You’d think I was a diehard vegan with that title, wouldn’t you? Sadly, even though I was brought up a vegetarian, I’m only just now getting back on this bandwagon which should have been my ride all along. Half-heartedly.

I know meat is unnecessary in our diet as long as we eat a range of healthy alternatives. I know the animals suffer and live short, miserable lives. I know both the food and the animals are pumped full of modified food, antibiotics and hormones.. it’s just.. well.. eating meat is easy. And tasty. And habitual.

And if those three things don’t top the list of the most selfish reasons people eat meat, I don’t know what do… lol. What a shocker.

I read an article the other day that said, ‘If you are not a vegan, you are arrogant.’ Ouch. Talk about the over-righteous left wing, right?? Ha… maybe not so much. The next article I read was about Belgium’s new food pyramid.. which puts meat in with sugar, bad fats and other evils which should be consumed the least. Deli meats and processed meats were left off completely. Not surprising really. And to be fair I don’t eat those regularly anyway – every time I get a crunchy bit in a nugget, sausage or deli roll slice I think.. mmm yum- was that a bit of foot, ear, or lip? Or just small bones and cartilage that they didn’t grind down finely enough? It’s enough to make me gag and not eat it for another few months.

But no lean beef? No juicy ‘healthy’ chicken breast? Sigh.

I am cooking more vegetarian foods. I’m trying to focus on finding a range of healthy vegetarian meal options. And I’m looking for ways to keep the kids snacks simple, unprocessed and meat-free.

It just comes down to one thing. If you want to be kind to the animals, the earth, your body, your children… it would seem that eating more vegetarian and less meat is unavoidably in your future. As much as I will miss the ease and thoughtlessness of a meat-eating diet, I can’t pretend that it is no longer an issue in this day and age. And I can’t pretend that not thinking about the consequences of my actions is a good enough reason for contributing to the very ugly meat market.

If I’m serious about living a beautiful life, surely that means giving up thoughtless practices that harm others – meat related or otherwise.

Sigh. Changes ahead. I won’t promise I’ll be vegetarian tomorrow, but I will definitely focus on making dinners for the family vegetarian as often as possible. For now. It’s a start.

Check out this article from Richard Branson. He reckons we’ll be meat free by 2030. Not far away! Interesting.

** Meat Free by 2030