Becoming a Vegetarian

"The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined.  If beef is your idea of 'real food for real people' you'd better live real close to a real good hospital." - Neal Barnard

Ever since reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, I've been uneasy about eating meat. I'm glad I read it, because it started me thinking about buying local or humane raised/slaughtered meat. Sadly that only lasted as long as my wife and I were both earning income. The sad reality is that it's too expensive to know your meat and buy it from trusted, humane sources, and we can't afford to do it anymore. One weekend recently I was volunteering at D Acres recording video and Josh Trought said something that really imprinted upon me: when it comes to beef, the meat industry will feed 100 people worth of grain to each cow to get 10 people worth of beef to eat, so why not just eat the grain ourselves and feed more people?

On top of this, I've noticed lately just how uneasy I am with the flavor, smell, and heavy feeling in my tummy of cooked meat, especially red meat. Just a couple of days ago I cooked some maple bacon we received from the food pantry. It was the typical maple bacon from the grocery store that I would have normally loved before, but the taste, texture, grease, and smell... it was disgusting. I could smell it in our home even still this morning and it was literally making me queasy. I'm not sure how or why this started happening, but I've been far more mindful of it lately and intent on doing something about it.

And so I've been working toward a plant-based diet, although I think I will still eat eggs and dairy, at least for now. I'm not quite ready for vegan. I occasionally eat eggs for breakfast, but most mornings I have taken to eating a delicious chocolate peanut butter oatmeal, the recipe for which I found on the blog (never home)maker, which I highly recommend. I've also been working up to this little by little, starting with Meatless Monday.

I would certainly appreciate any and all advice or suggestions that anyone experienced with a plant-based diet could offer.