From 1988 until 1992, a piece of animal meat never crossed my lips. I was young and impressionable, living outside of Texas for the first time. Mom to a toddler, pregnant with my 2nd child, and brand new to the northern sector of The Commonwealth of Virginia, I was searching for the meaning of life in a big way. DC suburbs were odd back then. I’ve never felt so unwelcomed, with my Texas accent and my big hair. I attempted to acclimate quickly. We didn’t have health insurance. I met a neighbor, a lovely woman whose heart broke when she saw my huge stomach, my kiddo in a stroller, and my tears. She introduced me to the concept of home birth and registered midwives. My family back in Texas thought I’d lost my mind. A baby born at home – why, wasn’t that illegal? Barbaric? But I took off one day, paper map in hand, to venture to a distant city called Alexandria for an appointment at the only listing for midwives I found in the yellow pages. That visit changed my life, as did the many trips to the Smithsonian in DC. Did I mention we were strapped for cash? What’s a 21-year-old pregnant woman to do with no gas and no way to pay for things? Hop onto the VRE and go into the city. Museums don’t cost an arm and a leg, and a brisk walk along the mall will silence the grouchiest preschooler. That’s the first time I ever saw a PETA booth. It changed my life, as well. But, soon, I would find myself back in Texas, pregnant again, a meat eater once more. I was doing good to feed my kids, let alone make a separate vegetarian meal for myself. The lure of a meatless diet did not die with those years, however. I have been an on again, off again vegan for most of my adult years. My Texas family chimed in many times, with criticism and good-natured ribbing. No meat? Are you a communist or something? Finally, the experts hopped onto my bandwagon. All the celebs are vegan. Meatless Mondays are a thing, per Good Morning America. I became smug, a vegetable satiated know-it-all. Thankfully, my inner Maya Angelo kicked in around a year ago. I learned better. Everything changed.
World War II did a number on the food supply of the entire world. In the US, particularly, the focus shifted, out of necessity, to supplies the military sorely needed: food for servicemen, paper, shoes, metal, rubber. It was a global crisis. The result was a United States without the ability to double produce. So, the general public was sorely lacking in those same areas. There wasn’t enough food or paper or shoes or metal or rubber to go around. Thus, began the great wartime food rationing system. Coupon points were assigned to everyone, including infants. Bacon cost .43 a lb in 1943, but your money was no good unless you also had seven coupons worth of ration points to surrender to the butcher. Sugar was difficult to purchase. Meat was often impossible to accrue. Post war days saw victorious soldiers returning home with grand ideas. No longer did they want to toil on family farms. Their victory was made possible by new skill sets and personal sacrifice. They wanted better for their children. So began the era of the suburbs and “easier” living: cars for everyone, zero lot line homes, and a new Standard American Diet (SAD – and boy, isn’t it). But, this new processed food was weird to most people. Who wants to eat frozen food, bereft of all nutrition, from a metal tray? And, that is how an entity called American advertising agencies said “I do” in a shotgun wedding to the US government. We never asked a single question. “It’s good for you,” they said. And, we all ran toward it with such speed that we didn’t see the wink wink that came next. But, I digress. We were talking about my diet.
Before I ruffle any faux vegan feathers, a plant-based diet is far superior to the standard American diet. If you left the SAD and wentvegan, you would feel better, incredibly better. You would forego so many preservatives and non-nutritive additives. But, there’s a HUGE secret they’ve kept from us that will eventually whip around and slap you upside the head. The animal protein they told us was killing us, the inflammation, the artery and heart issues – turns out, that’s not caused by meat. Hold your girdle. That’s caused by the insane amounts of sugar and gluten and soy and seed oils and high-fructose corn syrup we’ve been fed, for almost 60 years, in the name of convenience. But, the FDA and the AAA and all the other acronyms are so monetarily invested in PACKAGING that they either can’t risk the monetary loss or they’ve started believing their own nonsense. We are dying a slow death. Our serial killer isn’t meat or chicken or salmon or bacon or eggs, despite what we’ve been told. Don’t even get me started on the lowfat 90’s craze. Turns out, essential fatty acids, which are, indeed, essential to our survival, cannot be made by the human body. They must be consumed. Without enough, our bodies cannot absorb our most important vitamins: A/D/E.
Food looks different in my house these days. I eat mostly meat, the least lean cuts. There is no sugar, no bread, no dairy to be found. Very few vegetables grace my plate. My vitals are impeccable. My cholesterol is at an all-time low. I’ve even lost 25 lbs. The moral of the story is this: for every answer, there is an equally touted opposing answer. Though not a conspiracy theorist, I will say this much: trust no one. Do your own research. You have one body, one life. Stay vigilant. As Hippocrates taught us, “Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.”
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