Why I Stopped Eating Meat

During the 41 days I ceased to consume meat (excluding fish) (05/26-07/05), people have continously asked me why did I do it in the first place. Well, to answer that question, this year for Lent i decided to cut down on my portions of meat. For those 40 days and nights I only ate meat twice a week. I wasnt really satisfied with this but it was so hard to just quit. So between March and May I had ran across some videos on Youtube about animal cruelty and it broke my little heart. Those animals were forced to be in cages not big enough to allow them room to move for most of their lives and were treated so badly. This actually inspired me to not be a chicken ( no pun intended ) and go through with not eating meat for awhile.

So after Memorial day, after I had my last barbequed hotdog, I quit. I thought maybe I'd quit after a week but to my surprise I had no real cravings for meat. I was so happy!!! Of course, there were times where'd I'd go out and the resturant would have little to no vegetarian options and if they did, they weren't really appealing and I'd get really frustrated and think about quitting right there but i pulled through. After weeks of picking meat out of spaghetti and off of group ordered pizza, I was finally ready to end it. I ate my first bite of meat today on a pizza. It was pepperoni and sausage and to be TOTALLY HONEST with you, the sausage was gross. It didn't have an odd flavor or anything but maybe because I hadn't eaten it in so long. I don't plan to eat THAT again but I DO plan on ceaseing to eat meat for extended periods more often. I think it'll help aid me in making some better choices.

My weakness is chicken :( ...but I can definitly do without the rest of the stuff. My initial goal was to make up for Lent and I did exactly this. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not against meat itself but I am against the way they are treated. Animals are slaughtered for human satisfaction and if that's the case, I think it's only fair that they get treated properly. These animals suffer so much before they get to us and its sad.

This being said, if an animal was given proper care and was raised in an ETHICAL manner, I would have NO problem eating it. This means that:

• They havent been given antibiotics
• Havent had any additional hormones
• No drugs were used
• They are free-range (meaning they had space to move and walk outside)
• and free of excessive or any synthetic pesticides.

So beginning soon, I'll probably start purchasing meat from organic food stores to ensure that the animals were not raised on a traditional farm, if I eat meat at all. Because everytime I eat meat I get sooo disgusted at how I KNOW that animal had been treated badly. I can't support that anymore. So.. thats your answer. :)

*_*_* Peaceness,

LadyK