Eating animals is something I have been increasingly uncomfortable with for a long time. I didn't do anything about it for a while, it's easier not to. Eventually I had to face up to the fact that meat isn't for me and my body was telling me that in more ways than one.
I recently wrote about my struggles with my stomach so if you haven't read that post, this may not all make sense; but I got to a point where eating the slightest bit of red meat would leave me in crippling pain. I had to be sent home from work, I would be bloated for days and I was generally unhappy with how my diet was affecting my body.
It got to the point where I was afraid to eat, so I cut out red meat completely!
It wasn't as difficult as I always told myself it would be and all of the excuses I had been telling myself for years were absolute rubbish!
I felt so much better and I found myself experimenting more with different types of food. At this point, I was still eating chicken and fish whilst I let my body adjust.
I suffer from fainting spouts and anemia and I will admit, this diet change took some getting used to. But as soon as I started paying attention to my body's needs in terms of vitamins amd iron, it was fine. It's not a difficult life change to make and it's so rewarding, which is why I decided at the end of March 2017 to go vegetarian.
My body feels great.
Since this whole diet change my stomach problems have only bothered me once and that told me that I needed to make my eating more regular. (I never used to eat breakfast and could go whole days with only one meal.) The last few weeks I've been working really hard to get a good, balanced diet including three meals a day with NO ANIMALS.
For me, eating meat was a regular and needless part of my diet. When you think about how much is wasted and how excessive our meat eating habits are, you also realise how needless it is. Why do 3 animals have to die to supply your 3 bird roast - 3 lives lost for 1 meal? You cannot possibly argue that it's down to survival when our attitude to meat is so unhealthy.
Also, when you realise how many alternatives there are out there, it's just completely unnecessary to eat an animal.
I've fallen head over heels for Linda McCartney's range of meat free food and I love trying new combinations that don't involve needless slaughter.
I know being meat free isn't for everybody, and there were years where I felt bad for eating meat but carried on because it was easier. I am in no position to preach to people.
But what gets me is if I see an animal dead on the side of the road, it breaks my heart! So how can I possibly go home and eat a roast chicken?
If somebody put a little lamb in front of me and said I had to kill my own dinner then I know I would rather go hungry; why does it make it okay because someone else did the hard part for me?
Jus think about it; is it necessary or does it just taste good?
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