Follow Up to Meat-Eating and Spiritual Practice

Filed Under health, islam, life changes, spiritual practice

It’s been a little over a month since I determined to stop eating factory farmed meat in this post. It has not been difficult at all. Only once have I strayed, and that was unintentional. At the UU bloggers’ dinner I ordered moros y cristianos (beans and rice) and it contained little bits of bacon. I had thought they were over/under cooked pieces of rice until I really paid attention.

But overall the change has been very easy. A few times I’ve been tempted, but never seriously. As a result I’ve been eating a lot more shrimp, fish and mushrooms as they are the common protein- rich alternatives to meat on restaurant menus. (I keep my intake of soy to a minimum because it often disagrees with me).

The switch to free-range, hormone-free, vegetarian fed meat has been so uneventful that I feel compelled to stretch more. It doesn’t seem right to avoid the steak and then eat the french fries brushed with animal fat - fat that I’m pretty certain came from a factory farmed animal. So I want to lean more toward the way I used to be - avoiding all food and goods with dead animal by-products unless I know how the animal was treated. This requires more vigilance when purchasing goods that contain things like gelatin, pectin, tallow, and rennet. From experience I know this is a lot more challenging. Although I already purchase “cruelty-free” skin care products, I might need to switch shampoos, and definitely need to find an alternative to my dryer sheets. This also means eating out a lot less and avoiding many refined and boxed foods. Worst of all, I don’t get that gorgeous, leather, Hobo International handbag I saw in an airport store on the way to GA and am still coveting!

People’s responses when they find out about the distinction I’m making between factory farmed meat and free-range, etc. meat has been positive across the board. Of course, I live in Portland, Oregon where organic, free-range, hormone-free, etc. products are so prevalent that even those who don’t seek them know what they are.

The experience has helped me to realized that committing to something as a spiritual practice is not the same thing as committing to something for any other reason. This is why it’s not been hard to resist factory farmed meat. This is why I used to be able to fast as a child and adolescent with relative ease compared to skipping more than two meals in a row as an adult. A spiritual practice enriches, whereas “diets” are about what we aren’t allowed to have.

So naturally, I’m trying to devise an argument of spiritual discipline to present to myself that will cause me to lose weight. If I can be convinced that to eat less and exercise regularly is a spiritual imperative, that will be better than trying to ignore that tasty, buttery croissant “just” because it will make me fat(ter). The most difficult part is changing the motivating factor. When I chose not to eat factory farmed meat, I was inspired by a desire to express my compassion for other animals in a very real way. There was nothing in it for me, per se. Losing weight has a great deal of obvious benefit to me, so it’s hard not to keep going back to “fitting into my clothes better!” as a motivation. And such a reason isn’t enough, I’ve found, to help me stay the weight I want to be. Because that reason is all about me, just like gobbling up food when I’m already full is all about me.

Last summer I weighed 30 pounds less than I do now, and I have a handsome, brilliant, donut husband who loves me, deeper friendships, less debt and a generally better life. I have no God to please and no health problems related to my size. What does what I look like have to do with the rest of the world? The answer is nothing.

Gradually, an argument and approach to more healthful eating habits have been formulating in my mind. I am forcing myself to turn away from the idea of how I look to face instead the reality of how I live in relation to others. When I cannot refute it - in the way I could not refute some of the arguments pertaining to factory farmed meat - I will commit to it. For the time being, I will leave on this anticipatory note from the Sahih Bukhari (a collection of Islamic traditions:

There was a companion of the Prophet Muhammad named Ibn Omar, who never took a meal unless a poor person was eating with him.

Comments

10 Responses to “Follow Up to Meat-Eating and Spiritual Practice”

Matt on July 15th, 2006 1:42 pm

I have tried to avoid factory processed foods, particularly meat, over the past year. For weeks on end I have not eaten any meat. I also try to buy fair trade products wherever possible and refuse to spend relatively vast sums of money on fast food, restaurants when people are starving.

In particular, I feel it is hard to eat meat when its origins and the way it is brought to us is so uncertain, and at times surrounded in controversy. Farming methods are a major issue in the UK.

This change in diet and a pretty intense training routine has seen me run six half marathons and clock up mileage of up to 50 miles a week.

My weight has shot down but as I’ve hit my ideal weight, and continued the training, I’m struggling not to become underweight. As a result, I have started buying fresh chicken - and tried to buy ethically - so as to make my plates of pasta, fresh greens and cheeses a bit more substantial!

