Why I'm a Vegetarian (& Why Your Excuses for Eating Meat Don't Impress Me)

On August 26, 2007, my life changed for the better.

That was the day, my first semester of my second year of college, that I decided to give up eating meat forever. I haven't looked back once.

The change originally started due to my drive to become healthier and feel better about myself and my body. I began working out regularly and trying to incorporate as many healthy foods into my lifestyle as I could. I had never enjoyed the taste of meat to begin with, especially chicken, hamburger, or really any meat. My steak had to be well done and drowned in ketchup because the thought of digesting the dead cow in front of me made me sick. So I guess the truth is, reality just hit me, and I realized that instead of embracing cruelty to innocent farm animals by consuming a product I didn't even enjoy, instead I could focus on healthier choices and on enjoying the wonderful natural foods there are out there that don't require the slaughtering of animals, some of which (pigs) have the intelligence capacity of a 3 year old. Immediately after becoming a vegetarian, I started researching vegetarian recipes and began trying new vegetarian options at restaurants. I was pleased to find that there were dozens, if not hundreds, of different foods that I would have never even considered eating before I gave up eating meat that I ADORED and continue to eat regularly. I also immediately began researching the cruel methods involved in the meat processing industry and all the health benefits I gained by giving up eating meat. All of my research lead me to one conclusions....that I had DEFINITELY made the right choice. Take the following video for example (and yes, certain slaughterhouses have much more stringent practices than others, but it doesn't change the fact that these animals are murdered unnecessary for you to eat & enjoy for dinner tomorrow night)...

Watch this video with caution...very upsetting. (link)

The video is certainly not for the squeamish, and I have trouble getting through the whole thing myself...I cannot stand the idea of innocent animals being hurt for my pleasure. Many may argue that "animals are put on this Earth for humans to eat," and that belief is your prerogative, but knowing that eating meat doesn't give your body any health benefits, that animals have a mind and a capacity to understand and feel, and that you could be leaner, healthier, and just as happy without consuming a dead animal, how can you truly make that argument with conviction? In fact, there are many facts that will show you, indeed, that consuming meat, especially red meat, does your body very little good:

1. Red meat is loaded with saturated fat. Saturated fat is responsible for higher instances of heart disease and atherosclerosis. 1

2. "Factory-farmed animals contain toxic chemicals. Meat contains accumulations of pesticides and other chemicals up to 14 times more concentrated than those in plant foods. Half of all antibiotics used in the US are used in farm animals and 90% of those are not used to treat infections but are instead used as growth promoters." 2 Those steroids, in fact, are used in such high quantities, that many chickens and small farm animals are unable to hold up their own weight and their legs break under the pressure. The evidence is sickening, the treatment these animals receive during their short lifespans is nothing short of cruelty. If a dog or other house-pet was treated in this manner, the animals' owner would face criminal charges, without a doubt.

3. More protein isn't always better. In fact, it can be worse. "In a study of osteoporotic fractures, a research group from the University of California published results showing that the risk of a hip fracture in post-menopausal women essentially depends on the composition of their diet. Older women with a high intake of animal, rather than vegetable, proteins ran a significantly higher risk for hip fractures than people in a control group. The incidence of hip fractures in individual countries correlates with the ratio of animal to vegetable protein in the daily diet. These researchers concluded that a low-grade metabolic alkalose is probably the optimum acid-base status." 3

The fact is, I could sit here for days spewing off facts and information about the negative impacts of consuming meat. But I don't expect those facts to motivate you necessarily to give up meat, especially if you are a die-hard meat eater. Becoming a vegetarian is a very personal and a very internally driven decision, from my experience. I don't typically try to convert anyone--you are all smart enough to observe your surroundings and understand where the meat on your plate comes from. While I am not asking you to change your lifestyle or give up your passion for chicken, I will ask one thing of you...try, when possible, to increase the quantity of farm grown and hormone free products you buy. Support local farmers. While free-range doesn't always imply that the chickens are truly treated more humanely, do your research...there are places locally you can purchase eggs and other products from where you can trust that the animals were not put through the wringer at a slaughterhouse, spending their last moments of life in wretched pain. Try to cut out the amount of red meat you eat, and remember...veggies are tasty too :)

Click on the image to learn more ^^ :)

1. http://environment.about.com/od/health/a/red_meat_mad.htm
2. http://www.zenzibar.com/Articles/15_reasons.htm
3. http://www.heimat-fuer-tiere.de/english/articles/med/meat_makes_you_sick.shtml

We ALL need somebody to lean on...

