I’m Eating Meat Again, Barely.

 

And I was so excited to take that first taste of meatball and ham at Easter dinner! I devoured that meat like it was going out of style. I continued filling my meat quota by having bacon for breakfast.

Then….

I suffered.

Without going into many gory details, I was in agony! I lay awake that night and was convinced that I was one of those women off of “Didn’t Know I was Pregnant”. At any moment my water would break confirming that I was indeed, in labor!

The next morning I still hadn’t given birth to any children and so I thought it was just a fluke. I continued on in the next couple days eating meat like I normally would have pre-lent.

And again, I suffered.

As an experiment I cut out meat completely again for 24 hours. The difference was night and day! I had high energy again and my stomach wasn’t in excruciating pain! I was sure that after having given up meat for lent, that I would have to continue on my vegetarian ways forever!

I dreamed of summer BBQ’s of steaks! I cried over my ultimate favorite, bacon. Because really… everything is better with bacon in it! I wondered if I would ever had a pepperoni pizza or chicken fajitas again? For the next few days I snacked on my hummus and tofu and mourned the loss of some of my favorite protein sources.

Then, I got over it.

I realized that during my vegetarian days that there were some things I liked BETTER meatless then with meat! For some reason my memory had been clouded with these things as soon as I chowed down on that first meatball!

I remembered that I LOVED the vegetarian fajitas better then the chicken fajitas at Lonestar and crave them on a weekly basis! You get so many more veggies then you do meat to make fajitas!

I remembered that I LOVED my homemade vegetarian pizza’s better then putting pepperoni on! Really? Pepperoni never gave it much flavor but it was always something that I felt “had” to go on pizza!

I remembered my favorite beet and carrot salad. My new favorite lunch of a pita filled with veggies.

Really? Being meatless wasn’t that bad.

So, am I a full blown vegetarian now? No. But, I am eating WAY less meat then I was before. I VERY slowly started re-introducing meat back into my diet after my experiment. And it has gotten better over time. Now, I can eat a little bit once a day. For the other times I get my meat from an alternate source.

I’ve come to realize that in reality there is protein in a lot of things that people eat on a daily basis. That in truth, we hardly NEED much actual animal meat. It’s a startling realization to this small farming town girl. Meat was always such a staple in my diet. Truthfully, when I eat a limited amount of meat I feel so much lighter and clear of mind! Not to mention I’ve dropped a few pounds!

It really took lent to jump start this new lifestyle change for me and I am so glad that I did it. I believe more and more now that REAL food should be going into my body. I shop around the exterior of the grocery aisles and always load my plates now with new fruits and veggies that I’ve discovered I LOVE!

My view of food is entirely different now! I’ve learnt when to focus on how full I am, how great I feel when I eat relatively clean and the confidence I’ve built within myself by doing so. A true life lesson!

xo