#97 – become a vegetarian

Six months without meat. An arbitrary amount of time, but I had to start somewhere. I'd wanted for many years to become a vegetarian, for reasons of health, animal welfare, and simply to challenge myself to the task. So I've done it – I haven't had a burger or chicken wing, a turkey sandwich, or bacon with my eggs for a full six months (including four months without fish or seafood, and one week with no eggs or dairy either) – so I'm crossing this one off my list. 

In the last six months I've not only stopped eating meat, but also read books and articles, talked with vegetarians and former vegetarians, and realized in the course of this experiment that "becoming vegetarian" is a vague term and also a step into a vast sea of philosophical, ethical, historical, sociological, culinary, and nutritional research and debate. 

There is, of course, no right answer to the question of whether or not a vegetarian diet is best. The jury is still out as to whether it's healthier not to consume animal products, so I don't know that I'll stick to my strict no meat, no fish, no seafood rule now that my six month goal has been reached. 

However, there are some things that I now know for sure:

1. What a person eats or doesn't eat, whether because of necessity (allergies, sensitivities, etc.), culture (Jews eating kosher, for example), or ethical choice (not eating animals to avoid causing suffering) is a highly personal decision. I can't judge another for his or her food choices. It's just too complicated to pretend there are simple answers.  
2. Meat is not an essential part of the human diet. There are many perfectly healthy vegetarians and vegans who will attest to this fact. It's just easier to get certain essential nutrients from meat. 
3. Meat and fish should cost way, WAY more than it does. If eating animals was considered a special occasion food because of its high cost (owing, ideally, to the high costs associated with ethically raising livestock), we might come to see it as something to be respected, something special. I imagine we'd eat not just less meat overall, but truly consider the sacrifice of a life in order that we might continue to live ours. Just because we think today of a chicken as something that doesn't need to be given much respect doesn't mean we won't someday think very differently.
4. Factory farming is bad. We need to phase out factory farming in Canada, by voting with our dollars and spending more on ethically procured meat. Why do we turn a blind eye to the absolutely disgraceful cruelty we directly support every time we buy meat from big grocery chains? 
5. If I don't eat meat for the sake of not harming animals but still buy factory-farmed eggs and milk, I totally miss the point. If anyone is going to take seriously her concerns for farmed animals, and act on them, she would be hypocritical to refuse to ever eat meat without also giving up chicken's eggs and cow's milk. Factory farming is factory farming. 

Will I ever eat meat again? Undoubtedly. As much as I have full respect for vegans, who choose to basically boycott the animal and animal product industries, I personally do not have a problem with an animal dying so that I can be healthier, stronger, and live better. Animals eat other animals, and I cannot deny I am also animal – part of the food chain, the cycle of life. I feel at peace with the idea of an animal being killed if it lives a natural, healthy, happy life, (wild game, for example) and then dies as painlessly and with as much dignity as can be afforded.

Of course, the real test might be to see if I could kill and dress/skin/gut/cook an animal – say a deer – myself, with my own two hands, and see then what it's like to eat its flesh. But you know what? I think I could do it.

I like the idea, however mythologized, of Native Americans and First Nations peoples saying a prayer of thanks to the spirit of the animal they killed for its meat, hide, etc. I like the idea that no part of the animal was wasted because it was needed, all of it, and that it was taken and consumed with great reverence. I don't know much about this history, but if what I've heard is true, then I think we have a lot to learn and hopefully a lot to adopt from times gone by, understanding once again that animals, no matter how small or powerless or seemingly insignificant, undeniably deserve our full respect, in life and in death. 

Factory Farms

One day, in the hopefully not-too-distant future, we will look back on this time, the turn of the 21st century, and hang our heads in shame in the "developed world" as we recall an unfortunate period of history when we behaved, as a society, like a bunch of whiny, greedy, selfish children. A time when we wanted what we wanted fast and cheap, and we didn't care where it came from or how it was produced. When it comes to cars and homes and other "things" it's bad enough. But consider the way we also treat sentient beings as commodities, as mass-produced "food products," despite them being not very much different in some ways from the pets we keep in our homes – to love and care for. We would be appalled at even the idea of them being treated in the same way as, say, the average sow on the average farm in this country.

