So,
this story amuses me somewhat because I stopped eating meat after a
diet and I started eating meat again after another diet. In March of
1998 I “finished” dieting after losing about 30 pounds. I had not eaten
beef since ‘94 (and still try to avoid it), but I was eating all other
meats. However, after losing that weight, every time I ate meat I felt
heavy and weighed down. So me and my husband both decided to stop eating meat, while continuing to include seafood in our diets (called a “pescetarian” diet).
This made sense to us at the time for both diet and ethical reasons and I was thrilled with the choice. I grew up eating a lot of vegetables and seafood, so the decision wasn’t hard for me. And over the years, I loved discovering vegetarian recipes and never felt deprived. We were never self righteous about it - I feel everyone should eat what they feel comfortable eating and we just weren’t comfortable eating meat.
The change in opinion, I have to say, probably started several years ago. The “foodie” movement was starting to take hold and my husband and I started to appreciate food more. And to really see what a good, balanced diet should entail. We started watching chefs like Jamie Oliver cook beautiful meals using whole, unprocessed food and that had great appeal to us. However, I was still not comfortable eating animals.
So in 2010, when I started dieting again, I was still pescetarian. And I lost the weight on a diet of fish and vegetables, soy and vegetable protein. But my exercise consisted mostly of cardio. At the beginning of 2011, I had lost the weight and started to alter my exercise routine in order to build muscle. By April of that year I was feeling poorly, as if my body, instead of building muscle, was actually losing it. I felt deprived. So I made the decision to start eating meat again. Not huge amounts - but I wanted to see if it helped me feel better. And boy did it. Within a week, I felt 100 times better with regards to my strength. I knew that eating a balanced diet that included meat was the right thing for me.
I still eat a lot of vegetables - I love them. And, for convenience, I still eat a lot of vegetarian soups and frozen meals. But as you can see from my posts, I’ve completely made the leap back into the omnivore world and I am loving it. I feel so much healthier and stronger. And thankfully I have the ability to purchase humanely raised and slaughtered meat. I still have the goal to eat food in as natural a form as possible and avoid things that are over processed, refined or contain preservatives. I feel like I'm only half of the way there but I think it’s good to have that goal and to always be aware of what you are putting into your body.
This made sense to us at the time for both diet and ethical reasons and I was thrilled with the choice. I grew up eating a lot of vegetables and seafood, so the decision wasn’t hard for me. And over the years, I loved discovering vegetarian recipes and never felt deprived. We were never self righteous about it - I feel everyone should eat what they feel comfortable eating and we just weren’t comfortable eating meat.
The change in opinion, I have to say, probably started several years ago. The “foodie” movement was starting to take hold and my husband and I started to appreciate food more. And to really see what a good, balanced diet should entail. We started watching chefs like Jamie Oliver cook beautiful meals using whole, unprocessed food and that had great appeal to us. However, I was still not comfortable eating animals.
So in 2010, when I started dieting again, I was still pescetarian. And I lost the weight on a diet of fish and vegetables, soy and vegetable protein. But my exercise consisted mostly of cardio. At the beginning of 2011, I had lost the weight and started to alter my exercise routine in order to build muscle. By April of that year I was feeling poorly, as if my body, instead of building muscle, was actually losing it. I felt deprived. So I made the decision to start eating meat again. Not huge amounts - but I wanted to see if it helped me feel better. And boy did it. Within a week, I felt 100 times better with regards to my strength. I knew that eating a balanced diet that included meat was the right thing for me.
I still eat a lot of vegetables - I love them. And, for convenience, I still eat a lot of vegetarian soups and frozen meals. But as you can see from my posts, I’ve completely made the leap back into the omnivore world and I am loving it. I feel so much healthier and stronger. And thankfully I have the ability to purchase humanely raised and slaughtered meat. I still have the goal to eat food in as natural a form as possible and avoid things that are over processed, refined or contain preservatives. I feel like I'm only half of the way there but I think it’s good to have that goal and to always be aware of what you are putting into your body.
