The Why

Probably I should've had this in my last blog...that's what I get for trying to blog while drinking a totie or two and watching some juicy DVRd shows.

annnyway...

Zach and I talk about the health and wellness of ourselves, our planet, our family a lot. I know we're not alone in this.

Zach is the kind of guy who likes to try new things all the time. He'll just randomly fast just to see if he can, he'll typically try anything that will challenge his mind at least once (don't ask about the time that we tried drinking sugar water and vegetable oil. Blech). He's kind of crazy like that.

About a month ago Zach told me he was going to try the Paleo diet. Two days later he read the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and decided he'd try vegetarianism instead. So his reasons aren't to lose weight, isn't for any of that other than he no longer turns a blind eye to the food industry that constantly pumps out really crappy and potentially harmful products.

Since he started that we've talked a lot about it, for obvious reasons, and I decided I'd give it a shot. My reasons are not nearly as noble as his are, my main reason is because we're already making 2 meals (we are, as of now, not forcing our kids to give up the delicious, deliciouss meat) I might as well try out the vegetarian option. I love veggies, I love fruit, love complex carbs, it'll be fine.

For those that don't know, I work in the health field. I'm a fitness instructor and a personal trainer. I know a bit about nutrition, etc, so I know all the details on meat. I should also mention that we buy our meat from local farmers (mostly). If it's not local farmers then I'm paying lots of money for the grass fed beef at the market. I really, really, really believe in the locovore movement and try to show that support by buying as much as feasibly possible from our local farmer's market.

I think that's probably why I'm not completely sold on the idea of me being a vegetarian. That said, I have started to realize that by me eating meat in restaurants I am still contributing to the mass meat market frenzy. As of right now, when I think about the future of my eating habits I can see how I would be more picky about my meat (not just beef, but chicken, turkey, all my animal friends). Perhaps eating my local meat at home and bring it with me to BBQs (because I just can't get any more pretentious) and then choosing to not eat meat at restaurants. This I see as feasible.

We are fairly healthy people. Our pantry is pretty bare of highly processed foods. Rarely will you find high fructose corn syrup gracing our shelves. So again, this isn't necessarily for health. It's not an attempt to lose weight. It's merely unhappiness with how our country treats our food-and by definition-us. Perhaps it's our little stand against "the man"?

Thank you for all of your comments on the last one. I know that's why I blogged about it, even though it's a personal decision and I in no way am trying to convince other people of giving it a go, I just like hearing the discussion, I like being part of the debate about our food system. So feel free to comment, feel free to email. I don't know much, but I know I love you.