Yet animal cruelty, real suffering, is something we ignore daily in North America – particularly in the US – because we want to be able to eat anything we want anytime we want it, because it happens where we can't see it, and, most importantly, because we expect it to be affordable for everyone. I won't go into the gory details I've read in books like Eating Animals, because PETA's already got a handle on the shock and awe strategy. (I couldn't bring myself to watch more than 10 seconds, but if you want to see what it's like, check out this short video.) I don't need to tell you how bad it really is for the chickens, pigs, cows, turkeys, sheep, and other livestock on factory farms, from which 99 per cent of the meat we eat is sourced in America. 

The power of willful ignorance cannot be overstated.

I don't have the statistics for Canadian farms, but I'm pretty sure a hell of a lot more animals are being raised as "things" for us to treat as objects for our own consumption than as they should be – as valued sentient beings that have feelings (both psychological and physical) and which deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. 

From what I've observed from working, albeit briefly, on both an organic family farm and a factory farm, I can say without much exaggeration that the difference between the two is as stark as that between a concentration camp and a holiday resort. 

But, perhaps even more importantly, we should ask ourselves why our food, especially meat, is so (relatively) inexpensive? We pay less for our groceries than we ever have in history, and the trade-off is the suffering we cause by this fact. Is it worth it? If we spend more for meat that comes from family farms, are we not voting with our dollars for a better way? 

Some people argue we should stop eating animals altogether, that killing them is wrong. I respect this view, but I personally disagree. I have no moral qualm with eating the flesh of an animal if it experienced a full life, had a fair chance at living in fresh air, with its own kind, in the most natural way possible, and then died humanely. 

Eating hunted game is infinitely better, in my mind, than eating factory-farmed meat. Eating less meat is better than eating more, overall. But eating meat produced by giant corporations is simply disgusting. It is one of the most awful disgraces of our time.

We look back in disdain and with smug contentedness in our hearts at the times in our history in which racism, sexism, homophobia, extreme pollution, genocide, the marketing of blood diamonds, and various other human injustices were considered par for the course. We know now without a doubt those things are wrong and we won't stand for them. But how long will it be before we end the factory-farming industry that causes one of the worst types of animal suffering, not just harming the animals themselves, but the people who work and live in and near these massive corporate operations?

In two weeks from today my official vegetarian experiment will be over. If I decide to go back to eating meat, I will do my best to be mindful in my consuming, avoiding the purchase of any animal products that come from an inherently cruel system. I don't know exactly how I might navigate the grocery store conundrum of finding ethically sourced, healthy animal products, but I know I will give it my best shot every time I buy food. 

Some people might see me as a softy, or think I'm being too extreme and call me ridiculous or naive. But the real question is, isn't it better to be ridiculously caring than needlessly cruel? 

Vegan week – Day 7

What a feast. This afternoon I picked up a friend from the airport who seemed enthused about sharing a vegan meal with me tonight so we stopped at the grocery store to get some supplies, including dessert:

Potatoes, corn on the cob, butternut squash, green beans, coconut water, Bavarian tofu sausages, dairy-free coconut cream ice cream.

This morning I had my usual quick oats with hemp hearts and frozen berries:

Lunch was toasted vegan bread with almond hazelnut butter:

And this afternoon I made a NutriBullet smoothie with spinach and baby kale, celery, cucumber, apple, berries, watermelon and chia seeds. Again, delicious. 

I'm looking forward to eating a breakfast with eggs tomorrow, and I think some friends are planning to go out for pizza, so I'm pretty excited about eating cheese again... but I can't say I've felt deprived this past week not having any animal products (including honey!) and I have definitely noticed my digestion has been more efficient. The only things I've really missed were chocolate and some other junk food that's made with milk ingredients. But I feel like everything inside me is running more smoothly on a plant-based diet – I feel lighter and less weighed down somehow. I know I've got a mild intolerance to cow's milk, so being vegan has made me less bogged down than my usual diet does.

The only downside is the gas. This is kind of embarrassing, but I've found eating beans a couple of times this week, as well as lentils and more raw vegetables than I'm used to has made me pretty farty. I guess my guts would get used to the new stuff after a while, but I'm going avoid the beans and legumes for a few weeks at least before slowly adding them back into my diet. Too much at once is just too much at once. 

Overall, I'd give the (basic) vegan diet a B+ for being healthy, flavourful, and pretty easy. You can eat pretty simply and on the cheap if you're vegan, which surprised me. No need for fancy kitchen creations or to break the bank on weird ingredients no one's ever heard of, though there's always that route if you're inclined to get all froofy with your culinary skills. Me, I'm just fine with instant noodles and broccoli. 

