Walden Pond

Walden Pond

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Day 3 of Whole30--tired of the meat already

I'm really not liking this. Part of it is the meat. It's not really heavy with meat, and to be fair, I've only had tuna, a pork chop, and some hamburger so far, but each of those has just served to remind me how much I don't like meat. When I became a vegetarian it was because I didn't want to kill other animals, but now I think part of the reason it was so easy for me was because I just really don't like meat.

I have a lot of old issues with meat. My parents always wanted to be homesteaders. We kept chickens throughout most of my childhood, and at different points in time we had cows, sheep, goats, and rabbits. When my father would bring home calves, sheep, or bunnies, he would tell me and my brothers they were pets. He would encourage us to name them and divvy them up between us. I think this was his way of getting us to take care of them. We didn't have any "normal" pets, no cats or dogs (I think we had a hermit crab once), so we were always happy to have something new to love.

Except one day we would come home from school and find out our pets had been butchered. Part of the reason I was so thin as a child was that I refused to eat my pets. That meant unless it was chicken on the table, I went hungry (Mom was not a big fan of vegetables, so meat, potatoes, and gravy from the meat were often the only options). My mother still thinks I don't like casseroles. I like them fine, but it's really hard to pick the pieces of your pet rabbit out of a casserole. So I skipped them at home.

It was horribly cruel. My brothers and I weren't stupid. We knew where meat came from, and we knew the difference between pets and livestock. Like I said, we always had chickens for eggs and meat. I took my turn gathering eggs, feeding them, and cleaning out the coop. As the oldest, I also helped with the processing when one was killed. Same with the goats. Half my family is Mexican. Eating goat wasn't a big deal. I never considered any of the chickens or goats as pets. Of course, no one ever told me to name them.
Barbados sheep--the kind my family had

I'd mostly gotten over this, but when my oldest daughter became a vegetarian and my son became allergic to mammal meat, leaving meat behind just seemed a natural thing to do. It was really easy to change. Even when I stopped being vegetarian and moved to flexitarian, the meat I had was almost always chicken. Up until yesterday, I hadn't cooked a mammal in almost 3 years.

I'm still doing the Whole30, but I really don't think this is a lifestyle changer for me. But it is making me think a lot more about what I put into my mouth and why. That in itself is a good thing.

I had the same breakfast and lunch today as I had this weekend: eggs and leeks for breakfast, tuna and spinach for lunch.

Dinner tonight was tacos. I really missed the cheese, but the avocado helped that a little. I had to season the hamburger myself because I couldn't find a taco seasoning mix without whey in it. My seasonings just tasted like seasonings. I used chili, cumin, and paprika, but it just tasted like chili, cumin, and paprika. It didn't taste like "taco," know what I mean?

I had three of these things.

After dinner, I worked on my mask and face paint for Halloween a little bit. I really want it to look just right on Friday. Then I went to bed early again. The more time I spend asleep, the less time I spend obsessing over food.

ETA: I got on the scale this morning to weight for the Holiday Scale Accountability Club and had a gain. Smiley
1307.51 / 0 / 1284.17

6 comments:

  1. With that strong of feelings about meat, this WILL be much harder for you, and for that I'm sorry. :(

    There are lots of former vegetarians and even vegans who went 'primal' for health reasons, but if you have a basic anti against meat, it will be tough. No doubt.

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    1. Hi Gwen. I knew it would be hard, but since I'm not a vegetarian anymore (I do eat meat every eight weeks or so) I didn't realize it would be this hard.

      The good news is that it is bringing up a lot of things that I don't usually think about. Since I absolutely cannot have any comfort foods, I am really having to deal with some things. So I still think it will help in the long run.

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    2. Good attitude, Connie! Stress eating (in all its forms) is my one remaining bugaboo. I'm waaay better than I used to be, but still susceptible occasionally. If you can fix that, you are WAY ahead of the game. :)

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  2. Connie, I bet that must have been hard. My friend was telling me a story similar to yours where in her family live stocks were referred as pets to entice help from the kids but then eventually they'd end up butchered up and the kids a mess. She now runs the property and does things very differently with her own kids. Glad you're hanging in there with your plan even though I can understand why its hard. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Good for your friend for not doing the same way with her kids. I'll never understand how my parents thought that was a good plan.

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  3. Hey Connie!

    So meat grosses me out now...I'll eat it once in awhile...but I don't buy it. Once you spend a little bit of time on nutritionfacts.org, you just get turned off. Check it out, I'd like to know what you think about his research!
    I'd say ditch the meat if you're not liking it!! You can sub beans and lentils and meats instead!

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