Hard but fun week.

Well it’s been a long week, lots of dinosaurs and fun was had but I’m wrecked and need time to recover, no time since I’m working tomorrow so an early night tonight and then hopefully that will get me through to Thursday which I so far have blissfully free!

The pain levels are getting pretty bad and I have been relying a lot on my meds, I know its life style that makes it worse but there doesn’t seem to be an option. I don’t qualify for any benefits cause Conan makes too much (he sooo doesn’t) and a business takes a while to get off the ground, I’m happy with how it’s going and growing but it’s still early days. So I’m taking what work I can, and mid term meant lots of work.

Orla is reading up to see if she can help me at all

So far I’m still veggie but I think I will be reintroducing beef shortly, I have discovered lots of new veg and new types of food so I’m going to remain primarily veggie but beef is going back on the menu as is lamb/mutton; but I was never a big fan of that anyway. Human beings are omnivores and I personally have come to the conclusion that meat supplies us with stuff we need but we don’t need anywhere near as much as most of us eat and we don’t need it from animals which have been tortured and or had no life. The animals are not healthy, so why would we be healthy eating them. I don’t think Chicken and pork provide me with any nutrients that I can’t get from veg or beef so they’re off the menu!

I foresee the biggest problem being Chinese buffets, I know they’re bad for me, and I don’t go often but will be hard to resist all the chicken dishes when I do and I need to find out about the treatment of ducks, cause yum! I’m also not sure where I stand on fish. That requires more thought!

For now I’m going to curl up in bed with a book and hopefully everything will hurt less in the morning!

Help and opinions wanted on this whole vegetarian thing...please!

So I’ve been vegetarian about a month and a half now, and I’m confused!

I’m not finding it that hard at home, cooking is easy, eating out is not! I have had to think outside the box but it’s fine and we’ve had some lovely interesting meals! Discovered leeks and artichokes which I quite like and some nice pastry dishes 
But now I’m wondering if I’m doing the right thing? I’ve not noticed a health difference, of course I know that it’s still early days, but I have been trying to do my homework and some of the anti meat information out there is too off the wall and or the science is just wrong!

I think the biggest difference I have found is using almond milk in my cereal rather than cows milk, my tummy hurts a lot less, there is waaaay less incidents of I need the toilet NOW! So I will be keeping that up!

Aside from that I have managed to come to some conclusions
• Yes if you have the time, the energy and the will you can have a healthy vegetarian diet.
• I could probably never give up eggs! I am also very suspicious of egg replacements which seem to be used in lots of vegan recipes, I like my food to be something I could gather or harvest or kill myself if I needed to!
• I have decided that ethically I can’t deal with eating commercially farmed Chickens, or Pork, ethics wasn’t why I got into this but we really do treat them awfully! Beef in the UK and Ireland I am ethically ok with (not in the US) and I never really liked lamb anyway. Other meats I would deal with on a case by case basis, for example venison I am fine with shot wild or from my friends farm cause I’ve seen they treat their animals well. Wild Rabbit also fine with and I want to look up whats the deal with commercially available duck.
• I have also decided that as a society we are eating too much meat, nevermind if it’s good or bad to be veggie, I think it’s bad to eat sooo much meat and for it to just be the thing you thoughtlessly throw into a dinner to bulk it up.
• I have also decided that there are a lot of people on both sides of the debate that wont listen to the other side. Which makes actually finding out the facts difficult! The vegetarians are considered crazy tree hugging hippies and the meat/dairy industry and the government are considered liars that are just in it for the money. The problem is I can see both sides being right and wrong!

So I’m trying to decide do I stay vegetarian or do I consider having some beef every now and then, is there actually a good reason that health wise I should stay off meat? Or am I in fact robbing my body of essential vitamins and proteins?

Help and opinions please! Has anyone any personal experience? Does anyone know any good science that leans either way?