I would give the vegan diet an A, but in the long run I think the restrictions would get me down (sometimes I really do just want something fast and processed, and after a while, I know I'd come to miss cheese) and I KNOW I'd get sick of tofu and soy pretty quickly. This week was definitely worth it, though, and I'm glad I got to see just how simple meals can be even without meat, eggs or dairy. 

Tomorrow I'll resume regular vegetarian eating and begin on Monday my sixth and final month of the vegetarian experiment. After that? Who knows... I've still got some more research to do.

Vegan week – Day 6

Finally got around to making some food from scratch. Red lentil soup is easy, healthy, vegan, and delicious. This one I put a lot cinnamon into and it was really nice and sweet, especially with carrots and broccoli stalks.

Wasn't hungry for breakfast this morning, but here's what I did eat today:

Vegan bread with almond hazelnut butter and an apple

Homemade lentil soup

I also had a small bag of chips, which I did not feel required photo documentation... So, kind of a boring food day, but tomorrow is the final hurrah – maybe I'll come up with something a bit little interesting. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll just eat beans and rice again and call it good.

Vegan week – Day 5

I had the best intentions today of making lentil soup from scratch, but I got lost in doing other work this evening. By the time I realized I was hungry it was 9 p.m. and I didn't feel like taking more than seven minutes to make food so I had my last Mr. Noodles. It was very satisfying, not just because it was spicy and full of salt, but because it only took seven minutes. 

No matter how much I might love food, and no matter how much I might come to love vegan cuisine, I don't think I'll ever learn to love cooking. I just can't see it as worth my time. I was sitting there slurping the noodles, pondering the 27 or so other things that would undoubtedly have been better than standing at the stove, and realizing how much I admire, but just don't relate to those who love to prepare food. It just gets eaten in a 10th of the time it takes to make and then you have to do it all over again three times a day. It's exhausting just to think about.

Anyway, here's the rundown of today's vegan diet...

Breakfast:

Silver Hills sprouted bakery flax bread (no eggs or dairy) with Nuts To You almond hazelnut butter, and fruit.

Lunch:

Spinach and baby kale salad with carrot, celery, cucumber, avocado, hemp hearts, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. 

Afternoon snack:

Steamed vanilla soy milk with a vegan brownie from Jumping Bean Coffee.

Dinner:

Mr. Noodles (veggie) again, with broccoli stems and Sriracha hot sauce.

Vegan week – Day 4

This was definitely my best vegan day so far. Mostly because tonight I had the best cheesecake I've had in years. Which is crazy, since it contained no cheese of any kind, though I swear the taste and texture would fool any foodie. Check out this amazing dark cherry vegan cheesecake awesomeness (I think it's made from puréed cashews).

Ermahgerd, so good. 

Dinner tonight was at The Sprout after a hike this afternoon at Cape Spear. Nothing like a long walk next to the sea to work up an appetite. Here's the rest of what I ate today...

Breakfast:

NutriBullet smoothie made with 1/2 banana, 3 large chunks watermelon, handful berries, handful spinach, 2 inches cucumber, 1/2 stalk celery, tbsp chia seeds.

Morning snack:

pecans

Lunch:

 Spinach salad with broccoli, carrot, celery, avocado, hemp hearts, roasted sunflower seeds, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

Afternoon snack:

Cracker Jack, your surprisingly vegan-friendly junk food of choice.

Dinner:

Vegan tofu burger with roast potatoes at The Sprout.

Vegan week – Day 3

Another day without animal stuff on my menu. I'm not so much missing animal products as I am frustrated by the amount of foods (processed, anyway) that contain animal products. EVERYTHING is made from or with milk. So many things contain cheese powder or gelatin. I went to a cute little market this evening with a friend who made me dinner at her place, and I was going to get something for dessert but gave up and took salad because nothing sweet seems to be made just from plants... But the dinner was super tasty. Who knew lentils could be so satisfying? Maybe it was the garlic. Anyway, here's what I ate the rest of today...

Breakfast – same as yesterday:

Quick oats, almond milk, handful raw hemp hearts, handful frozen berries.

Lunch – same as Sunday:

Mr. Noodles (veggie) with fresh chopped broccoli, spinach, onion, Sriracha hot sauce.

