When I was a little girl I wanted to be a veterinarian and help animals live their happiest life. I remember when I was in the Girl Scouts we would go to a farm and I would look into a cow's big beautiful brown eyes with their gorgeous eyelashes that all of the mascara and false lashes in the world could not recreate, the cow was so gentle as he allowed me to pet him, along with 20 other screaming second graders. I imagined myself being a Vet and wearing a white coat and taking care of the cow when he was sick. Then we moved onto the pigs, there always seemed to be baby piglets running around every time we took a field trip to the farm, each group cuter than the last. The babies would run up and sniff our boots as they ran away to the next giggling little girl like they were just as excited as we were. The farmer would show us where the chickens laid there eggs and would let us help collect them gently from the coop. The chickens did not seem to mind us running around their home and collecting their work, they never ran away when we walked past because they were enjoying the food that the farmer scattered around for them.
At every doctors visit I would tell my parents and my doctor that I wanted to be a vegetarian, that I was able to connect with the animals. The animals were my friends, and friends do not eat friends; the doctor and my parents gave me the typical answer of "well, animals are on the earth for us to eat," I never understood why, but I just did not believe that. What I did believe, however, was when my doctor told me that I was too small to stop getting the protein that meat provided for me to grow and when I was older we could revisit the subject.
Eating meat still bothered me, I would make a point whenever I would eat a hamburger to thank the cow for the sacrifice it made for me. Even though I showed appreciation to the animal, it still did not feel right to me-- I was never able to disconnect from the fact that on my plate was something that once had a loving and gentle spirit. As I got older, it stopped bothering me as much and I was a full blown carnivore. Every now an then, I would still get quick flashes of guilt that would be quickly washed away by the amazing taste of chicken fingers.
My first year of college, a professor asked my class, "if you could meet the animal you were about to eat, would you still eat it?" I wanted to blow the question off and go back to my meat eating ways, however it haunted me. I would find myself in line in a dining hall for breakfast and wanting sausage so badly, but feeling guilty about the desire to be the cause of a pig's death. I eating meat by what my doctor told me, that I needed the protein-- however at 19, I was no longer a growing girl.
That was when the term "pescatarian" came into my vocabulary. Pescatarians do not eat meat, however they get their protein along with other nutrients from fish. I found it much more difficult to make a connection with a fish such as salmon, trout and whitefish hard to make a connection with. In May of 2016, I decided to make the dietary change-- I did not notice any physical differences such as weight loss or my skin clearing up, however I did discover some emotional and mental changes. I noticed myself being able to think more clearly and not getting upset by small things as easily. My sleep schedule was getting better and while I was once staying up until three or four in the morning, I was falling asleep at midnight and waking up at around eight in the morning.
It was a simple change that was made dissolve my guilt and to increase my health. As I go longer and longer without eating meat, I notice myself feeling and looking a lot healthier. Eventually, I found my body was loosing fat and gaining muscle easier and my skin cleared up as well. Animals were meant to live and to be our companions, not to be on our plate.
