To Be Or Not To Be...A Vegetarian...

Even as a youngster, I felt like I was a vegetarian at heart. As a child, although I ate meat (being Greek-Cypriot, that meant all sorts of meat!), a twinge of guilt always followed. I suspect it came from the time I'd spent a few months in Cyprus with my grandparents on their farm. One of the duties I shared with my brother was looking after a few of the animals. One very special animal was a baby goat, lovingly named "Moro" ("kid" in Greek...not original, but adorable, right?). After months of feeding, caressing, and loving this creature, time came for us to come back home to Toronto, and the night before our departure, a feast was prepared in our honour. Any guess as to what the main course was? The greatest symbol of love for my grandmother was to feed us well, so although her intentions were awesome, that experience led to a seed having been planted in my little heart and soul.

My juvenile self didn't realize just how much the experience of Moro being sacrificed for us affected me. As an urban, North American kid, I equated the word "animal" with "pet." The guilt of having been the root at Moro's death was so powerful that by the time I was 14, I attempted to become a vegetarian. Then I got a part time job after school working at Harvey's. The food was free, and my first stint as a vegetarian lasted 2 weeks. The kid in me, and the offer of free food was too much for me to stick with it.

Then, in my early 20s, I decided I was going to try again. I quit eating meat! I felt proud of myself, and it was easy! Of course, anything feels "easy" when you don't think there's any preparation required. All I did was stop eating meat. I never learned how to be a healthy vegetarian and was oblivious to the consequences of not substituting the lost protein and other nutrients. I remained a (bad, uneducated) vegetarian for more than a decade. I put on about 30 pounds and didn't feel fantastic. Of course, I ate fruits and vegetables, but I really didn't put any thought into what I was eating, only that I was eating at all. I ate refined starches, and pasta became my staple. Oops. It seems so elementary that I'm almost embarrassed to even admit that! But it was my reality.

Then I started studying nutrition. Most of my life I had struggled with an eating disorder and needed to develop a healthier relationship with food, regardless of my ethical motivations to become a vegeterian. Add to that ill family members and a health care system I was losing faith in, and I became an avid nutrition student. I was mortified at how badly I'd been treating myself. Although I learned that it was possible to be healthy and a vegetarian, I incorporated meat back into my diet in order to quickly repair some of the damage I'd caused (malnourishment, low blood pressure, and iron deficiency, for starters), starting with fish and bison.

Here I am, a few years later, and I'm once again treading on the cusp of vegetarianism. I haven't made the commitment fully. Meat still occasionally graces my plate (especially at family functions), but I'm at a different, healthier and more secure place in my life now. I'm fully aware of the all of the benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle on the environment and economy. My main motivation will always be the lack of respect and ill-treatment of animals by most of the meat processing industry--even as a young vegetarian I used to tell people that if I'd been alive a couple of hundred years ago, it would never have occurred to me to become a vegetarian because the respect that went along with using the flesh of an animal for nourishment was inherent. There was an air of gratitude when an animal was offered up for a meal. It's the reason I would never fault a compassionate farmer (like my grandparents) for eating the animals they raised.

It all really comes down to two things: 1) being educated about how to properly nourish yourself, and 2) listening to your body's needs. Although I wish I knew this 15 years ago, It's Never Too Late to Feel Great!!!

Sappy Sentiments

The holiday season is a fantastic, fun-filled, yet frantic time of year. We look forward to it, and then curse it (crowds and costly purchases), and then love it again. On one particularly busy morning, I actually forgot to take off my glasses before washing my face! But, if we're lucky, when the credit-card dust finally settles, and the time has come to simply enjoy the laughter and love that epitomizes the season, we feel joy, gratitude, and maybe even wistfulness for the next holiday season.

It may be safe to say that what the season means to us changes as we (gracefully) get older. What starts out as gifts, family, friends, and food, slowly turns into...family and friends (okay, and maybe food!). As the older generation of loved ones age and the newer generation grows, we start taking "snapshots" of the special moments--husbands, wives, mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, parents, grandparents, and friends watching all the children while chatting about life and events, mindlessly caressing babies and toddlers within reach; having conversations and making comparisons about life past and present; enjoying friendly debates about technology, education, entertainment, and life...these are all the best parts of the season.

As the years go on and loved ones are lost, these times become even more precious, and though the laughter and yumminess remains, health and well-being come into focus. There are new discussions about delicious, healthy recipes, physical fitness, and stress-management. For me, these family and friend gatherings fall into the stress-management category, as there is always laughter involved, and what's better for the soul than that?? Perspective is often gained in these moments, although we seem to constantly need these events to re-establish perspective! All the better reason to continue having them!

Now, many people don't believe that any one day gives cause to start "resolutions" or new endeavours. Many people think it's just another day and why wait for a "special" day to start something new? I am not one of those people. I like the idea of certain times and days in our lives signifying "newness." Then again, I've always been a list-maker. It's just part of ME. So, as we embark on a new year, I feel it's an exiting time to re-evaluate our lives and set some goals (or re-institute older, previously failed goals!). There's no shame in trying again, whatever the endeavour may be, whether it's educational, vocational, spiritual, physical, etc.

So, here's to all the beautiful people who make my world (and the rest of the world) a special place, and to love, health, happiness, possibility, and dreams!

Happy New Year, and welcome 2012!!

Dancing Fools

My husband and I dance every day...usually like a couple of idiots in the kitchen, to either no music or bad music (and sometimes to the chimes of Japanese key chains playing the "doors closing" song of their subways...story for another time...), but it's dancing nonetheless. Recently we've discovered that our dog, Riley, loves this. He gets up from wherever he is and prances over to us, tail wagging so hard it doesn't know which direction to swing in! He's even tried hopping up on me (to join in? I think so!) during our maniacal ritual.

What does this mean? We obviously didn't teach it to him--we adopted him 6 months ago. Maybe his previous owners danced with him. It's possible; he is nearly 10 years old. Or perhaps he just responds to our endorphins. Dogs have brilliant senses, and Riley is a basset hound, after all.

This is a great reminder that it's really within all of our natures to enjoy ourselves and be happy. It's all any of us want. We all try to achieve it in various ways, but the goal is the same. In his book, How to be Compassionate, His Holiness the Dalai Lama writes that we need to remind ourselves that everyone wants this same thing--it connects us--and if our true natures were anger, greed, or jealousy, then we would be those things all the time, no matter what. He likens our true natures to the clear, blue sky. He says that the sky is there in its essence, even beneath the stormy weather when we can't see it for the clouds. He says that our afflicted emotions are these clouds, and that we're at peace again once the storm passes.

I can't recall when our dancing tradition started, but I do know that it's easy to be happy when I'm dancing (and when I'm watching Riley dance!), so it's something we'll always do, I'm sure. At least as long as we're able to. It's such an effortless way to feel joy, and while neither my husband, my dog, nor I will ever win a dance competition, (No, Canada, I Don't Think I Can Dance!), we'll continue to do as fools do and shake it, in our kitchen and anywhere else the mood strikes.