A Confession

I have a confession to make. I seem to no longer be a vegetarian. I have been a "non-mammal eater" for about 20 years and was inspired to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian two years ago after reading Kathy Freston's Quantum Wellness. As, I have mentioned previously, I did eat local, free range turkey on special occasions but, aside from that, I never expected to be a meat eater again. In fact, I was even considering veganism.

Despite my desire to be a vegetarian, I came to conclusion that it wasn't quite working for me this past December. I have had increasing acid reflux over the past few years and had no idea why. I was continually lowering my fat intake and avoiding acid reflux culprits such as fried and spicy foods. I was popping tums constantly, but it still kept getting worse.

But then, for Thanksgiving, I ate turkey and the reflux went away. I didn't make the connection though - theoretically, a vegetarian diet should be good for reflux - and I continued with my regular diet. Then, in early December, I ate some Thanksgiving leftovers I had frozen. Again, the reflux went away. I returned to my vegetarian diet, the reflux returned. I made the connection. Finally.

Now, if acid reflux was nothing more than a bit of discomfort, I might have continued on with my meat-free diet. But, it isn't. Nope. So, I decided to return to an omnivore diet. And, once I made the change, I was relieved. I do feel a bit odd standing in the butcher shop and, at 34, I have realized that I have no idea how to cook meat. But, I feel comfortable with my decision. I still plan to eat primarily vegetarian meals and I am going to do my best to purchase non GMO, organic, local, free range animal products. Animal welfare is an important cause to me, but I don't see it as oppositional to meat eating. It just requires a little extra time, effort and money to make sure that what is good for me, is good for animals too.

In any case, as soon as I made the decision to become a meat eater again, all I could think was "steak". This was a shock to me as I think I have maybe eaten steak once or twice previously in my life. But, I went for it. I bought a cast iron frying pan, a lovely steak from the butcher and I made Nigella's Sake Steak with Rice. I didn't have to pop a tums for at least 36 hours following and I felt this strange feeling of fullness for at least a day (secondary bonus!). And, it was good.