My Vegetarian Blog
This is my new vegetarian blog! My hopes are to make you laugh a little, cry a little, pee a little and see yourself in this a little or a lot.A bit about me. I'm a native Chicagoan living in the House the Packers built. I'm ready to move. LOL! Seriously though. I'm not married with no children and currently unemployed. No pets either. I've been a vegetarian for almost 15 years.
Why did I become a vegetarian? Well, it's like this...when you see a parent, still young by today's standards, laying in a hospital bed with tubes sticking out everywhere, not knowing if they are going to make it or not, it changes your world. I knew if I did not change my eating habits, I was destined to have family and friends standing over my casket before I started collecting social security (but then again, will there be a social security when I retire?). In the beginning I gave up only red meat and pork. Then I moved on to poultry. After that, I gave up seafood and anything that had any kind of meat product in it, i.e., stocks, broths, gelatin, etc.
One of the common questions I am always asked is if I miss eating meat. The answer is an emphatic NO! Before I gave up meat I was always sick to my stomach. I used to buy alka seltzer and maalox several times a month. When I gave up meat, I gave up the digestion relievers.
And before you assume that I gave up meat only due to health issues, think again. As I gave up meat, my eyes started to be opened up to a more compassionate way of life. I have learned we do not need to eat meat to feel fulfillment and nourishment. Animals being tortured and abused so you can suck down rubbery chicken nuggets and greasy, fatty hamburgers is simply wrong. Wrong for your health, wrong for the environment and wrong for the animals who cannot defend themselves against a billion dollar industry who cares nothing but for their bottom line. Do you think any fast food chain out there cares that you are obese or at least more than 20 pounds overweight due to the low-quality "food" they produce? That they are adding to the fact you are subtracting days, months, years from your life every time you eat that stuff? Fast food chains, restaurants, grocery stores and the food industry in general will not change as long as you do not change. Think about it...do you want your family and friends staring down in your casket saying how you were 'too young' and 'I wish he/she took better care of himself/herself'?
Before you click away from this blog, keep in mind I am not trying to badger anyone who is a meat-eater, rather have you, the reader, understand why I chose to become and stay vegetarian.
This blog will be about various articles, internet sites I want to share, pictures and anything that is pertinent to being vegetarian.
Oh and uh, do me a favor. Do not refer to vegetarian as a 'diet'. Vegetarianism has been around for centuries, so it isn't some fad that will go out with the bathwater along with your pet rock, puca shells, and Shaun Cassidy vinyl records. And for those of you born after 1980, that is your acid wash jeans, beanie babies and Natalie Imbruglia CD.