Dinner – homemade Pakistani comfort food: 

Daal Chawal (lentils and rice) with garden salad. 

Besides the chips, the other snacks I had today were the rest of the Finnish liquorice (about a handful), and apples and oranges. I could get used to this increase in fruit and veg in my diet but, man, it's hard to avoid milk. Once I'm finished the vegan week I'm going to go for a nice big ol' cheesy pizza pie and a cup of extra creamy hot chocolate!

Vegan week – Day 2

It's really hard to find vegan junk food. Chocolate is made with milk, a lot of chips have cheese powder listed in their ingredients, and a lot of candy is made with gelatin, which comes from cows' hooves and pigs' tendons. However, I did find animal product-free chips today (Ruffles all dressed) at a corner store and I was thrilled because I was in the mood this afternoon for something salty, fatty, processed, and full of preservatives.

Other than the chips and a big handful of Finnish liquorice a friend gave me, today was a fairly healthy day. Best part? I don't feel at all deprived. No cravings, no hunger pangs. Being vegan seems to be pretty straightforward.

Breakfast – quick oats with almond milk and a handful of raw hemp hearts mixed in:

Morning snack – NutriBullet smoothie: 1 banana, 1/2 apple, 3 large chunks watermelon, 2 inches cucumber, handful blueberries, 1 tbsp ground chia seeds:

Lunch – wholewheat pita from Extreme Pita stuffed with every vegetable imaginable, hummus, and Italian dressing:

Dinner – leftover beans and rice with a glass of orange juice:

Vegan week – Day 1

Today I started a seven-day vegan challenge. No meat, fish, seafood, eggs, dairy, or honey for one week. Having been vegetarian since April 1, the only things I've had to cut out for this week are eggs and dairy, which isn't that hard to do. Granted, it's only been one day... 

Unfortunately I forgot the local grocery store is closed Sundays, so today I had to make do with the ingredients I had in the house, which weren't too fancy. 

Breakfast – one orange, half an apple, and this:

NutriBullet smoothie: 1 banana, 2 inches cucumber, 3 large chunks watermelon, 1/2 apple, handful frozen blueberries, tbsp ground chia seeds. 

Lunch – bowl of MSG, but I added fresh greens:

Mr. Noodles (oriental = artificial beef flavour), with fresh chopped broccoli, kale, and Sriracha hot sauce.

Dinner – another poor man's staple: 

Honey baked beans and rice.

Not the best meals I've ever had, but it could be worse. Tomorrow is another day, though, and I'll be heading to the grocery to find some more variety to keep things interesting. Whatever I end up eating, even if it's the same thing every day this week, I'm not concerned about nutritional deficiencies. According to at least one doctor, seven days on a vegan diet is not enough to develop any deficiencies, no matter what you're eating. So I'm going to take this day by day and try to enjoy the experience. Maybe I'll even learn a couple of great new recipes.

If you want to join me in this vegan challenge, here are a few great resources I've discovered online:

Weekly menu

Meal ideas

Seriously simple recipes

Vegetarianism: doing no harm?

I recently came across this article written by a guy who used to be vegan but gave up on the diet once he realized it's impossible to avoid causing any harm when consuming food. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water! Here's a quote from the article: 

Whatever romantic notions we might have about ourselves and our ethically or environmentally motivated food choices, the boundaries between vegans, vegetarians and veal eaters are somewhat ambiguous. We are all part of the same food systems.

Vegans and veal eaters are "part of the same food systems"? Gimme a break. Just because it's true that producing lettuce crops (especially large-scale) undoubtedly causes the death of insects, rodents, and other small mammals because of heavy-handed harvesting machinery doesn't mean we shouldn't consider the potential benefit to larger sentient beings like farm animals when we decide to not eat this type of meat. I've heard arguments from those who say if the whole world turned to eating only plants we'd destroy the environment with all the land space we'd need to grow vegetables. C'mon. I just don't buy it. We're already growing MASSIVE monocrops of corn, for example, to feed beef cows. So this argument just doesn't hold water. And I would argue there's much merit in avoiding meat and sticking with plants despite a vegetarian or vegan diet not being truly 100 per cent cruelty-free. 

