I have been vegetarian my entire life, so I'm sure its really easy for me to talk about how great I think it is. After all, the number one excuse I hear from my meat-eating friends about why they can never give it up is, "It tastes good!" -- which I, of course, never having tasted it, can't argue. I grew up eating small amounts of fish, but I personally stopped several years ago. My reasons for being vegetarian now are independent of my family and why I was raised so.
While I am passionate about vegetarianism, for reasons that I'm certain will appear throughout this blog as time goes by, I understand how much people love and are used to meat and I have never tried to turn anyone off it (although I've had a couple debates with friends over the years). I know most people wouldn't know where to begin becoming vegetarian -- and I would rather them eat meat and eat a balanced diet than become vegetarian and live off chips and bread because they don't know what else to have. I also know some people need to eat it meat for health reasons (blood type, etc), but overall I think that most of us living in North America eat an unhealthy over-abundance of it. Meat is consumed in gratuitous amounts, and hardly anyone pauses to make the connection as to where it came from. That sort of bothers me the most.
I have a family friend who needs to eat meat because of her blood type. She was vegetarian for years and was ordered to introduce meat back into her diet by her doctor because her iron was so low. She did as the doctor prescribed, but felt so terrible eating the meat that she would cry every time she had to cook it. Eventually she found a flower remedy (www.bachflower.com) to help her cope emotionally, and now she only buys organic kosher meat (that is killed in a more humane fashion). She will eat it when she begins to crave it, a sign to her that her body is asking for it, but never in indulgent amounts. Whenever she eats a piece of meat she gives a quiet thank you to the animal for giving up its life to be eaten by her and has taught her young daughter with the same blood type to treat what is on her plate with the same respect.
I had never heard of anyone doing that before (outside of native practices that I have learned of), but I really admired her for it -- it seemed really thoughtful and it made me think a lot about how few people take the time to connect to what is on their plates.
We live in a culture where we are able to walk into a grocery store and have thousands of items at our fingertips. Before you buy your next food product, whatever it is, try to pause and think about where it came from, what it is made out of, and whether it is something that your body is really asking for. And should you choose to buy or order a piece of meat, consider giving a moment of thought and thanks to the life that was taken in order for you to enjoy it.
I have a family friend who needs to eat meat because of her blood type. She was vegetarian for years and was ordered to introduce meat back into her diet by her doctor because her iron was so low. She did as the doctor prescribed, but felt so terrible eating the meat that she would cry every time she had to cook it. Eventually she found a flower remedy (www.bachflower.com) to help her cope emotionally, and now she only buys organic kosher meat (that is killed in a more humane fashion). She will eat it when she begins to crave it, a sign to her that her body is asking for it, but never in indulgent amounts. Whenever she eats a piece of meat she gives a quiet thank you to the animal for giving up its life to be eaten by her and has taught her young daughter with the same blood type to treat what is on her plate with the same respect.
I had never heard of anyone doing that before (outside of native practices that I have learned of), but I really admired her for it -- it seemed really thoughtful and it made me think a lot about how few people take the time to connect to what is on their plates.
We live in a culture where we are able to walk into a grocery store and have thousands of items at our fingertips. Before you buy your next food product, whatever it is, try to pause and think about where it came from, what it is made out of, and whether it is something that your body is really asking for. And should you choose to buy or order a piece of meat, consider giving a moment of thought and thanks to the life that was taken in order for you to enjoy it.
2 comments:
I'm going to be the first to comment and in the spirit of debate, I'm going to throw a controversial opinion out there. As someone who was also raised vegetarian (with some fish) and who continues to be one, as well as someone who has a deep love for animals, I must say that I find this video to be disgusting (as it's meant to be) but so much so, that I'm afraid that it will turn people off (not meat, but the whole idea of saving animals) solely because the video production is so overtly and obtrusely manipulative and one-sided that it will drive a desire in some to reject all that they are seeing out of spite rather than absorb it out of compassion. This may seem like a giant leap of assumptions on my part for how can anyone be so inhumane as to reject such a video out of spite for it's manipulative content, but I have seen a film similar to this one (it may have been this one) at a film festival I had attended and for the very reason I have just stated, it turned the entire audience off and the discussion afterwards became one of rampant pro-meat. After being exposed to over a century of various forms of propoganda, be it political, economical, or otherwise, most of our generation can spot it in a second and have an gut-renching rebellious reaction that invokes such ill feelings towards the producer of such material that the message itself (even if it is a good one) gets lost. And being propoganda as it is, the producer of this video is no better than the dairy industry who advocates the health benefits of milk without any mention of the unhealthy side-effects. I think what we need in this age is a little more critical thinking and the production of fair media. Give the audience some credit.
Cheers to the practice of a compassionate and humane stance regarding the consumption (or not)of animals. Thank you earthmomma for bringing the topic up. It needs to be spoken by many people, many times.
I have my concerns however for those who commit to vegetarianism and more so, to veganism, and do not know how to do it to get the nutrition that they need. Taking care of the animals is great but not taking care of yourself will lessen your contribution to your own life.
I see over and over again the challenge that people have in getting enough protein. A lack of it will often lead to blood sugar and brain chemistry imbalances, which then promotes depression, anxiety, nervousness, irritability, weight gain, etc.
So all of you who aspire to vegetarianism, don't kid yourself... bread and Yves tofu products won't do it.
Each day your body will need a plethora of whole grain (not bread) and beans, nuts and seeds along with lots of vegies, sprouts and fruit.
And my experience is that many people do do better with animal products. If so, I am with you EM... consider how those animals were raised and killed, as science is conferring with us 'bleeding compassionates'. Our cells respond to every energy input that we feed our bodies, be it food, thought or feeling. The life that the animal that you are consuming leads will become a part of you at a cellular level. (Read The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton, PhD).
Post a Comment