Our journey to better health...

Simon and I have toyed with the idea of becoming vegetarians for years. We've tried it numerous times but never with the full gusto it deserves. So, here we go again. We've both decided to give it our best shot to try to drastically reduce the amount of meat we consume. We don't eat a great deal of it anyway, so it really shouldn't be too hard. My biggest challenge will be to find recipes that the whole tribe will enjoy!

For the last 18 months or so, what meat we have eaten has been organic or free range, if available. I made this conscious choice after reading 'The Ethics of What We Eat', by Peter Singer and Jim Mason. This book opened my eyes, big time! It delves deep into animal cruelty, the environment, economics, culture and social justice as it traces the groceries of three separate families, to their sources. It shocked me and made me want to eat more responsibly. At that point in time, we weren't ready to give meat away altogether so we chose to at least purchase items that were morally and ethically aware. I can tell you though, grocery shopping became more than just a chore - it became research! I looked at the labels on just about everything I purchased to not only check what was in it, but also where it was from. Do you know that you cannot buy a can of tuna that actually has tuna in it from Australia? All tuna comes from the over-fished and under-patrolled waters of Thailand. Food for thought, hey?

So, what made us decide to try going vego again? Well, we watched this - http://www.therealfoodchannel.com/page/18.html, and it gave us a whole different perspective. This video moves away from the animal cruelty and ethics side, and explains in laymans terms just what animal fat does to the human body. It is so obvious that we were not meant to be meat eaters! If you are even a little bit interested in become vegetarian, or even just reducing the amount you eat, then you should watch the video above. It's long, but worth a peek.

Anyway, wish us luck! And please, send me through your favourite vegetarian recipes!!