How many times have I seen this? Some of my friends and family are vegetarian. Some are even vegan, not using any dairy products. But over time, they revert to their meat eating ways. The only time I give a vegetarian a hard time is if they try to push their ways on me.
One lady I worked with sat down at my table many years ago and smugly declared, "I'm a vegetarian."
"I'm a carnivore." I replied. "I eat only meat."
She looked almost pained at my answer.
"Have you ever seen the beauty of a lamb? she asked? "What about the soulful, sensitive eyes of a cow?"
I looked at her with mock indignation and asked, " Have you ever seen carrots being skinned alive? Have you ever seen potatoes being thrown into boiling water?, or lettuce and tomatoes being cut into tiny pieces just so some selfish person could have a salad?"
"But what about the poor innocent cow?" she asked indignantly. "Doesn't that matter to you?"
"It serves the cows right, for what they do to the poor defenseless grass" I answered.
I told someone else that I belonged to PETA. When his face lit up I explained "People for Eating Tasty Animals."
It is in the context of this friendly sparring with vegetarians that I look at the latest celebrity news. Another vegetarian has come back to eating meat. People Magazine reports that Tiffani Thiessen the six months pregnant "White Collar " star developed a craving for red meat after years of being a vegan vegetarian. People Magazine reports as follows.
"I was a vegetarian for many, many, many years and all of a sudden I started to crave red meat," Thiessen tells PEOPLE at Thursday's USA network and Vanity Fair bash in New York. "Crazy enough, I had a steak before I left tonight and I would never have eaten one before. One day I just woke up and craved meat."
It's interesting that a vegetarian could go back to eating meat after abstaining for so many years. It is not at all unusual for pregnant vegetarians to crave meat Women's Health Care Topics reports as follows .
"Other cravings may signal nutritional deficiencies. Some women for example, even vegetarians, might experience unusual cravings for steak and red meat during pregnancy. This could simply be a sign that their bodies need more iron to help support their growing baby. Many women will crave food they will loath or wouldn't dream of touching when not pregnant."
Having seen my a few pregnancies during my years of married life, cravings seem like the body's way of restoring nutritional balance during pregnancy. But it never occurred to me that vegetarians might fall off the chow wagon when expecting.
There may well be health advantages to restricting meat consumption. But it would be wise for someone who decides to become a vegetarian to consult with a nutritionist about replacing what is lost when cutting meat out of one's diet. This issue frequently comes up with teenagers.
Although I like kidding my vegetarian friends, what really interests me is why people become vegetarian and why they come back to a mainstream cuisine. It would make a good study. What would be most interesting would be to see if it would be possible to have a fast food chain that is vegetarian. I think the public might just be ready. Although I would never adopt vegetarianism for philosophical reasons, the health benefits of restrcting meat consumption intrigue me. If there is anything to be learned from the Tiffani Thiessen story, it is that there are shades of gray in the vegetarian vs. meat eater debate. As America faces its assorted health problems, from obesity to diabetes to hypertension, any discussion is worth while.
Reprinted with permission from rudistettner.com
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