Vegetables are taking over

Within the last few months I've noticed this huge upsurge in people switching to vegan or vegetarian lifestyles. All of these people are doin' it. Many, vegans especially, rave about the health benefits, increased energy levels, closer to godness they get without meat products. Lots of folks say it's better for you and there are books and books and studies upon studies about how the human body and how it processes various foods and how everyone should just be vegans who eat only organic foods. And then there's the raw food movement, but that's one bandwagon I just can't get on right now. I was even vegetarian myself for awhile in highschool, but back then the options for vegetarians were pretty minimal in rural west central ohio and I ended up eating a lot of cheese, beans and rice. All vegetarians will tell you that one can only eat so much salad.

Now, I like a lot of vegetarian and vegan recipes, and I've been really inspired by all the success stories. However, I don't necessarily have the same motivation that many do when going vegan. Coming from where I do, I understand the life cycle of farm animals. Until I moved away for college, a majority of the meat that my family ate came from the purchase of a whole or half animal which we then had butchered and prepared for us by the local butcher and then filled the box freezer in the garage. I am also fully aware that not all meat comes from factory farms and not all cows eat cannibal feed. You can get, fairly easily, grass or grain fed meat that does not come from nasty factory farms, and you can even get it in the big city too. You get the picture; I'm not buddhist nor one to be campaigning for PETA anytime soon.

I still see the benefits of going veggie or vegan. I want to lose weight, have high energy levels, be focused, eat more soy, etc. Even the stereotypical lifestyle is one that I can admire - running and doing yoga daily, meditating, eating really healthy and wholesome food, living greenly and consciously, recycling, wearing unbleached cotton, and all that stuff. I'd like to do that. I want to do it. I can see myself doing it for a long time. I guess the question for me is if this is something that I have the discipline, will power and self control to do?

I'm not sure if the proximity of a whole foods has anything to do with it but I have been really interested in this super conscious healthy living stuff lately, but I'm reading mixed reviews. Does it really work or is it expectancy effect? If I drink my weight in green tea daily, will I live forever? What about omega 3 and active enzymes? I guess there's a lot that I need to figure out.

06.10.07 10:27am(2 comments)