I am no longer a vegetarian! I spent around a decade avoiding meat but no longer!
Years ago, I discovered a disturbing video that documented the treatment of animals in large scale farm operations—I was disgusted and vowed to never support the cruelty. I made an oath with myself to not eat meat again, and I didn’t…for a long time.
So what spurred the change?
I stumbled upon a podcast that discussed how our dental health goes hand-in-hand with our diet. Throughout the podcast, the dentist discussed the science of how our diets impact our teeth and said “I can almost always tell when someone is vegetarian or vegan because their gums always bleed.”
My heart dipped a little because although I took detailed care of my treasured teeth by brushing, flossing, and oil-pulling, my gums had become subject to immense bleeding at the dentist office. I wondered if my diet could be the cause? Were my bleeding gums a result of my vegetarian diet? I decided to dive deeper.
I love to learn, and I enjoy learning all aspects of a subject and not just what is presented to me. I like to form opinions myself and not just absentmindedly take on what I’m told. I spent a lot of time listening to different accounts of vegetarians who had started eating meat again and what the long-term effects the diet had tolled on their body. Needless to say, I was a little uneasy hearing about the long term damage it can do.
But ancient societies were vegetarian and live long, healthy lives, right?
I thought so too until I decided to really research that. And I discovered this is actually false and by some smeared “studies” this thought came about.
I battled with the idea of eating meat again. Wouldn’t that defeat my purpose of not supporting large scale farm cruelty? I walked the line for a bit in my mind while consuming information and decided what was best for my health—to eat meat again. Not just any meat though, but thoughtfully sourced from a local farmer. I didn’t want to be a hypocrite to my beliefs, and I love to support LOCAL so this made sense to me. By being able to see the conditions the animal lived its beautiful life, and to know it was grass-fed and treated with kindness and compassion, I felt okay in consuming its gift to me—meat.
Although still unsure, I setup a fun goal on my stream, Live Stream, to eat meat again. We hit it, I made a burger for the first time in my life, and devoured it on stream. IT WAS DELICIOUS! My body was filled with emotion, and thinking about this memory elicits hunger and happiness! You can watch this moment here: Burger Time
I was told numerous times that I would be sick upon consuming meat again—that my stomach would hurl and wrench, but this is a fallacy. I believe my body knows what it needs and aches to have ample nutrition.
Since the burger, I’ve been enjoying bacon and eggs on the daily and trying out different cuts and body parts. I believe the whole animal is sacred. I’m learning to incorporate liver into my recipes while making lotion with tallow, beef fat.
