[Balancing the Scales] A Flexible Thanksgiving

When my mother called to tell me she and my step-father and step-sister might be coming to visit me for Thanksgiving, I initially panicked. They’re going to want turkey…MEAT!…What am I going to do? I stopped eating meat almost 6 months ago, and while it started as a little experiment—30 days without beef, pork or poultry—it kind of stuck.

I had already become an Unintentional Semi-Vegetarian and going meatless wasn’t as difficult as I had expected. When the 30 days were over and I realized how little I missed hamburgers, pork roasts and chicken breasts, I decided to leave meat out of my menu plans for the foreseeable future. I’ve been following a pescetarian diet ever since. I don’t eat beef, pork or poultry, but I do still eat seafood, eggs and dairy products. I chose this diet for various reasons, but the assumptions when I tell people I don’t eat meat are generally that I am either A) trying to lose weight or B) a convert to some sort of militant cult of animal lovers. In fact, I haven’t lost a pound, and while I do love animals I have not joined a cult and am not militant in my opinions on animal consumption.

I am also not completely against eating meat in the future. I take this stance for two reasons: (1) If I tell myself I can’t have it—ever—it’s all I’ll want; and (2) I like meat and think if it is raised responsibly there’s nothing wrong with eating it occasionally. I guess that makes me more of a “flexitarian” than a “pescetarian”, but I don’t really care about the label*. What I care about is that I am consciously choosing what I eat and where it comes from, whether it is meat, chocolate or an apple.

After the initial panic of having to provide turkey for my family, it occurred to me that I might want turkey, too. It is Thanksgiving, after all. So I’m planning to prepare both a vegetarian main dish and two small, locally and sustainably raised roast chickens. That way, I am free to choose whatever my body wants when we sit down at the table. I won’t feel pressured to eat meat if I’m not hungry for it, and my family won’t be pressured to forgo tradition and eat solely vegetarian dishes.

After years of strict diet rules and regulations, I want my diet to be flexible. Rather than letting my obsessive tendencies take over and turn a healthy choice into an unhealthy compulsion—and potentially ruin my Thanksgiving—I am choosing to allow myself everything and anything, so long as I am comfortable with my choice.

* You can read more details about vegetarianism in its many forms at Wikipedia.