When I first decided to start another blog, I got really excited. I thought of all the funny, sarcastic, but honest topics I could discuss that I get out of the every day events that surround me...idiots cutting me off when I'm driving home from the gym, people sending a text with nothing but the letter "k" (which still frustrates me immensely and continues to happen to be on a daily basis from multiple people), and many many many other things that irritate me daily. I would finally have somewhere to vent my frustrations where others could empathize with my misfortunes. But the more I thought about my first blog entry, the more I realized I have a lot more to say than just rambling on about complaints and annoyances.

I've never been the most religious person, I'll admit that. In fact, there have been many moments in my life where people's passion and convictions about God and the Bible pushed me away even further...I don't like people trying to force something on me or tell me "how it is" and that what I believe is "wrong" or "ungodly." So thanks to those people, my desire to be closer to God was pushed further and further away, until the day I moved to Tennessee.

Looking back now, I'd say moving to Tennessee was the best decision I've ever made in my life. A whole new world, new options, and new people & adventures are completely within my reach and I feel like I finally have a chance to make my life into what I want it to be. At first, however, I wouldn't have told you that.

My trunk, backseat, passenger seat, and my dad's car were all loaded down with my things driving the 3.5 hour stretch to my new home. I couldn't help but sob the entire last hour thinking of the one person I knew I was leaving behind me and wasn't entirely sure what the fate would be between us. But I knew I had no other reason to stay in Georgia and that if I didn't take that leap of faith and try something new I'd be stuck in Georgia as a stock clerk making what seemed like pennies an hour for doing hard work at 5 am every day for the rest of my life, and that was NOT the life I wanted for myself. If the relationship was meant to work out then a few hours distance wouldn't change that, and although it is now over & I at first blamed it on myself moving, I realize that had very little to do with it. The reality is that what is meant to be, will be. Relationships take two to work, especially with distance involved. If there are not two people truly in it, and it doesn't work out, then there's no reason to keep focusing on it and dwelling on what could have been. There's a quote by Hellen Keller that I love, "When one door of happiness closes, another opens: but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." I adore that quote, and find it more relevant in my life now more than ever. I've always put too much stock in the past, but the truth is that when you care so much it's hard to let go, and although time heals and life goes on, the hurt is still there now and lingers on. I've been bad about focusing on it too often lately with little result, but have realized my focus and pain is getting me nowhere. I concentrate on all the things I miss, all the fun times, all the moments where I felt so happy because of him that I never wanted the moment to end. But reality is that it DID end, and thinking about it doesn't get it back. So I've started turning to others, people who have already brightened my life in the short time since I've known them, to help me better my life and turn my focus in an entirely different direction a direction in which I've never truly been....towards God.

When I moved up here and knew no one, I wasn't sure exactly how to go about meeting people. In the past, school has allowed me to pick and choose friends from a plethora of people I was surrounded by daily, and for once I found myself in a new town, city, state without a friend in sight. I had been thinking and debating for a while perhaps getting more involved in a church setting and trying to figure out exactly what the whole "religion" thing was all about from the aspect of others my age who felt so strongly about God. After filling out a "get to know me" form at a church called Faith Promise, located in Knoxville as well as Maryville, I received an invite on Facebook from a girl around my age to join their small group. I was excited about the possibility, but will admit it took me a while to actually make myself GO. I was not only starting a new job but dealing with the hurt and sadness of an ended relationship and was overall trying to figure out exactly where to go next. Finally, I made that leap and went to meet them.

I will be honest, I had one of the best nights I have had in a while. I left the coffee shop with a whole new sense of PRESENCE and a whole new drive to do better for myself and to do better for GOD. I wanted to get to know this God who they felt so close to, so connected with, on a daily basis. I wanted to be a better, more giving person. And I left there feeling happier than I had felt since I moved to Tennessee. I went again this past Thursday and already feel like I have 4 new wonderful friends who I cannot wait to spend more time with and get to know better.

I know this wasn't the blog entry everyone would expect from me, and I can promise you I won't always be so serious :-) but I feel better after getting that all out, and looking at it laid out in front of me. I waver daily with my decision to move here, but the facts do not lie...I have a better job, have no rent to pay (currently), have joined a gym and started working out, am taking two online classes and have joined a small group of wonderful ladies from church. The world is at my feet and I just need to take advantage of every opportunity before me. Whether I know it or admit it, I feel like God has had a huge hand in my decision to move...he clearly knows what is best for me :) Maybe I should start giving him a little more control and stop being so stubborn and set in my ways. Apparently it isn't really "my way or the highway" because...let's face it...I just don't know enough about the world yet to have complete control of my life. Nor do I want to :)