Veggie Tales

The more I learn about health and nutrition, the more I lean towards a vegetarian existence. Mind you, we'd still have fish and chicken occasionally, but for the most part, vegetarian.

Not that I'm even sure that's what it would be considered. I'm very confused by the whole thing. Because I fully intend to keep drinking milk and using butter, just less of the "meat" part. So it's not truly vegetarian, but, what else do you call it? No seriously. What?

I guess what I'm wondering is how do you feed yourself and your family?

Do you try to have mainly vegetables?

If yes, do you have a garden?

If no, how much do you spend on produce?

How often do you have meat?

I'm really trying to instill healthy eating habits in my family and I'm just wondering, how much is too much?

ALSO, if you have a really good meat-less recipe, ENLIGHTEN.

Hungover

I don't drink. Never even been tempted to, really. Okay, so those fruity wine cooler things sound kind of yummy, and sometimes I've wondered what it would be like, but in all honesty? I've never been the least bit tempted.

It's just not worth it. Fleeting moments of inebriation in exchange for what? Social embarrassment, liver damage, the potential for alcoholism, the nasty hangover the next day, a shortened life span. Put bluntly like that, it's hard to see wherein the temptation lies.

This past weekend we went away to visit family. And we ate. Oh my did we eat. My usual health consciousness went out the window as I glutted myself on drive thru and gas station fare. I ate whatever it felt like. Sunday morning I woke up feeling wretchedly ill. My stomach was roiling, I felt dizzy. I walked into the bathroom door jamb on my way to perform my morning ablutions.

Thing is though, I wasn't sick. No mysterious bit of biochemical warfare had infiltrated my body. No. What I was experiencing was a hangover. Of the food variety. The greasy and sugary food had hit my system hard, and I was reeling from the consequences of my laissez-faire attitude.

I had to get some more food into me or I was going to throw up.

As I realized that I winced, drawing a parallel between eating and drinking that I'd never drawn before. The consequences of eating too much and drinking too much are eerily similar. Same yucky feeling after extreme overindulgence. Damage to health and lifespan. Social embarrassment...oh my yes. Add to that gaining two pounds in two days and I'm left asking myself, wherein is the temptation?

The end result is not worth the momentary taste in my mouth. It never will be, or can be, worth it.

I feel a little ill again at the thought. I'm chugging a bottle of water today, hoping I can wash away the damage, and start fresh. That's the good news, really. That's the happy ending. We can never be so bad that being good again isn't an option.

It's kind of cheering, really.