The Extraordinary Journey of a Meat Lover towards eating less meat

First off, admit it. You all thought I was gonna say that I was turning vegetarian. Gotcha!

I gotta say I was quite tempted to go full vegetarian especially after building a nice firepit in the backyard and abusing the mititei output of the said grill. Although I did come very close to being quite sick afterwards. I did vow to be more careful in the future.

I guess anyone else would have been as sick as a dog after downing 14 mititei and 3 water bottles. Anybody else but I. But, man oh man, they were scrumptious. Especially piping hot off the grill. So, I indulged myself and went big. Although, in hindsight, since home was 100 feet from the barbecue, I should have gone home instead. Not proud, just saying that for the last 40 years, I kinda abused my belly by worshipping it and being a slave to it at the same time. Quite the paradox, I know.

I’m complicated like that. What can I say?

Unintended results

So, for the last three days, I haven’t had any meat whatsoever. Again, not bragging, just saying. I can’t even recall when was the last time I abstained for three straight days from eating some sort of meat. Actually, if you had asked me before if there was a chance for me to turn vegetarian, I’d tell to engage in sexual congress with yourself. Yeah, I was that adamant and protective of my right to consume flesh.

Now, not so much. I am not put off by the smell of it and I can surely manipulate and handle it. I have cooked some for my girls. And I will do so again. It’s just that I really don’t want to fall back to my old extra carnivorous ways. I am not going veggie. I am just taking a break from meat. I am what you’d call an opportunistic eater. What I’m thinking is that I would rather save myself for some real meat that doesn’t come from Costco or Metro or IGA. I want to go full Joe Rogan. After all, the man has his thing for elk meat. I am sure I will think of something.

In an aside, for every Joe Rogan there is a bunch of Alex Joneses who would rather have their neighbours for dinner, literally. I feel bad for them though. If they only knew who their next door neighbour was before they bought the house. I am sure they would have gone to the next count(r)y.

The Alternative

I think I’d like to be able to reach out and grab what I need for my sustenance from the nature’s replenishable store. I know it will take some work and Native Americans have a saying about Vegetarians, but hey I am willing to go the extra mile. And who knows perhaps if I led by example, some of my family might actually follow suit. That remains to be seen.

In any case, I do not intend to let my firepit go unused. I built it and, by Jove, I will use it. So, now I must go find some ‘customers’ willing to jump into the pot so to speak.

How I’m doing

I am in great shape, both mentally as well as physically. The indigestion is gone, my liver is grateful, and I am functioning within the parameters of my age group. I still drool like a shark when I smell the scent of a steak cooking in the distance, but what can I do if I was ‘cursed’ with the nose of a bloodhound. Some might say that I am detoxing. I for one care less for such bla bla bla. I am just adjusting to the new normal and it feels great.

One thing is clear. I am not in pain. And that is how I know it was time for me to make a change. Health is quite important for the middle aged, who are waiting parked in the antechamber of old age for a cool third of their lifespans. In the end, if we get to prolong the ‘agony’ one more day, one more month, or even a couple of years, we are golden. Quality of life is the name of the game. And no doctor worth their salt can ever restore that to you. Once you lose it, it is gone forever.

So, I intend to play this by ear, but always err on the side of caution. Meden agan or everything in moderation, used to say the Ancient Greek, and they knew a thing or two about living healthy lives. As did the Romans, right?

“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?

—But it’s nicer here…

So you were born to feel ‘nice’? Instead of doings things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?

—But we have to sleep sometime…

Agreed. But nature set a limit on that—as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you’re still below your quota. You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When they’re really possessed by what they do, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts.”

Meditations – Marcus Aurelius