Even in following a vegetarian diet in the last five months, I've realized it's impossible to avoid causing harm in the act of eating. By its very nature, eating is a destructive, harmful act, which, if you really think about it, causes damage and ends the life of WHATEVER it is we put in our mouths to chew and digest. I've been taking a supplement – N-acetyl glucosamine – on a daily basis now for about a month for a digestive health condition. Today I looked at the ingredient list and realized it's sourced from shrimp, prawn, and crab (exoskeletons). 

So it seems there's no way around it – things will be harmed and/or killed so that I can be nourished and sustained. 

Of course, I could choose not to take this supplement and suffer worse health, but I'm not on the PETA bandwagon that considers the life of a crab as equal to a human's. I agree with the former vegan – it's impossible to avoid any destruction in my eating or consuming habits. That's just the nature of being a part of this living, interconnected planet filled with all sorts of living things. But this doesn't mean I won't try to avoid harming those that suffer the most in our world today. The writer of the above article hunts deer. Okay, fine. But he's also gone back to eating dairy. This supports factory farming, which I would argue is much different than consuming wild game, which doesn't equal animal suffering. 

I hadn't planned on it, but I ate fish and seafood about five times in the last few weeks; at friends' houses, restaurants while I was on holiday, and at home. I've had a pretty wide variety: fish cakes, fried cod, baked salmon, sushi rolls, a tuna sandwich, deep fried prawns and scallops... and I made a conscious decision to not resist consuming these sea creatures. Going back to a pescatarian diet this month certainly wasn't the original plan... but I must say I felt differently about eating seafood than I would have about eating mammals. I have less than zero desire to eat chicken or beef and the thought of eating pork makes me feel ill. (Except, I have to admit, for bacon. The sight and smell of bacon is still appetizing.) The thing is, I know most of (if not all) the fish and seafood wasn't factory-farmed. I know this because fish and seafood is a plentiful natural resource where I live. 

While I agree with the above writer's opinion that it makes no sense to try to avoid being part of destruction or suffering (I don't feel at all guilty, for example, about swatting flies or accidentally stepping on bugs when I go for a hike), I think it's silly to argue there's no point in being vegetarian or vegan simply because it's not totally removed from all forms of suffering. At least this kind of diet – the vegetarian diet – is a massive step in the right direction.

***********

Starting this weekend, I'm going to take the one-week vegan challenge, partly to see if I can, partly to know I've had the full "no animal product" experience in this six-month vegetarian experiment, and partly to counter my fish and seafood indulgences this month. I'll be posting recipes and notes as I go, beginning Sunday. If you want to give it a go yourself, here is a useful guide: 7dayvegan.com

The pros and cons of not eating meat

Have you ever thought about going vegetarian? If you are vegetarian, have you been considering going back to a meat-inclusive diet? Either way, it's a tough decision, mostly because the information out there is really confusing. Is it healthier to eat meat or not? Is it actually better for the environment to eat a tofu burger than a beef burger, or is this a myth? 

There's a nifty pro/con list available here, which gives arguments for both sides of the debate. Check it out if you're curious.

It's been four months since I started my six-month vegetarian experiment, and I'm surprisingly more unsure than ever about whether or not I should go back to an omnivore diet at the end of September.

So far, I've discovered firsthand some good things and some bad things about not eating meat. First, the bad:

1. It's not always easy to find vegetarian options when eating out. Especially in Newfoundland, where fish (cod) is a staple.
2. It requires a lot more effort to ensure your diet includes enough protein, iron, and B12. (I'm taking a daily multivitamin, but I'm pretty sure that's not sufficient.)
3. You end up eating a lot of starch and sugar.

Exhibit A.

And the good:

1. It's nice to know you're not complicit in the suffering of sentient beings when you don't buy meat. This is particularly true in North America, where almost all of our meat and fish comes from factory farms where the animals are almost always treated badly. 
2. Craving meat is not like craving chocolate or caffeine. Once you stop eating meat, you don't miss it at all (at least this has been my experience). 
3. It's nice to know that your diet is free of all the unhealthy cholesterol and artery-clogging fats of meats like beef and pork. 

Ramen noodles with cabbage and hot sauce.

Of course, there's a lot of evidence to suggest that eating a lot of meat is unhealthy, and that eating meat (and actually also eggs and milk) from factory farms is really very unethical, but there are also good reasons to eat meat and fish, for the sake of your health... and your social life. 

