Sustenance comes in various forms and fuels various things. I'm working on improving my food intake in several ways.
Two of my favorite people... actually, probably others in my circle as well... are vegans. Like many carnivores, I've historically dismissed that point of view, even scoffed at it or made fun of it. (MMMmmmm, tofu burger!)
But I think they may actually be right. Meat protein has done a lot to power the evolutionary advance of humans. It's had positive benefits.
As with many things, however, the modern world has screwed up a good thing. Factory farms and corporatists who value profit more than safety have created risk in the food chain. Read "Fast Food Nation" to be truly horrified about your daily consumption. Meat products are the worst of it, but by no means the extent of the problems.
A breakfast without bacon is not really breakfast. I love a nice, medium-well filet. I love a good burger. I love some well-prepared dry-rub ribs.
But these things don't love me. Is the protein value enough to offset what this stuff is doing to me, which is, likely, sending me to an early grave?
I don't know if I can stop. I'm indoctrinated into the meat-eating culture. It's hard to think of a life without it. But I have to do some things differently. I don't think it's healthy to eat a lot of meat.
A life with less meat would probably be a good choice. Maybe the key is to work toward it. I don't gorge on just red meat... I eat a good deal of chicken, and fish too. Perhaps switching emphasis to these would be a good start.
Today is also Day One for my attempt at totally eliminating soda from my consumption. I used to drink a whole lot of it; the last two years I have switched to diet versions. But even those are making me question the value. I have the advantage of living somewhere where the tap water is as good as probably anyplace in the world. It's actually tasty.
Our bodies are mostly water. Probably wise to drink a lot of water.
If any of you have pointers on how to adjust your diet to less meat, I'd love to hear your feedback.
The other food I crave is brain food, and this is the positivity, love and light from being around reinforcing people. This is another area of my diet that needs change.
I've been cynical and snarky a lot of my life. It's good for making jokes and such, but like everything you feast upon, too much can be a bad thing.
Yes, in a lot of ways it's a shitty world. We're not as good to each other as we should be. We allow awful things to happen, especially if they happen to "someone else" (i.e., not in America)... we tolerate wars, famine, hate, bloodshed, disease, crime... as humans, we're so vain in our thinking that we're such sophisticated animals, we have such technological advances! We have iPads! We have 52-inch high-def TVs! We have 400-horsepower sports cars!
B.F.D. Really? This is what's important to us?
That doesn't strike me as overly civilized. We could do better. I love my technology, I love my modern conveniences. But man, are they really worthless compared to the wonder of existence that's available.
So that's on me. I need to lead by example and do a better job of treasuring the things that really matter. I want to eat that life up, savor every bite.
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