piasharn | Eat your veggies... or not... (Reply)

I see a ton of diet fads that guarentee themselves to work. I don't pay too much attention, since most people simply don't realize that there is no one diet that will work for all people. You have to look at your metabolism, body type and so forth. (Apparently even your blood type has something to do with it.)

I am a vegetarian, and although I avoid dairy and egg products, I am not a true vegan. I eat what is considered to be a very healthy diet... plenty of grains with fresh fruits and vegetables, low fat products... you get the idea. However, despite all this, I still struggle with my weight. Oh, I'll never be one of those twig-thin people. My Polish genes won't allow it. However, I should be slimmer than I am now.

I have come to the realization that part of it may actually be the vegetarian nature of my food. As a result, I'm seriously considering the idea of going back to eating meat.

Why? Well, all the information on my body and blood type shows that I would do well with a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. Something like the Atkins diet would work well for me. (I had looked into this diet when the craze over it began, but I quickly realized that it would be very difficult to implement without meat and discarded the idea.) This was further driven home when my dad (who has the same body/blood type that I do) mentioned that he was at his healthiest when he was eating a lot of protien and very few carbohydrates.

But... I've been a vegetarian since I was seven. (Or was it six?) That's about two-thirds of my life so far. Vegetarianism isn't exactly an easy habit to kick. (I do love my carbs, though, and that will be hard to cut down on. Pasta, rice and bread are staples in my current diet, and I love them all.)

Oh, I'm not one of those "Eating meat is cruel! It hurts the poor, widdle animals!" types. For one organism to survive, another must die. It's all part of life, you know. My reasons for not eating meat consisted partly for health (which isn't totally working, hence the thought of reverting to an omnivore) and the fact that the meat industry makes me edgy. Between the hormones and whatnot that they pump into the animals to the conditions of slaughterhouses and packaging plants... Well, it's not exactly appetizing. Since I don't have the guts to go out and kill it myself, I abstain.

(Of course, this mindset could all be the result of PETA propaganda/bullshit. I guess it's time to start doing more research, ne?)

And even though I don't think there's anything wrong with eating meat, the mere thought of doing it strikes me as taboo. I know... it's just mental programming. Nothing more.

Taking anatomy courses certainly hasn't helped either. I look at a piece of meat, and all I can think of is diagrams of muscle structure and so forth. My professor even made a joking remark the first day we went into the cadaver room that this class would make us seriously consider becoming vegetarians. (From the greenish tint to some of the students' faces, it's obvious that he wasn't kidding.)

I probably will go back to eating meat, if only fish and chicken. (I was never the biggest fan of red meat anyhow.) However, it may take me a while.

I'm such a wuss.