Why Did I Eat That?

I was at Whole Foods doing my weekly shop.  Given what I do for a living as well as the fact that I so thoroughly enjoy everything related to planning, procuring and prepping meals for myself and family, I do my best to allocate sufficient time so I’m not rushed.

As such, as I passed by the eggs and grabbed the ones I usually get from the local, cage-free, foraged-hen ranch, I noticed something.

The vegan section of the cold food case.  Or, rather, as it was titled, the ‘alternative meat’ section.

Before I go any further, please note that this post is entirely self-depricating and self-directed, so no offense is meant to anyone who is vegan.  Remember, I was also vegan for two entire years, so I get it.

OK, moving along…

I began to think about the fact that when I was vegan, I was so for ethical reasons.  I honestly believed eating meat was wrong and I avoided it, and all animal products, including honey, leather and wool (yes, I was that person- I’ve joked before about how I used to be an angry vegan) and was sure to eat plenty of veg, fruit, ‘nutritional yeasts’ (that’s a whole other topic…), seeds, nuts, tofu and…

fake meat.

I ate it without a second thought.  It was the coolest invention ever.  On Thanksgiving, I could have a pretend meat concoction made of soy, gluten and beans, shaped into what was supposed to be a turkey limb.  I could go to the vegan Chinese restaurant where they had something that looked and tasted (kind of) like shrimp (mixed with Tetra Fin), doused in a thick, corn-starchy sauce with MSG.   I could also pop into the local health food store and buy a meat alternative shaped like bologna.

I ate those things, and I ate them often and it wasn’t until years later, and certainly well after becoming Paleo, that it dawned on me that it made absolutely no sense that I felt that strongly about not eating meat…yet I was eating things that were meant to look, taste and ‘be’ meat.

What the heck was I thinking?

I chalk it up to learning, and hey, you never know… perhaps if I hadn’t taken myself from mildly ill (with stomach distress) to absolutely sick (inflamed and in pain on a daily basis with a stomach so distended I was asked if I was expecting) thanks to all the gluten, soy, garbanzos, peanuts, lentils, whole grains, ancient grains and so on and so forth, I might not have found Paleo!

If it took that circuitous route to get me here, then I would say it was worth it!