"It's easy quitting smoking. I've done it hundreds of times." Mark Twain.
I have been down this road before. A few of your who have read my blogs before or my livejournal will recognize the landmarks. That's why I connect with the above quote by Twain (even though I don't necessarily conenct with him a whole lot).
I'm going back to vegetarianism. I'm even feeling a strong leaning to veganism. I'm crazy aren't i?
So how come? I'm spoiled. I'll just say it. I have it pretty good. I can trace the route of my meat - chicken, beef, and pork/ham/bacon - pretty easily. I look out my front door. The baby and I go and feed the chickens. Then we walk up and take the cows some apples and scratch their noses. The pig I never met. Our friend raised our hogs if we babysat her crazy cow for a summer. Apparently she named one of them Truffle.
I recognize that this makes me very unusual in most cooking situations. Most people can't do this. I even have gone to the store and bought commerical chicken, ground turkey, or some fish.
When 99% of the meat in this country comes from factory farms, (http://www.farmforward.com/farming-forward/factory-farming) and I am one of the 1% to get my food this way or to have access to this kind of food so easily, why would I change?
It came from a talk with my doctor.
I was in for my annual gyno. appointment. I have a truly remarkable OBGYN. Love him. He's just a great guy, great doctor. Everyt ime I have an appointment, I bring him something. How weird is that? Most women hate their gynos. While I don't particualrly enjoy the whole stirrup situation, I know that he is there to keep me healthy. And considering on our first meeting he confirmed our pregnancy, I've got a soft spot for him.
Let's back up a bit.
My paternal grandmother (Esther) died of ovarian cancer.
My paternal great grandmother (Esther's Mother) died of ovarian cancer.
My paternal great aunt (Esther's half sister Helen) had breast cancer. It did not kill her, but she did lose a breast over it.
My paternal aunt (my father's sister, Gilda) had uterine cancer. Did not kill her. They found it and were able to get things taken care of. It was a small spot, so that they found it was pretty amazing.
That's three generations of women, every woman that reached maturity, for three generations has had some form of reproductive cancer. And it's killed half of them.
So I have grown upw ith this cloud over my head, watching, waiting, being very aware of what is most likely in my genes. I have not been tested genetically for the Breast Cancer gene. I don't want to be. (besides some insurance companies if they find out, won't cover you, though that might be changing.)
I just assumed that it's likely there.
For those of you who don't know, ovarian cancer doesn't usually show itself until it's too late. The symptoms are easily misdiagnosed, or ignored, of symptoms show up at all.
So there's this big shadow following me around, and I want to do all I can to prevent it from reaching me.
Every time we meet, we talk about if there's been any improvements in detecting ovarian cancers, or breast cancers, any new developments to keep an eye out for. (There's a protein test or a blood test that's in the works, that is coming out on the horizon yet, but that isn't out yet. It was effective, but for whatever reason, it wasn't approved. Soon..)
In speaking to my OBGYN, I aasked does a vegetarian diet help prevent cancer. With no hesitation he said yes. Absolutely. diets that are low in fat have been shown to cut the cancer risk. Vegetarian diets tend to be very low in fat.
Then I asked abother question. Is it factory farmed meat, or is it just meat?
That one stumped him. We don't know, he said. I wish we did. But if you look at 5 oz of boneless skinless chicken breast vs 5 oz of venison, the venison wins hands down for being leaner, because you think about what the deer eats. It eats berries, grass, leaves etc....
I left that appointment, leaning towards what I had been leaning towards before, about going back to vegetarianism. Not about being nice to animals and all of that. But it's literally for my health. And like I exercise every day, (almost every day) and I treat that as a prescription, I'm treating this like a prescription too.
The last time I went, was when my uncle died. He had cancer and it went from diagnosis to death in six weeks. I was veggie for almost a full year then.
But I wasn't clear on my reasoning. I was thinking, well it's the factory farmed meat. If it' our own meat then fine. I began to make compromises.
That's why it was so important to ask about factory farmed meat vs family farmed meat (which is so hard to find by the way. but if you want some, call us..)
When my dr didn't know, i said to myself then I'm not going to risk it. Meat is meat.
