Monday 30 April 2012

Why should we or shouldn't we eat meat? Opinions please.


Ok this post is going to be a little bit different, it’s not all about narcissistic me it’s about you and your opinions, and for the record that’s what I’m after, opinions not a fight.

I’ve made no secret of my recent sway to vegetarian and attempts at veganism, I did it for health reasons, I didn’t go oh the poor animals I don’t want to eat them, and interestingly once you say that people generally back off and don’t try to tell you to eat meat! But now I find myself asking why, why for me and not for the animals? I’m an animal lover I’ve had pets all my life, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, budgies, fish and even Henrietta the hen. But up until new years I ate pork, beef, lamb, fish, turkey, venison, rabbit and buckets of chicken! I have even eaten rabbit since I have had my two little bunny girls. To the logical part of my brain this no longer makes sense! I used to tell myself that it’s natural to eat animals we’re top of the food chain and thats that. And the rabbit I ate was a wild rabbit which had a good life and anyway it was delicious. But most of the meat we eat nowadays has had an awful life, especially the chickens and pigs, but we eat them anyway. Honestly I think I just choose to bury my head in the sand, I knew about the battery chickens but I cleared my conscience by saying I couldn’t afford the free range meat, but honestly it’s not been hard giving it up and I wish I’d done it earlier.

I have a friend who’s family have a deer farm and I’ve been there and I’ve seen the animals and if I go there again I’ll eat deer, because those animals have a pretty good life. So there are exceptions, but for the food most of us buy every week in Tesco or whatever those animals have had a pretty rubbish life!

So anyway, my question to people is, why do YOU eat (or not eat) meat? Do you have a reason that you think makes it ok? ......Again I’m not trying to start a fight, I honestly want to know, I can’t resolve it in my head and I would like other peoples input.

.....Also on a side note to anyone in Ireland or the UK who has knowledge of the dairy industry, up until recently I’d never thought about it, but do cows need to be kept pregnant or have recently calved to produce milk? Do the calves get taken away from them straight away so we can have the milk instead? All the stuff I’ve read on the topic is US based and they seem to make torturing animals a sport over there (by they I mean factory farmers) so I want to know what it’s like here.  

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Discogram and Nuclear Plasty Oh my!

Well quick catch up!

I had my discogram and nuclear plasty about 3 weeks ago now, and fortunately I remember very little of it. I was awake, it’s one of those things you need to be awake for, but the anaesthesiologist was fab! And funny! So he gave me some drugs; Michael Jackson juice according to the doc, and I don’t remember anything. I was home 2 hours later. Just tired and battered, however the next day I got worse and the following week was pretty much me sitting in a chair not moving. Unfortunately it’s a it gets worse before it gets better treatment, so for the guts of a week Conan had to do everything for me, very, very frustrating! Everyone should be able to put their own socks on! I have gotten better since, but I’m not sure yet if I’m better then I was before, but it’s still relatively early days. Essentially they burnt away the centre or nucleus of a disc in my back and the idea is that it will shrink in on itself and stop bulging out and pressing on nerves and stuff. Fingers crossed. Follow up appointment is in June.

I’ve been trying to get back into my yoga, took a few weeks off on account of not really being able to walk  :) and it’s nice to be back, taking it easy and just doing gentle stuff at home with the bunnies. Everyone should have a chance to do yoga with bunnies climbing all over you! I have just broken down and sat there laughing a few times, the girls never fail to cheer me up!

The pain from the cyst has popped up a few times but not too bad and not much I can do about it anyway so C’est la vie! I’m reading up on vegan diets and various superfoods and at the mo I’m mostly vegan. I have been eating a little meat, but more and more I really can’t be bothered when I do, there is so much yummy food out there anyway!