I’ve been a vegetarian for a little over 2.5 years now. This is actually my second run at it. The first occurred in high school and lasted a good 5 years or so until I had a car accident and craved an Arby’s roast beef. I may have hit my head during the accident…
While my first attempt was motivated from a conscience stance, and also cause the goat scene in “Jurassic Park” traumatized me, as well as the concept of “City Slickers”, this second go-around was due to health reasons. At some point, something internally said “fuck it” to meat, and I found myself very sick all too often. I decided to cut out meat and see what happened, and, aside from my sleep issues, I’ve been much improved. Being the only vegetarian in the household has had some challenges, such as the need to sometimes make two separate dinners and not being able to go to certain restaurants for their lack of veg-friendly options, but we’ve made it work.
One step that I’m still trying to push is the organic move. We toyed with the idea but never had that real push to commit. Then I stumbled upon Food, Inc.. That movie was an eye-opener and I’ve been recommending it to everyone and any one ever since. It looks at the industry that is food, and who the big shots are that essentially have say over how things are produced. It’s done in a very non-grotesque way; you’re not going to see all those disturbing slaughterhouse shots of animals, but you see some of the conditions briefly. I think what disturbed me most, other than all the hormones and antibiotics being shot up into the animals, was the treatment of the farmers and owners of the livestock and the real lack of control and freedom they have over their own goods. Aside from realizing “Holy shit, I don’t want my kids to eat hormone chickens”, I realized “Holy shit, I don’t want to be eating any genetically modified soybeans!”. Yes, even us poor vegetarians are affected. Monsanto, from Agent Orange fame, has modified the soy bean, and if you’re not buying a vegetarian burger that specifies it’s anti-GMO or that it’s organic, chances are you’ve got some tasty genetic soybeans in that burger. Slowly but surely we’re making the switch. We’ve found local farms to buy grass-fed beef, farm-fresh eggs, and dairy products. We’ve also used some delivery services that will deliver the afore-mentioned and organic fruits and veggies as well. It’s like Christmas when we get our delivery. No, seriously…I’ve had a hard time sleeping the night before because I knew there’d be a delivery when I woke up. It’s ridiculous, considering 1) it’s fruits and veggies and 2) I’m freaking PAYING for it to be there. Ah well. Christmas it is.

Image via Wikipedia

I encourage everyone: watch this movie. Realize the crap that is in the basic foods in the grocery store and stop eating it! Support your local farmers. Buy local! Do it!
Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox now.