Okay, so everyone knows it's just easier to have few to no diet restrictions when you eat out with friends. On that note, I have a confession. I ate fish last week. On Sunday I went for a day trip with friends to Ferryland down the Southern Shore, and we had lunch at a lovely little restaurant where everything was homemade and delicious, but there was maybe one vegetarian option and I just wasn't into mushroom soup that day. So I ordered the cod au gratin. Check it out:

Comfort food. Made from scratch.

It was so fresh, and so good, and I'm sure my body was grateful for the omega-3 fat and the protein and all that kind of thing. Plus, my tastebuds were just happy having something novel. Did I feel bad about the cod dying and possibly suffering on the end of a jigging line? Honestly, not really. Which is not to say I wouldn't, or shouldn't feel bad, it's just that I willingly chose not to give it too much thought. I haven't eaten fish since then and I don't plan to for the next two months at least, but damn, it was satisfying. 

The experiment, and the conundrum, continues. 

20 Questions for a Former Vegetarian

My former coworker, journalist Christina Myers, was once a full-fledged, card-carrying vegetarian, but as of her late 20s, she's gone back to eating meat again. In a recent interview, I asked her about her experience with being vegetarian and why she reverted to an omnivore diet.

1. When did you become a vegetarian?

I was 19. I had been in Europe and arrived home within a few days of my nineteenth birthday, and at some point between being in Europe and being at home, I had decided that I was going to do this.

2. Did travelling have something to do with that decision?

Only in the sense that being away had made me be a little bit more independent and a little bit less inclined to worry about what other people thought. So I was a little bit more inclined to make a decision that I felt was right for me.

3. What prompted you to stop eating animals?

Well, if you had asked me that question when I was 19, I would have had a very long list of extremely rational social, political, and environmental answers. That was sort of a time – that would have been about 1995 – when there was a lot of talk, and PETA was getting bigger and talking about conditions on farms and animal rights, generally. So I had all sorts of logical, rational surface reasons that people would have had a hard time arguing with me over. But if I’m being really honest, which is hard to do, and it’s taken me 20 years to figure it out, the real reason underneath it is that it seemed, subconsciously, like an easy way to eat less food that was bad for me. To maybe lose weight. To have less fat and calories. That was the super low-fat era, when everything was like, ‘Cut out as much fat from your diet as you can. Fat is really bad for you, saturated fat is particularly bad for you,’ and, of course, those were the red meats, eggs, although I continued to eat eggs while I was a vegetarian… but I had all these lovely intellectual reasons, and the real reason is that I thought it would probably help me lose weight, and be healthier, although I don’t really think health was the motivator. It was how did I look, and could I lose weight out of this.

4. So, would you say it was more for health than animal welfare that you cut out meat?

I would say, health, yeah. That would be the main reason.

5. Did you find it challenging to switch to a more restricted diet?

It was like, overnight, and it was not hard at all. I just decided and it just was like a switch. I can’t even really explain it. I just stopped eating meat of any kind, but I continued to eat eggs and dairy.

6. Did you still eat fish and seafood?

No, not for a very long time. When I reintroduced meat, seafood was the first thing I reintroduced. But that was like, nine years later. I was a vegetarian for about eight or nine years. And there was no ‘sometimes;’ I was fully vegetarian 100 per cent of the time. I did not eat beef, chicken, lamb, anything. Not even seafood.

7. Did you ever try being vegan?

I was always just lacto-ovo vegetarian. There were no calories involved in wearing leather boots, so on some subconscious level, I just never asked those (vegan-related) questions of myself.

8. Had you planned to be a vegetarian for life?

I think I thought I’d continue that way for a very long time, if not forever. It certainly felt quite virtuous, I’d say. It sort of felt nice to say, “Oh, no, I don’t eat that,” and to feel like I was sort of committed to something ethically and philosophically.

9. When did you decide to start eating meat again?

I was about 27 or 28.

10. What made you decide to go back to eating meat?

The slow realization that I was not being careful in the way that I was eating vegetarian. When I’d started I was being careful to try to get consistent sources of healthy protein, and over time, which I think happens to a lot of young women who become vegetarian – and this is certainly not a blanket statement about vegetarians; I know there are certainly very earnest vegetarians who really take the time to think about what they’re eating – my diet ended up filling up with a lot of pasta, and rice, and bread, and so over time, this effort that I had made to make sure I was having, say, tofu or eggs from time-to-time, (of course those had to be limited as well,) or beans and rice in combination, and so on, that had sort of fallen by the wayside of being busy with school and work and building my career and all of that.

