Summer at our place means no more meat. It is the time of year we turn into vegetarians.
“What?!” you say, “summers are for burgers and barbecues!”
I know, I know.
If you have been reading this blog you must know that I am a Mormon.
In the Word of Wisdom we are told:
Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;
Most Mormons kind of ignore this part of the Word of Wisdom.
If you are one of “those Mormons” don’t be offended. Being extremely carnivorous myself, I am one of “those Mormons” too.
But the last few years I have kind of been wondering if I have just been rationalizing.
My husband, wise man that he is, interprets the Word of Wisdom in such a way that he thinks we should try to only consume meat in the cold months of the year. He figures that our bodies do not really need meat when it is hot outside. This rings true to me just going on what my body is telling me. Eating meat when it is hot out leaves me feeling heavy and just blah.
I could see that there must be some health benefit to eating less meat. We have some friends who have been what my husband has come to call “Mormon vegetarians” -meaning they do eat fish because there is nothing about that in the Word of Wisdom- for years and they are the healthiest people I know. But still, I kept dragging my feet.
As a mom who already has the daunting task of cooking three meals a day for my family, I was a little resistant about making that sort of a drastic change.
But then there was that thing about it being pleasing unto the Lord. Well, I love God and I want to please Him. So last year I finally took the plunge and stopped eating meat for the summer.
And you know what? It really wasn’t hard at all. I basically used all the same recipes I always used. I would usually just substitute rice or beans for the meat and increase the volume of vegetables.
This summer we kind of got a late start at our vegetarian stint. Consequently, I kept forgetting. I found myself in a drive through the other day (which is rarely a good idea anyway) and ordered a chicken sandwich. Later on my husband said something about it and I replied, “Oops. I forgot I was a vegetarian”.
But since then I think it has finally sunk in and I am feeling pretty good.
By the way in case you see one of my kids stuffing a burger down his throat know this. Our kids are not necessarily vegetarians-depending on the availability/proximity of meat. But hey, all we can do is lead by example.
And so, now that I am sort of kind of back to blogging I may occasionally share some of my ideas with you on eating vegetarian.
Take it or leave it.
One Comment
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Tessie
I’m really excited to read about your vegetarian ways! It makes a lot of sense to do that because of the word of wisdom. I’d love to see your recipes!
