Those chops.

“Nothing comes from violence, and nothing ever could.” -Sting, “Fragile”

I’m pretty confident that my mom’s pork chops that we ate as kids were just one of the Universe’s way of encouraging my decision to become a vegetarian. Those chops may have been rawhide in disguise. Who knows? But all I can remember for certain were the torturous moments of gnawing on that pork and trying to choke it down with gulps of thick, whole milk and wanting to die. My jaws ached, my mouth dried up and my anxiety grew as my brother ran out the door to play while I was left behind to “finish my meal.” Those chops. We might as well just have teethed on our shoes. To this day, I still shutter when I see pork chops and applesauce on a menu.

Don’t get me wrong, my mom cooked a lot of amazing things while we were growing up. All of our snacks were homemade: granola, baked apples, creatively flavored popcorn, cookies, pastries and hand-kneaded breads. Very little was store-prepped or processed. We rarely got to get ice cream when the Ice Cream Man rolled around in his truck playing that creepy music because our mom had made homemade orange juice popsicles in those clever little Tupperware containers (who came up with that bright idea?). I seethed with envy as my friends ran around the neighborhood with their Bomb Pops, Screwballs and Ice Cream Sandwiches. All of our cereal was some type of bran or grain or what I thought was bark. Rarely did we get to have Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops or the joy of having the roofs of our mouths torn off as we enjoyed a bowl of Cap’n Crunch. And when my mom did buy factory-made cookies, they were Pecan Sandies. What kid likes those?!? And forget about Happy Meals. There was no such meal that was happy at our house…especially on pork chop and applesauce night!

But truthfully, I am extremely grateful for the way my mom prepared our meals. As a result, I do believe that I now make choices about my food that are nurturing precisely because she took the time to make homemade meals and snacks. I now prefer earthy whole grain bread, I love vegetables and I don’t crave Lucky Charms. I do crave indulgences however, like red wine, dark chocolate and pizza but these days, I’ve learned to spoil myself more often on those luxury foods that are whole, simple and nourishing. And those that are less likely to cause harm to me and to the Earth and its inhabitants where I coexist.

It wasn’t just those chops that turned me off to meat. It was Earth Day, 1990 at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. I was a sophomore in high school and my friends and I decided to goof off and head down to the zoo to partake in the Earth Day festivities. Really, we just wanted to hang out together. I had no idea that my experience at the zoo that day would so shape my thoughts and opinions about eating meat. But that day changed everything. We wandered around the zoo checking out the animals, teasing each other and laughing our heads off. It was a great day to be a high school student. And then I stumbled across the PETA informational table and saw those horrific pictures of the factory farms, and that was enough for me. At that time in my life, I just thought it was gross. I was a sophomore and all I thought was how disgusting those slaughter houses were and that I couldn’t possibly ingest another piece of meat that came from such an ugly place. That was it. That day I stopped and I’ve never looked back.

But I have looked forward and the more I learn, the more I understand the ramifications of my choices every day. One of the yogic practices is ahimsa, meaning non-violence. We can practice ahimsa in a variety of ways: managing our road rage, refraining from using swear-words (I’m still working on that) or simply committing to compassion. Compassion in our thoughts, our words and our actions.

Wednesday, April 22nd is Earth Day. The benefits of a vegetarian diet are vast and wide and support a healthy environment. Consider the following benefits from the North American Vegetarian Society. A vegetarian diet:
-Reduces the risk of major killers such as heart disease, strokes and cancers while cutting exposure to food borne pathogens;
-Provides a viable answer to feeding the world’s hungry through more efficient use of grains and other crops;
-Saves animals from suffering in factory-farm conditions and from the pain and terror of slaughter;
-Conserves vital but limited freshwater, fertile topsoil and other precious resources;
-Preserves irreplaceable ecosystems such as rainforests and other wildlife habitats;
-Decreases greenhouse gases that are accelerating global warming;
-Mitigates the ever-expanding environmental pollution of animal agriculture.

What will you do to support our Earth and our environment this year? If a vegetarian diet is not appropriate for you at this time in your life, consider some of the following simple changes:

· Share your used magazines with a friend and then recycle;
· Quit using paper towels…it’s not as difficult as you think;
· Stop buying bottled water. A water cooler and service is inexpensive and convenient. Consider what you spend each month buying those packs of bottled water.
· If you haven’t started using all of those trendy reusable shopping bags that you bought, start today;
· Choose just one day to go completely meat-free. You’ll feel great;
· Shop the perimeter of the grocery store. Those shelves in the middle of the store are filled with processed, packaged foods. It’s better for the environment and great for your waste-line!

There are so many simple, compassionate actions that we can take to create positive change. For more ideas and information, check out www.earthday.gov.

So it wasn’t just those chops that changed my attitude about eating meat but they sure made a lasting impact. Thanks, Mom.

*Please note: Class will be cancelled this Saturday, April 25th due to the Iyengar Workshop.