11. How did you go about reintroducing meat into your diet?

I remember it very clearly; I was at a pub with some friends, and we were ordering food and I always had the same sort of food, over and over and over again, and I ordered a tuna sandwich and I ate it and it felt very strange to be eating tuna. It was obviously a very different texture than I’d had in a really long time, but within, like, 15 minutes, I felt so good. I just had such a rush of energy, and I just felt so much better. From there I slowly reintroduced seafood and then poultry and then eventually I reintroduced beef and lamb and other foods as well, over the course of about six months.

12. So you felt better right away after dropping the vegetarian diet?

Yes, absolutely. My energy really returned very quickly, and now, again, retrospectively, having thought about it over the years, I can see now that it’s because the meat I reintroduced, the protein sources I reintroduced bumped out some of the grain products that had taken up so much of my diet. There was more balance.

13. Did you have any regrets when you decided to go back to being an omnivore?

No, because I know a lot of people would say, you know, the counter argument, that they noticed an immediate difference when they stopped eating meat, and certainly my experience is not necessarily reflective of anybody else’s. But for me, it was really the exact opposite. Even when I think about the first few years when I was a vegetarian, you know, I was very careful. I spent a lot of time reading and getting books out of the library, and I read about how to be balanced, what foods to eat and, I mean, there’s no point in regretting things, but I think that being a vegetarian for that long, at least in the way that I was being a vegetarian, I would say significantly damaged my health over the long run.

14. Did you take supplements while you were on a restricted diet?

Yeah, I’ve always taken a multivitamin, and I’m pretty sure I was taking a B-complex for a really long time because that’s something that I’d heard was hard to get in a vegetarian diet.

15. What was the best part of being vegetarian?

Cheap groceries! It costs a lot less to buy food when there’s no meat involved. That’s one. Feeling like I was doing the right thing ethically, that’s another.

16. What was the worst part of being vegetarian?

The worst part was feeling like I was doing everything right, the way that I’d been taught to eat, and yet getting progressively less well. And I don’t mean in any huge kind of way, but I mean not being as energetic as I could have been, not being as healthy as I could have been, not maintaining my strength. I think I probably lost muscle tone over that period. If you’d asked what was the worst part of being vegetarian at the time I was vegetarian, I probably would have just said having fewer choices.

17. Did you ever feel you were doing the “right thing” when you were a vegetarian?

I absolutely felt like I was doing the right thing in terms of humane treatment of animals. Every person that became a vegetarian would be lowering the demand and therefore the supply (of meat) and therefore the number of animals being fed through these kinds of facilities. In Fast Food Nation, for example, which is a great book, (the author) talks about factory farm operations, specifically for cattle, and it’s genuinely horrifying stuff. There’s no question that food in North America is really not produced in the way it should be, so I absolutely felt like I was doing the right thing. I did feel conflicted about that when I started eating meat again, and I still do, to a degree, now.

18. What would you say to your kids if they decided to go veggie?

I would support them. I would sit them down and talk to them about why I wouldn't think it’s a great decision necessarily, for them. But I feel really, really strongly that there is no 100 per cent right way for anybody to eat. We’ve really over-simplified the human body with this notion that everybody around the planet responds to food the same way, and responds to their environment the same way. We’ve even over-simplified the concept of how food is digested by our bodies. So I would never, ever say to somebody else, ‘Don’t become a vegetarian.’ I think there probably are people who, because of individual genetics, their bodies, their systems, probably do work best eating that way. For me, personally, it’s just not the right way to eat. And I’ve just seen too much evidence of that to ever even consider becoming a vegetarian again.

19. So you’d never consider going back to a vegetarian diet?

No, absolutely not. Never.

20. Do you think it’s ethical to eat animals?

The question, for me, is not, “Is it ethical to eat animals?” To me, it is. A lot of people would disagree and call me cruel and heartless or whatever – I have no problem with the concept of eating animals. But the way in which we do it right now in North America is not sustainable, it’s not equitable, it’s not fair, it’s not healthy… I think, fundamentally, evolutionarily, from a health perspective, our bodies actually need meat. We need seafood, and we need beef, and we need all sorts of animal proteins. I just believe that fundamentally now, and I didn’t when I was younger. However, the question becomes, ‘How do I do that in a way that is beneficial for the environment and for the animals and for the entire system?’