Not Dead Yet

I've started eating meat after an 8-year hiatus, and I'm happy to report that I have not died from the shock of reintroducing it into my system. Yet.

After a Memorial Day barbeque today, in which I had a modest serving of pork chops and chicken, I'm feeling a little queasy but not bad, especially when I pretend that it's because I snacked on an entire Domino's pizza from breakfast until the BBQ. I've been eating bites of other people's meat for about a week, so I figure I was ready to graduate to a full serving on my own. It might have been a bite or two more than was wise, but at least I know my limits for the next few weeks.

I originally stopped eating meat in middle school because I didn't have the heart to tell my dad I didn't like eating fast food (which we ate several nights a week when he didn't feel like cooking and Mom was at work), so it was easier to avoid eating meat at all than to explain that I was chubby because I ate Whopper Jr combos (no pickles, Dr. Pepper for the drink) like candy.

My mom encouraged me to keep eating fish to keep a regular source of protein, and salmon became the new steak in our household. Since fish sandwiches at fast food restaurants are a kiss of death, and the veggie burger at Burger King is repulsive, I successfully avoided most fast food for almost a decade.

I've started eating meat because 1) it's really hard to find tasty vegetarian or fresh fish in Utah, and 2) when I start traveling abroad, I don't want to accidentally eat something meaty off a foreign menu I can't read and then die, and 3) my body can withstand a lot more torment now than it probably will in the next five years.

Also, I really miss steak. That was the hardest to give up, but it was really more of an all-or-nothing thing back then. They don't really marinate vegetables quite the same way...

If I don't post in the next few days, though, I'm probably dead somewhere on or near a toilet.