As it happens, my weight loss started because I knew I was overweight - and I wanted to be both healthier and look slimmer.

Also, the wider benefits of a healthier lifestyle include a clearer mind, generally feeling better, and the sheer adrenalin of completing fitness challenges (particularly marathon running and mountain climbing) are now what motivates me. I would also argue there is some spiritual value from charging down a road with thousands of other people!

Perhaps these are selfish or based ultimately on my own needs, but I hope by buying ethically and doing charity runs etc I am helping others in the process.

For me, living with an awareness of The Sacred / Eternal Spirit / God, is not just about helping others live their lives, but cherishing and making the most of your own gift of life.
Matt on July 15th, 2006 1:43 pm

ps. sorry about the super long post!
Will Shetterly on July 15th, 2006 4:28 pm

For protein, all beans are helpful, and some other veggies, too. Broccoli is just about a wonder food.

As for leather, there is a fine vegetarian rationalization for wearing it: The leather industry is a by-product of the food industry. No one is killing cows for their hides.

On the other hand, I can respect the notion that you might not want to do anything that subsidizes the cattle industry, and hide is certainly a source of income.
Nio on July 15th, 2006 6:53 pm

Have you considered the Eat Local Challenge?. August would be a great month to do it in because of the available harvest of fresh veggies.
LaReinaCobre on July 16th, 2006 3:28 pm

Matt,
There’s never any need to apologize for writing a thoughtful response to one of my entries. I hope I didn’t convey the idea that eating healthier and exercising for one’s health or appearance was “bad.” If so, that wasn’t my intention. But I’ve done that in the past (as recently as 18 months ago, but when circumstances changed (e.g. became busier, went out to eat all the time with the DH, injury), my weight just sort of fell low down on the priority list. I’m not the type to do things because they are in my self-interest. For example, I wait until the last day to file my taxes, even when I KNOW I’m getting money back! I have more success in accomplishing goals when I feel accountable to others, or have made a spiritual commitment to it. So this post is about me trying to find a way to revision something that I want (to be fitter and thinner) in a way that makes that a consequence, but not the goal, of other actions.

Definitely taking care of oneself is important and I agree it should be a part of one’s spiritual life, too. You can’t save the world and neglect yourself.

Congrats on the half marathons - wow!!! I can’t even imagine myself doing that.
LaReinaCobre on July 16th, 2006 3:31 pm

Will,
True, leather comes from an already dead animal. I don’t see anything wrong with leather, actually. If the leather came off someone’s farm who raised the cow in a pasture and let it eat grass, I’d buy it. It’s the factory farmed aspect that I’m trying to avoid and if I don’t know where the animal part came from, then I want to err on the side of not buying it.
powderblue on July 17th, 2006 6:30 am

I wouldn’t worry about the bacon bits inadvertently included in your beans and rice dish. Obsessing about trace ingredients (which you were not, but I just want to make this related point) can be counterproductive to opening the eyes of others to a compassionate diet. They’ll think it’s just too difficult. Thank you for showing that it’s not.

Carol Adams advises in her insightful book, Living Among Meat Eaters, to call ahead to restaurants and talk with the chef about the menu. With a little advance notice, chefs often like the challenge of preparing an eye appealing and tasty plant based meal. Also, these items increasingly are already on the menu, and the chef (but not always the wait-staff) can guide you to them.

You may also be interested in Adams’ better known book, The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist – Vegetarian Critical Theory.
LaReinaCobre on July 20th, 2006 7:50 pm

Thanks for the recommendations, powderblue.
Evan on July 30th, 2006 6:41 pm

Perhaps losing weight doesn’t have to be the end goal, especially as weight does not seem to be causing you any harm. Eating a diet based on spiritual compassion and respect may very well lead to healthiness in yourself anyway. Perhaps the goals of self-love and acceptance should be sought. You are a great person with so much to give.
Sarah G on August 4th, 2006 2:42 pm

Hey Hafidha!
As a 16-year vegetarian and 1-year vegan, I totally commend the steps you’ve taken towards eliminating factory farmed chicken, beef, etc. from your diet. You mentioned eating shrimp and fish as alternatives, and I wondered if you were aware that much of the shrimp and fish in the US is factory farmed. There’s a good article on shrimp at
http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/
backgrdrs/2002/w02v8n1.html
and one on fish at
http://www.factoryfarm.org/topics/fish/
Wishing you well in moving toward more sustainable and gentle choices!