but not in the quantities that we do today. When we first began introducing meat into our diets, it was scarce and was usually dead before we got to it (i.e. humans rarely killed for food). Once we discovered fire and cooking, we also began to hunt for meat; essentially becoming hunter-gatherers. During this time, one large animal was killed and used to feed an entire tribe for weeks or even months; the entire body was used for supplies; and the animal was respected and thanked for being a source of food for the hungry people. Sadly, meat has come a long way since then and we now raise cattle, hogs, chickens, fish, etc. to be slaughtered and eaten; which has resulted in a surplus of meat that many people consume multiple times throughout the day.
Being in the field of nutrition, I educate people on the health benefits of consuming less meat, It is so easy to do! Think about all of the wonderful, natural foods that Mother Nature has provided for us (and the animals) to enjoy and fill our bodies with healthy, living energy! Things like, beans, nuts, legumes, even vegetables and grains have protein!! All of these foods are so good for your body and make you feel alive and happy.
It was hard for me to go through that butcher shop, seeing all of the different parts of beef lying on boards and waiting to be further sliced, but I treated it as an educational tool and learned. The harder part will be the "tasting" that we are having later in lab Note: I did NOT partake in any of that...
So please, take the first step in a healthier diet and slowly begin to cut out meat. Start by buying a bunch of beans or nuts at the store instead of 1/2 the meat you typically buy and see how much money you save! After you see how easy it is and how good you feel, replace more meat if you want. Take this challenge for the next 2 weeks and let me know how it goes. You can do anything for just 14 days!
Luana ola!
No comments:
Post a Comment