I HAVE BEEN EATING A VEGETARIAN DIET SINCE 1979

The first time I heard about a vegetarian diet was about 40 years ago. I remember thinking green, that is, how could someone only eat green vegetables. For some reason yellow vegetables did not come to my mind.

At that time I mainly ate the meat off my plate and left the vegetables. Vegetables.. yuck. Become a vegetarian….who would have thought.

It all started when I joined the SDA church and met my future husband. I was invited to his house for lunch after church. As I was taking up my food he stood behind me and said, “We don’t eat meat”. Yet on the table (his mother’s) was barbecued chicken. So I resisted taking the chicken though I badly wanted some of it. So in the beginning I ate a vegetarian diet to please my new friend, however I have continued for the vegetarian health benefits that I learned about.

I‘ve eaten fish since that day, but I gave it up after a friend showed us white worms in a fish he had just cut open. My husband however started eating fish again, he has a fish addiction(Sshh don’t say I told you).

So counting in the fish eating days, I have been on a vegetarian diet for 28 years, since 1979.

People think I am younger than I look, and at one time people thought I was my children’s sister. Recently someone asked my husband, “what are you doing to keep you’re wife looking so young?”

Our children were bought up vegetarian, although my youngest will eat meat sometimes. I am sure his grandparents use to slip him meat to eat. However my oldest cannot tolerate meat. If he should eat something with meat in it by mistake he gets sick. He’s kind of irritated at us because of it. (ha!)

Of course when my mother found out I was bringing my children up on a vegetarian diet, she said they must have protein, where are they going to get their protein from? And milk where are they going to get their calcium from for strong bones?

I never was a milk drinker, for me that’s another yucky substance.

My oldest son, who has never eaten meat, is now 6’ something and very strong. My youngest son is about 5’ 8” tall and very athletic.

Since I am a Christian, I trusted in the word of God, and God originally gave us a meatless diet, and I figured that the God that created us surely new what food was best for us.

The only problem with becoming a vegetarian is ensuring that you eat healthy foods. However the SDA Church provided seminars and cooking classes for instruction on vegetarian nutrition and health.

Oh, there is one more problem with a vegetarian diet- eating out… more on that later.