Tongue Sandwich
A few months ago, I decided to stop eating meat. It was a spur of the moment decision. I didn’t put very much thought into it. I’d been a vegetarian before in college. I didn’t think it would be difficult for me at all and I was right. It hasn’t been difficult and my taste for meat went away pretty quickly. Now it smells kind of gross. I still cook meat for my family, I just make something else for me.
The thing that surprises me about my new diet is how other people respond. Most people seem baffled by my decision.
“You don’t eat meat?” They wrinkle their foreheads at me and cock their heads. “Why not?”
“I don’t think it’s good for you and I feel better,” is all I can say and that answer doesn’t satisfy anyone.
“What do you eat then?”
This is my favorite question. What are people’s diets like? Do they think meat is the only option? “Vegetables, beans…” I say.
“Oh.” They look at me with pity. “Don’t you miss it?”
Why do they think I’d miss it?
On Sunday I went to my sister’s house. She’s on some version of the Atkin’s Diet right now so she was eating a big pile of beef and eggs for dinner–not a vegetable in sight. “I’d offer you something but all I have is steak,” she said. “Are you sure you don’t want any pro….I mean an egg?”
I knew that she was going to say protein because she has, somewhere along the line, convinced herself that being a vegetarian means that you don’t get enough protein. Never mind, the fact that I explained to her before about beans and legumes and protein. I’ve decided that it’s not really worth explaining again. “No thanks,” I said.
There are times when I need to hold my tongue. After my mother shot me down when I asked if she was concerned about the amount of artery clogging saturated fat in my sister’s new diet, I decided that this was one of those times. So I didn’t mention that a doctor friend of mine once warned me against high protein low carbohydrates diets. She said they caused kidney problems. I also didn’t mention that they cause bone density loss. There’s the obvious risk of heart disease too. If I were really holding my tongue, I guess I wouldn’t be writing about this now. I guess I’m not very good at holding my tongue.
