Tag: vegetarianism

Reducing My Meat Intake…

…because after accidentally viewing a horrific add while scrolling social media, I am officially haunted.

I was scrolling Facebook when an add came up and it was disturbing. It detailed a situation of animal testing on dogs and I swear to god I am traumatized. I cannot get it out of my mind. I will spare you the details because you will not be okay if I do. It is one of the worst things I have seen. I know they are putting domestic animals in the prominent video to get to my heart – and it completely worked. After some research, I have decided the only thing I can do right now is to reduce my meat intake. I know that doesn’t effect animal medical testing, but it is something I can control and change now. Additionally, it’s just better for the planet as well. I started thinking to myself what is the difference between the dog and a cow or a chicken? I am not going full vegetarian, but I am reducing drastically and changing the way I purchase meat. I will save up and afford the responsibly sourced meat when I can. Meat where the animals aren’t tortured and live a shit life. Animals that got to live a pretty normal life and where that life was humanely ended. Fish is the easiest one to do responsibly. https://www.seafoodwatch.org/ is a great resource if you are looking for one. Other then that, I am trying to expand my plant based options and alternate protein sources. I was wondering if you all had any suggestions/recipes? I found myself feeling a little weak and light headed today. I expect a certain amount of that during the transition, but I know I need to feed myself more then a grilled cheese. So I welcome suggestions and recommendations!

I Wish I Could Be…

…a vegetarian.

I am serious. I wish for moral and environmental reasons that I thought I could reasonably convert to be a vegetarian. It takes SOOO much water to raise cattle and most of the animals raised for meat are treated so poorly. Those are the main two reasons I would make the conversion. I have seriously considered it, but I just don’t think I can live without some meat (especially chicken and fish).

What got me writing about this? A Facebook friend posted a photo of him eating pork chops from pigs he raised last year. All I could think was I could not do it. When I really started thinking about it though that pig was raised super humanely and the meat is clean. It is the responsible way to raise and consume meat. But still I could not do it – which is silly. I know where meat comes from and I know how it comes. It is just so different when I put the thought of killing it myself in (especially if I raised it). It’s probably the biggest contradiction in my life.

However, this doesn’t mean that meat can’t be responsibly obtained. It takes effort and money (much less convenient). That is a huge hurdle for most of us. So how do we make responsibly and humanely raised meat accessible to all?

My biggest thought is to reform the process as a whole with new standards including humane treatment standards. You might think I am nuts but I swear humanely raised and slaughtered meat and eggs just taste better. Maybe lessening my guilt tastes better?

Vegan is out – I need cheese in my life – not nut cheese. How can you check if your cheese is responsibly sourced from a place that treats their livestock humanely? I worry if I were to switch to a vegetarian lifestyle I would be much less healthy and my carb intake would go though the roof. This is a common mistake new vegetarians makes.

Any good tips for responsible meat consumption?