I’ve been thinking lately of becoming a vegetarian. Well, maybe not a full blown veggie but somewhere along the lines of no red meat, no poultry, but maybe fish and eggs. This is no small task for me being raised with a “meat and potatoes” Midwest mentality and to be honest, I’m scared shitless. Where will all the good times go? Sunday brunch will never be the same without a side of bacon and that sloppy hangover hamburger will never be as good as a sloppy veggie burger. But I think it is time to become a more “conscious eater.” I’m not talking about eating slowly and tasting every morsel that goes into your mouth and chewing “mindfully,” I am talking about being aware of where our food comes from and the horrors that go into putting meat on the table. Just pick up any book on the topic (“Fast Food Nation” comes to mind) or watch any documentary on the subject and you will be appalled at the cruelty and filth that permeates the meatpacking industry. It’s disgusting really that we eat animals to begin with, but that they die painfully at our own hands so that we can have that Big Mac is downright evil. Now, having said this and realizing how wrong it is the kill and eat animals, I still find it ridiculously hard to turn down a steak dinner or even a turkey sandwich, but I’m going to take baby steps here and just start giving up one thing at a time. Having to give up anything for me is traumatizing. I tried a couple of months ago to stop using artificial sweetner and that lasted about 2 days, so this is going to be a real challenge. Not to mention Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and although I would rather starve than eat Tofu turkey (I’m sorry that’s just not right) I’m going to do my best to just say “No” to meat. I’m scared its true, but then I think about all those poor suffering animals and I say to myself, “Don’t be such a chicken.”
