the meat train

I think I want to be a vegetarian.  I've been really grossed out by meat lately, particularly in the last week.  I'm really not sure what it was that made me want to jump off the meat train.  It will most likely be a gradual process.  I'm not ready to give up fish and seafood yet.  And I will never ever become a vegan.  I love milk and cheese and eggs waaaaaaay too much! 

My reasons to give up meat:

1. It's expensive.  Especially if you are purchasing organic meat (which you should be doing, but that is a whole other topic).
2. It's disgusting.  I've always been creeped out about raw meat.  I just hate walking past the butcher section in the grocery store.  It stinks.  And all those neat little packages of bloody meat lined up in neat little rows on display just feels terribly wrong.  Raw meat has bothered me since I was a little girl.  I have to double bag it and place it on the bottom of the cart so it doesn't touch any of my other food.  In the check out I ask that the meat be put in a separate bag.  And when I have to cook meat I usually don't want to eat it.  I still eat it.  Meat tastes good.  But preparing it yourself is awful.  Eating out is worse though.  I can't believe the things they try to pass off as meat!  Those cold slimy slices of chicken with fake grill marks in salads, the bacon in sandwiches that is either burnt crispy ash or greasy transparent floppy slices of fat with a little meat mixed in, the steak in a fancy restaurant that leaks blood, the shriveled up chewy chicken patties, the ground beef and pepperoni that is bathed in orange grease......uuugh.     *shiver*
3. It makes me feel good to not eat it.  My body actually feels better.  My mind feels clearer.  My body less lethargic.  Food tastes better.  And I like animals.  Cows, lambs, pigs, chickens.....all very cute.  I've seen animals get mistreated and slaughtered inhumanely and it makes me want to throw up.  I understand the food chain, and that animals eat other animals and all that.  I'm ok with others eating meat.  I don't think it's incredibly unhealthy.  I will still serve it to my family on occasion.  I would never ask someone to prepare something special for me at their house.  It's simply a personal choice.  Eating meat is just something I'm not comfortable with anymore.

Just thought I would share.....and share some lovely paintings from one of my favorite artists Mark Ryden.  You should check out his other work as well.  It's hauntingly beautiful in a funny way.  Here is a link to his official site.