First Whole30 (day two!), first MEAT in 16 years...!

[Ripcord_Jennie]

Hey all!

Looks like this is the spot for newbs to post, so I'll throw my hat in the ring. I'm on day two of my first ever Whole30 and I'm really excited. And scared! And excited. I'm looking forward to reading through other posts, recipes, tips, etc., and I'm sure I'll struggle with a lot of the same things that others do (especially sugar and alcohol).

One other thing that feels pretty big and (perhaps more) rare is that I've been vegetarian for the last 16 years (with the exception of eating fish maybe once every other month for some years). I had grilled chicken last night for the first time since high school, and it was actually not as scary as I'd thought. In a nutshell, I gave up meat because it made me feel lethargic and sick-- not for ethical reasons-- though I absolutely feel (at this point) that I can only eat ethically raised animals. I AM struggling a little to think beyond fish and chicken, though. I am hoping to maybe add pork in the next week or two, but I can't actually get excited about eating animals.

BUT, I am recovering from an over-training injury (stress fracture of the femoral neck, just below the hip ball-and-socket joint); I am desperate to return EVEN STRONGER to my full-contact sport (roller derby), running, bootcamp, cycling, and a zillion other fun, exhaust-your-body things. After my physical therapist and a few teammates suggested reducing foods that cause inflammation and incorporating meat (for protein), I am ready to try.

I completely and totally welcome any tips, especially from anyone who can sympathize with a bit of squeamishness about meat (this might be blasphemy. I don't know.).

Thanks all! Day two feels great so far, and I'm looking forward to the next 28 days!

[Chiaya]

Welcome Jennie, and good luck! I'm interested to see if/how your feelings about meat change as your journey progresses.

And I don't think it's blasphemy - many of us are long-time meat lovers but we're all open minded and very friendly

[Brenda Price]

Welcome! I was first going to say that I don't think anyone is really excited about eating animals, but then I thought, no, that's a lie. I love meat, and it's exciting to learn of new, healthy ways to cook meat. Here's an article I recently read that might help you with your feelings on eating meat: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-eating-meat-ethical/

I'm all about purchasing meat from your local farmer. We can get beef, pork, chicken, and turkey all from a farmer that lives close. We love to support the farmer and know we're getting the best quality and animals raised how they are supposed to be.

[Jena]

I don't think your alone. Seems to be a number of us changing back to "meat eating ways" That being said it is still a bit of an ethical struggle for me. I'm lucky to have local farms with grass fed beef and pastured free range chickens and eggs. I plan to get to know a number of them personally.

After reading some on paleo etc it's also what brought me to this website. I liked how they seem to be understanding, caring and willing to help everyone the best they can.

[Suzie C.]

I'm a full-fledged hunter (yes I pull the trigger), fisher, and carnivore. However I think you may want to change your wording. I don't get excited about eating animals and neither do I get excited about killing them. I feel that their part of the circle of life is to be my protein source and I thank them for their bodies nourishing mine. We never waste our food in part because it would be a waste of a life. I do get excited to eat meat as Brenda says, however it is NOT the same as getting excited to eat animals. Maybe it's all semantics, but I value life itself. I raise chickens for eggs, and purchase beef and pork from local farmers. Just an idea that might help in your journey! Good luck!

[LivelyLady]

I was vegetarian for 18 years until December and started just with chicken too. Initially I thought I'd just stay there but then one day after about a month I thought to myself, "Really? You're just going to eat chicken and fish several times a day for the rest of your LIFE?" So a few days later I made some beef stew to slowly wrap my head around eating beef and sort of disguise the beef in a ton of veggies. That was mid-January. Now I'm 100% in and can cook up a steak and make beef jerky and all of it. So just trust your own intuition on how you want to proceed and at what rate. There's no set guidebook for going back to meat eating, especially for those of us who went veg so young and did it for so long. I'll say I feel much better eating this way than I did vegetarian!

[Emily]

I too am very concerned about the ethical treatment of animals. My food journey has taken me to several slaughterhouses to see how it actually works and then to the pastures where the cattle I eat graze. As others have said, we buy 1/4s or 1/2s at a time from local ranchers.

We also hunt, and I want to echo (in a way) Suzie C. I don't get excited about eating animals, but I think being conscious that a life died to nourish my body is important. I much prefer being involved with all the emotions of that death (including sadness, but also acceptance of the circle of life) than I do being numb to it (as one could be who only sees her meat on styrofoam wrapped in saran wrap.

Good luck to you. Explore your local farmers and ranchers; visiting a ranch and talking with them about the care of the animals, including stress, can be very helpful.

[Ripcord_Jennie]

Thanks, everyone! These are all really helpful.

I work in community health promotion, and much of my work centers around food systems (I also sit on the executive board of the Eat Local Foods Coalition in Maine). I'm noting this only because I want to stress that I feel well informed and care deeply about about the many aspects of eating animals-- including ethics, health, economic and environmental impact, etc.-- and I want to say that I have been incredibly impressed by the Whole9 community when it comes to meat and eggs.

I work with some farmers and some farmer's markets up here, and I'm really looking forward to expanding my purchasing with them! I met a hunter the other night (I tried venison for the first time in my life!), and we struck up a little agreement, as well. I'm still easing in, but feeling good about my plans for doing this. I'd kind of like to hunt or raise animals someday, but I'm taking baby steps for now.

I just wanted to say one thing about my use of the word "animals" instead of "meat"-- it's absolutely not that I think anyone is excited about killing/ eating animals (at least, not without gratitude/ thoughtfulness-- I think it's great to be appreciative of being an omnivore!)-- it's just that, for me, it's a way of being thoughtful about what I'm eating. It can sometimes feel like substituting "cow" with "beef," or "pig" with "pork" is just a step or two removed from disguising our food in pretty plastic packaging. If I can sit down to a meal every time and really acknowledge where my food came from, I feel better (which, I think, is what you all said).

Anyway! On day 4, feeling great. I've had chicken, fish, a bite of venison, and turkey! But I REALLY missed my Thai Iced Tea this afternoon.

Thanks again, super folks.

xoxo

[Ripcord_Jennie]

http://www.marksdail...g-meat-ethical/

I love this article! Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this. I'm going to use this at work, too, as I think these are important questions related to the totality of our diets (including asking ourselves if the way we raise/ eat vegetables meets the ethical standards we seem more comfortable holding animals/ meat to).

Thanks again!