Where’s the Beef, End of the Road

[Guest guest]

I don’t know whether you saw it or not, but the Wall Street Journal recently ran an article about a Kansas City Chiefs tight end headlined “The 247-lb. Vegan.†Apparently the player, Tony Gonzalez, mostly avoids animal products out of concern for his health.

Well, when my three-week experiment ended recently, I had gone from the 238-pound omnivore to the 227-pound vegan. Standing two inches shorter than Gonzalez’s 6-foot-5-inch frame, I too am now perfectly condition for the extreme environment in which I work: the newsroom.

OK, so maybe I have a few pounds to go before I look more like a jock and less like a reporter, a few more pounds until I fit within the approved parameters of that obtuse “body mass index.†Or at least a few more pounds to get to the weight I want to be at.

While I’m not keeping this vegan diet to get there, I do plan on cutting back on eating meat and dairy products, particularly beef (that should cause a shudder among the nation’s farm animals, rather than full-on holy screams of terror). Not only have I realized that I don’t really need them (something I already suspected thanks to my wife’s vegetarian cooking), I also don’t think I’m drawn to them nearly as much as I was before.

As for any other health impact, it’s hard to say if I felt any better or worse, since my sleep apnea—still in the initial stages of being treated—causes exhaustion to often trump all else. But with a family history of heart disease, I know permanently tweaking my diet must be a good idea.

I’ve also learned to eat with more discipline during the course of this experiment, an approach I hope to continue. For me, and I think for many others, it’s easy to let ourselves trample over some vague notion that we’ll avoid or limit ingesting items that are “bad†for us. But living by a hard set of rules—no animal products—made self-control much easier, and in a strange way the transition to imposing those boundaries was relatively easy.

While I’m no longer so regimented, I do hope to apply something of that mindset going forward. Having been careful not to break the vegan diet, I’m more aware now of what food I’m putting in my mouth and a little more cautious. I’m not going to walk by the kitchen at work and absentmindedly pop a doughnut hole in my gullet, that’s for sure.

But enough of what I’m not going to eat; let’s talk about what I have returned to consuming. When our veganism ended last week, my wife ran out and bought five different kinds of cheeses while I was out-of-town (she left me a bit of brie and some gouda). After one final vegan meal in Boston’s South Station, of all places, I visited my friend in New York’s Chinatown. After three weeks, he unknowingly marked my return to the culinary mainstream the next morning by running out to get—Chinese buns stuffed with barbecue pork. OK, perhaps a bit anti-climatic, but a good breakfast, and a good friend. Since then I’ve eaten a lot of seafood and cheese, some chicken and pork and a little beef. I really didn’t have any physical problems transitioning back, though I did get a bit of a stomach stampede after my first cheeseburger.

And so I’m back on the omnivorous bandwagon, back participating in the great circle of life. And I don’t really have any ethical problems with that. While I suspect many people become vegans, or at least vegetarians, out of concern for the welfare of farm animals, I just don’t know how strongly I care about that. I’ve seen animals butchered, and while I’d like it to be done as humanely as possible, I don’t have a problem assigning them that lot in life. And while I’ll probably make some effort to find socially responsible animal products, if it’s a choice between occasionally eating questionable items or forgoing them, I’ll likely choose the former.

While it was frustrating at times not being able to eat certain foods because they contained a minor amount of eggs or a dairy product, I didn’t find going vegan that difficult overall. It certainly could have been worse. I recently read about a reporter who, in a transparent effort to top me, has gone “freegan.†From my understanding, that means not only becoming a vegan, but then trying to eat locally grown products and “dumpster diving†to save discarded food.

I don’t think that’s for me. But if you do see me rummaging around in your garbage can one night soon, just remember, it’s all in the name of research.

 

Comments

 

8 Responses to “Where’s the Beef, End of the Roadâ€

 

Kyle on February 5th, 2008 2:45 pm

Great job for giving it the old college try. I wish everyone realized that it’s easier than they think. I’m glad that, although you are back to eating animal products, you know that it’s good to limit the meat and dairy intake a little. Self-control is definitely not an attribute shared with most Americans so I applaud your efforts.

driley on February 5th, 2008 2:50 pm

Quitter.

RKL on February 5th, 2008 3:41 pm

11 pounds? That’s it? Another 6 months and you would have been down to 27 pounds, with green skin from all the chlorophyll. I enjoyed reading your blog about your vegan adventures, Michael.

Kristian on February 5th, 2008 5:07 pm

I must give you credit for trying out your trial period vegan diet. It’s good to hear that your experience has taught you to be more careful about what you put into your body. Now if only EVERYONE could give the vegan lifestyle a chance. What a happy world it would be for cows.

lsousa on February 5th, 2008 8:25 pm

being a vegan is not just eating non animal products…its a way of life. not cooking in pans that have had meats cooked in them…not wearing animal products…its not just about food. it is not an easy way to live. eating out is next to impossible since restaurants do cook vegetarian foods in pots and pans that have been used to cook meats.

Mike on February 5th, 2008 8:26 pm

Don’t pay attention to Riley. We know he wants the vegan life and needed you to start the trend in the newsroom.

What’s with the picture of the pig getting slaughtered being placed below your blog notice on the front page? Is the editor having fun with you too?

Don’t tell us you were in Milford the other night celebrating getting off the vegan diet…

Pete on February 5th, 2008 8:31 pm

Sooooo, you go off the Vegan diet, and suddenly there is a slaughtered pig found in a Milford apartment. Coincidence? Hmmmmmmmmm……….

Mike on February 6th, 2008 10:24 am

Don’t pay attention to David’s comment- he wanted you to start a trend in the newsroom so he could bring in burgers for dinner.

Speaking of dinner, what’s with the pig in the bedroom article next to the your blog entry on the home page?

The timing makes me wonder if you had something to do with that one. Either that or the editor has a sense of humor…

Peter H

 

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