I eat plants

Looking over past posts, I realize I'm not being great at sticking to the theme "live with less and have more" all the time.  I mean, most of my posts come from thoughts that in some way stem from that general theme, but....well, here's one I've been thinking of sharing for a while.  If you're a vegetarian hater, read no more!  

I decided to dramatically cut back my meat-eating about 4 1/2 years ago.  While at first my motives were entirely selfish (I'm pretty sure eating red meat was killing my insides), I now see eating less meat as one big way that I "live with less and have more."

Here are my reasons (which have evolved over time) for giving up my beloved steak and carnitas:

1. Health.  Like I said, meat was hating me.  That was the primary reason I gave it up in the first place.  I used to get serious crampiness every morning that would make me double over in pain.  I read a book called The China Study that convinced me to at least give vegetarianism a try.  Obviously it helped.  The American diet is killing all of us slowly.  Go to the library and pick up the DVD documentary Forks Over Knives http://www.forksoverknives.com/.  It's crazy!

2. Bacteria and animal nastiness.  I've always been super grossed out by bloody, sinewy, gristly meat.  And I would often worry about bacteria lurking in my kitchen after I cut up and cooked meat.  I don't have to worry about it anymore.

3. Pollution.  I read recently that runoff from farmlands is one of the biggest threats to water quality today.  Also the EPA says that "95 percent of pesticide residue in the typical American diet comes from meat."

4. Ethics.  I just copied and pasted this info from here

About 70 percent of all grain produced in the United States is fed to animals raised for slaughter. The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the American population. “If all the grain currently fed to livestock were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million,” says David Pimentel, professor of ecology at Cornell University. If the grain were exported, it would boost the US trade balance by $80 billion a year.

Whoa.  Those are some serious numbers.  This reminds me of a quote I saw at my sister-in-law's house - "Live simply so others may simply live."

5. Animal Cruelty.  Now, I'm not an animal lover or advocate.  I don't even really like my own dog.  But the stuff I've read about and seen on documentaries like Food, Inc makes me sad.  I feel bad that our diet is to blame for what's going on in the meat industry.  

So, if you're still reading this and not rolling your eyes at me, just know that I'm not writing any of this to convince you or preach.  I'm just sharing information.  And maybe hoping a little that someone who reads this will decide to cut back on their meat-eating.  Believe me, it is soooo delicious.  And I think it's one way to make a small change for the better.

I will keep posting some of my favorite vegetarian recipes.  You can ignore them if you want...but don't :)