Days 22 - 24

I've been a vegetarian on and off for the last 10 years or so.  Let me say first off, Animal Rights have never, ever been a reason for my not eating meat.  I love animals.  I grew up, like most people, having family pets; dogs, cats, guinea pigs, fish, and even pigs and cows (the cows were on my grandfather's ranch and were named by a grandchild chosen by age - a younger cousin named his cow Jessica after yours truly, thank you James).  And I've never had a problem with people who hunt dear or quail or whatever.  Again, growing up my father was a dear hunter who killed the random turkey or snake here and there.  There's even a picture of me floating around somewhere of a twelve-ish me kneeling between two dear I'd helped kill and gut. I have no problem with hunting as long as the animal is killed for food and not for the pure thrill of killing a breathing creature.  

So I'm an animal loving vegetarian who is ok with killing animals for food.  Actually, let me qualify my killing animals for food statement.  I'm ok with killing animals for food as long as it's humane.  I think that an animal should be treated right.  Raise it on a free range farm, let it roam around, feed it well, and when it's finally time to slaughter it, do it in the most painless way possible.  Force feeding geese until they literally die from overeating just so that you can have a nice foie gras is not ok with me.  By the way, there is one farm in Spain that humanly raises geese for foie gras, so if you're a fan, please look into where you're getting yours.

So the reason for this whole rant - Today I watched the episode of Oprah where she and a large group of her staff went vegan for a week.  It was a fairly interesting program, but didn't introduce me to a whole lot of information I hadn't already been aware of.  The one part of the episode that struck me though was a video of Lisa Ling taking a tour of a Cargill's slaughter house, a facility that uses the Temple Grandon design of a completely painless slaughter process.  Just about any meat you buy commercially is going to come out of a Cargill's plant and you have to give them credit for letting cameras into their plant to film the process, most plants wont.

Anyway, back on topic, that video really got to me.  Like, really got to me.  Like, made me cry.  Just watching those cows being lead to their death really upset me.  And I'm not sure why.  If what the general manager of the slaughter house said is true, and if Temple Grandon knows her stuff, (which obviously she does if her biographical movie won so many awards) and these cows died in the most unaware, peaceful, and easiest way possible, why am I so upset?  It really threw me.  Like I said, I am fine with people humanely eating meet.  I don't know why this upset me so much.  Odd. Guess I'm just a softie?

And the reason for my vegetarianism is the fact that I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to meat.  My stomach just can't handle it.  It knots itself up and cramps until my body gets rid of the meat either through vomiting or going poo.  I was talking to my best friend's sister who told me that I may be allergic, so I checked it out online and turns out, I do have the symptoms of someone who's allergic to meat.  I never went and got tested, but I did cut meat out of my diet.  I still eat dairy and eggs, just no meat.

I feel like this post is kinda rambling and not very well written, so I apologize if you feel the same.  Now on to today's stats.

Day 24 Weight: Forgot to weigh this morning.

Day 24 Food:
Breakfast - Nutrisystem Peanut Butter Granola Bar
Lunch - Amy's Kitchen Vegetarian Chili turned into Frito Pie
Mid Afternoon - Mom brought me some Mrs. Baird's Chocolate Donuts.  She thought about writing Nutrisystem on them, but didn't.  Don't think bad thoughts about my mom.  She does not condone my bad eating, but I've been talking about these donuts for days, DAYS, so she finally let me have them.
Dinner - Shakeology Greenberry Protein/Meal Replacement Shake with added milk and banana

Day 24 Workout: One of mom's walking videos again, but running instead of walking.

My protein shake - tastes much better than it looks.

See?

Thanks for reading guys!  Have a lovely night!