Animal Rights Meet Omnivore: Background

When I first went vegetarian, I was in eighth grade. I didn't really question things for myself. I never considered why we eat meat, never questioned my diet. Until the girl across from me did. She was all pro-animal rights, and I was all for supporting her with the rest of my lunch table friends. I wasn't expecting it to be so easy, but then again, I wasn't really thrilled with most of the meat dishes made at home. I only occasionally missed things like sloppy joes.

The real motivation came from my family who poked fun at me. So when everybody else started eating meat again, I didn't see much of a reason to switch back. Anger ran through my blood, making it really simple.

I still remember eating out with a friend of mine (back when I had a little more of a social life). I guess I still hadn't learned the full art of questioning things. My cousin had given me the book, "The China Study," and I had become one of those vegetarian cultists. Not that I really cared if everybody became vegetarian or not, but just so set on believing that was the right path. I remember reading it and wondering to myself how the casein from milk experiments was enough to rule out all meats, too. But beyond that, I took to heart all that the author wrote. Convinced me to try vegan. Scared me away from milk for a long time. When I told my friend about the book, we were at dinner. I don't remember her giving me any good information against the book, but it was a few years ago. What I do remember, however, was her telling me, you should read more before you go believing this guy. Haha, my response was something like, "Maybe, but I'm pretty convinced..."

Maybe it took the three or so years for that to brew in my mind. And oddly enough, I had to go even more conservative with my food before breaking loose to last year's food research marathon. I had found a blog of somebody online who was vegan and grain-free. He seemed so happy with it. I was skeptical, but for whatever reason, I tried it. It was around this time that I was also training for a marathon. The new diet really lacked the energy I needed, but I had noticed some perplexing health improvements along with negative health impacts. It was enough to make me start questioning everything.

And now, instead of believing main stream conventional health points, I'm a looney. A looney omnivore.