PrincipledMom™

I've been threatening this post for a while, so here goes. Please remember this blog is my opinion, so please don't leave a message and rant about why you think I'm wrong.
My mother raised a good meat-eating daughter. I like a cheeseburger as much as the next girl. In fact, I felt we needed meat and/or cheese most meals to round out our food groups. I'm not prone to long-term radical changes. And I'm not really a crunchy mama. So what changed?

The foods I was feeding my family concerned me. They were full of stuff I didn't think belonged in our bodies. It was a challenge to make it through the grocery store. And it wasn't just the processed food. It was the meat too, with its antibiotics and hormones. I could no longer in good conscience regularly give my kids the food I realized was so bad for you. I was now accountable for what I knew. But I didn't want to just run away from foods I thought were "bad." Instead I wanted to move toward something better God had in mind.
I began doing some research on what our bodies really need to be healthy. I found some interesting things. First, our teeth are herbivore teeth, that is, they are created with a flat surface to chew up plants (similar to cow's teeth). God did not give us teeth for tearing meat, like lions and other carnivores.

Second, our degestive tracts are designed to digest plant foods. We are not supposed to keep meat in our intestines all that time. It does not break down properly. This can lead to many problems, such as polyps, cancer and constipation.

Third, when God gave man the garden of Eden, he gave Adam every kind of plant to eat (Genesis 1:29). He didn't mention anything about eating meat until Noah, when the earth was flooded and plant food was scarce. I believe it was God's original intention for us to be plant eaters. And we are not equipped to properly digest the mother's milk of other animals either.
Now I won't freak you out with talk of mad cow disease and all of the stuff they feed the animals that you eventually eat because you may not be ready for that just yet. Suffice it to say, it's not good news.

The food pyramid, I am convinced, is a tool of the cattle industry lobbyists to get us to eat their stuff. We do not need to get our calcium and protein from these sources. God placed all the nutrients we need to life a happy, healthy life in plants, nuts and seeds. I challenge you to find ways to put more of these into your diet and see if you don't feel better. The fact is, we can eat a vegetarian diet and be very healthy, even through pregnancy.
I have discovered some additional benefits to a vegetarian lifestyle. (When I say vegetarian, I mean we don't eat meat or dairy products.)

• I save money on all the meant and dairy I used to buy.
• We are more creative with our menus.
• We get to try all sorts of new things.
• I don't have to worry about serving tainted meat or sanitizing my cutting board when I cut meat to kill things that could kill me.
• Our meals are much more colorful.
• I feel great knowing that I am feeding my family healthy foods that are really good for them.
• We can eat larger portions of vegetables, so we feel more satisfied than when we ate more fatty meats.
• We are also avoiding some of the main causes of food sensitivities and allergies--dairy products.
• I don't have to deal with blood or pick the meat off of bones, with veins and skin and such. That had started to really gross me out.

Now we will eventually stop eating white flour sugar and eggs. But we must take baby steps. I'm not ready to give up my buttery, homemade shortbread just yet. And we still eat some fish because our kids need a variety of foods to grow strong and healthy.

So much of what we take into our bodies today is full of chemicals of all kinds. MSG, hormones, preservatives, dyes, artificial flavors and more. The more we can return to natural foods, the better off we will be.

For more information on God's plan for vegetarianism, visit Hallelujah Acres. They are into whole foods, but they have some terrific information on why we should be plant eaters. And VegSource is another site with lots of help.

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