Boum Voyage!

Eating healthy is a major concern of mine. Unfortunately, it’s one of the most difficult things to do consistently if you are broke or in a very small town. With limited access to organic produce and other foods I’m pretty much stuck with Jason’s Deli and Kroger’s weak produce section. At least that’s what I used to do when I lived alone. I made the mistake of letting a roommate slightly influence my diet in a negative way. I am still health conscience but it’s amazing how you can “cheat” and eat at McDonald’s for the first time in years and a few months down the road you realize you are eating fast food 5-9 times a week. That just happened to me. Thinking back on the past 2 weeks I’ve eaten at Taco Bell, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, KFC, and worst of all CiCi’s Pizza. I’m actually sick right now and I’m holding CiCi’s 100% responsible. It’s a good thing, I needed a food reality check. I’ve been letting myself go. I even started to get loose and drink soda again. NO MORE! It’s back to water, milk, and juice for me and that’s it. Beer counts as juice by the way.

I grew up an only child in a traditional meat-and-potatoes kind of family; my mother’s family is all from Kansas and my father’s is from rather rural Missouri. So by the time I hit high school, and rebellion, one of my most logical outlets for adolescent bullshit was veganism. I was vegan (though rather sloppy about dairy and rather focused on French fries, let me get that off my chest) for two years, and for the next two years I maintained a much more healthy vegetarian diet.

Two weeks before my 7 AP tests senior year of high school, I was diagnosed as a type I diabetic, and the doctor told me that my then-current diet was much too carb-heavy and that it would be a health hazard for me to continue. As a vegetarian, you always imagine that first meal after your meat-drought as a glorious gluttonfest, yet mine turned out to be…the worst hospital turkey sandwich I’d ever had. I still remember looking down at my tray in the hospital bed, already very angry, the sort of anger that kills you because the only person you could possibly direct your feelings toward is the God you don’t believe in. I cried when I ate that sandwich. I cried hard, and I implore you in that position to do any different.

Aside from my carnecephallic mother, I can’t really remember encountering much opposition to my choice in what I ate. Whether we believe it or not, we live in the most tolerant of times for American culture and vegetarianism is more accepted today than ever. Yet, when I left the hospital to return to my life, I received much more criticism from my vegetarian friends for “abandoning” the “lifestyle”. Maybe I placed more stock in their opinions, but that really hurt, hurt in the same way my friends with drinking problems hurt me whenever I’ve tried to curb my alcohol intake, another dietary imposition of the diabetes.

I’m a strong enough person that I can ignore ignorant chatter, but in my mind, if you’re a friend, you’re a friend no matter what a person eats. No bullshit.

I felt this was an interesting topic you have chosen to explore and decided to throw in my story.  I eat pretty much everything except for meat (chickens, cows, pigs, etc) and seafood.  I’ve never really liked to eat seafood because the taste and smell disgusts me.  I didn’t indulge all that often in red meat most of my life, but did eat chicken and turkey quite a bit (although I hated seeing or handling any type of meat in its uncooked state).

About 3 years ago I became a vegetarian after eating some chicken nuggets from a fast food restaurant and being thoroughly grossed out by them. Prior to this experience I had a dream about biting into a bloody undercooked chicken nugget from McDonalds.  The dream was so vivid and horrifically lifelike that I can still remember it clearly to this day.  I wouldn’t expect that a stupid dream would have such an effect on my eating habits, but somehow it made me more aware of the things I was consuming.

When eating meat I began thinking about what it had started out as and the process it had to go through to turn into the hamburger patty or chicken strips I was putting in my mouth.  I found the meat in the frozen dinners I often bought to be the worst due to the weird coloring and rubbery texture.  When I ate anything directly off the bone, such as ribs or chicken legs, I felt like a lion or other carnivorous animal devouring its kill (except for the fact that theirs was fresh and mine had no doubt been injected with hormones and other unknown drugs and put through a processing plant).  Just the thought of how a hot dog or sausage link is made had me ready to vomit.

I tried to ignore these considerations and just enjoy the taste of my food, but they remained present in the back of my mind.  The final straw was the day I was eating the fast food chicken nuggets and thought to myself, “I can’t do it anymore.”  I had managed to eat meat my entire life, but at that point it was just no longer enjoyable to me.  To put it quite simply, the reason I became a vegetarian was not for ethical reasons such as protesting animal cruelty or reducing my carbon footprint (although they are added benefits), it was because it grossed me out too much to continue the practice any further.

Thus, I discarded my chicken and proclaimed to friends and family that I was cutting meat out of my diet.  I was a little skeptical of my ability to realistically stick with it, but found the experience to be much easier than expected.  I could still find plenty of other options at the grocery store or when eating out.  I adapted my cooking and meals to include more vegetables and other ingredients in place of meat.

I found that I enjoyed dishes I always had even more with the absence of it.  Eventually I ventured into the world of soy and tofu and discovered that I actually liked the taste.  My previous cravings for meat were replaced with ones for veggie burgers and Morningstar products.  I realized that being a vegetarian led me to branch out and try new foods I liked, which I would not normally have tried if I were still eating meat.  I am thankful for the fact that being a vegetarian in this day is much easier than I expected, mostly due to increased vegetarian friendly options available in stores and restaurants nowadays.

I have to say I am really glad I made the decision to become a vegetarian and plan to remain one for life if possible.  I like to think that the added health benefits of not eating meat balance out some of the other, not so healthy things I do to my body. I even made an attempt at going vegan for a short while, but found it too hard to find affordable food products  I could eat without having to make every single thing on my own.  Plus I just missed my cheese and ice cream far too much! :)

-Jessica