So I have begun down the path again. I have eliminated meat entirely from my diet. I am also avoiding soy at all costs because of the effect it has on upping estrogen, which can then lead to you guessed it, breast cancer.
I went to my favorite store in the world The Everything Natural Store in Clark Summit. (If you're in the area you have to go.) and did some talking to the lovely ladies there who told me it's totally doable to be a veggie without soy. "You just nee to make sure you're getting your protein. So eat an egg a day. eat yogurt, or cheese. get some nuts in you, some vegetables like the dark leafy veggies and you're good to go."
I posted on a great vegan forum and asked them hwo to go vegan without soy, and about vegan pregnancies. (WE ARE NOT PREGNANT.) And got some amazing feedback that all came back to saying yes you can do this. totally. And you can do it on the cheap.
Last time it was also a situation of some strife between my husband and I. He's a meat eater. I explained to him more why I was going this route. That I didn't expect him to do it with me. I wasn't going to make him do it, or to make our daughter do it. I will let her make her decision. If she chooses to go this route, then I wills upport her. If she chooses to be an omnivore, we're goin to be careful about where we get our food (ie eggs, milk, meat etc) and as long as we are, then I"m fine with it. She already prefers vegetables to almost anything else. This past week, she has eaten three helpings of vegetabels at dinner for three nights running. she eats whole carrots every day. Apples. she asks for fruit and veg before she asks for candy.
I think this time, it's going to be go better. I'm still alright about cooking meat for them as long as it is good safe meat. I'm ok with making meat dishes and having some spots left untouched or taken out before meat's added, or served on the side.
It's been a little over a week since this happened. I think from time to time i'll post some of the recipes i'm using to share with anyone who wants them.
Deborah Madison's cookbooks have been invaluable, as has been the website the ppk.com The Post Punk Kitchen which is a fantastic vegan recipe galore website.
I haven't lacked for taste yet.
Last night was vegetarian sloppy joes (called snobby joes on theppk.com) and home made onion rings (also on theppk.com)
One of the first things I cooked was what boils down to a potato lasagna. Awesome. Amazing.
tonight, i'm not sure what it will be. But it will be good. Even the boy has liked what I've cooked vegetarian and all.
I have two Jamie Oliver cookbooks that aren't veggie at all but are easily adapted and lovely. I'm eyeing up a couple other cookbooks right now. But yay for my local library that carries a great collection of cookbooks that you can check out so you don't have to buy sigh unseen. Here's to the Library!
I have also finished reading a fanstastic book called Eating Animals by Joathan Safran Foer. It's about his journey towards vegetarianism, but also his really in depth research into food, and the farm industries, and all of that. I was horrified. It's not a preachy book. There's no condemnation of omnivores, or saying you have to become a vegetarian by the end of the book. It just lifts the veil with some great research, and takes Pollan's Omnivores Dilemma step further. It looks into the ethical element of animal treatment in food production. This was another major push in my decision.
Another element I ran into when I was a vegetarian ages ago (I think the first time) was the religious standpoint. I'm LDS. Being LDS I follow the health code commonly referred to as the Word of Wisdom as found in the 89th section of the Doctrine and covnenants. (It's additional scripture....) It's this chapter and health code that says we shouldn't drink tea, or alcohol, and tobacco isn't good for the body but an herb to be used with skill for thealing of sick cattle. Really. That's what it says.
It also says something meat in there. That it should be eaten sparingly.
My parents were not thrilled with my decision to be a vegetarian when I first went and often threw the Word of Wisdom card on the table, implying that I was being sinful and not obeying the modern day revelations. This eventually led to my ending being a vegetarian in the first instance. When I began to revisit the idea, I called a family friend of ours who is LDS, and is a vegetarian, AND someone my parents love and admire and respect....
I recently found this article. http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/68442
A vegetarian group at BYU... and they also answer the question about DC 89.
It beautifull anwered the question. It brought upt he point of having dominion over the earth and the animals. But there is also somethign to be said about exercising unrighteous dominion over them as well.....
I find myself almost toying with the idea of being a vegan. But that's a whole other ball of wax and by no means something I'm ready for. Baby steps.
Recipes to follow.
Here's to health. Here's to life.
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