It was around 2013 when my friend challenged me to cut out dairy from my diet as a way to help reduce allergy symptoms because when I have symptoms, they hit hard and last as long as a month or more. I readily said “Yes” and doubled down by removing meat from my meals, too.
Fast forward about 7 years and I changed my diet a little bit. I decided I’d eat fish but only fish caught off my dad’s boat. I figured if Jesus ate fish His dad provided, I could do the same. Plus I was living in Nashville so the opportunity to eat fresh-caught fish was so low already, the adjustment wouldn’t be very drastic.
Then this year, 2024, on Easter Sunday I was sitting in a restaurant having lunch with family after church and everything changed. It wasn’t because of the food served that day, but in a moment of decisiveness, I determined within that I had been sticking with the vegan diet now just out of habit and ritual. I knew it was time to add meat back in. I didn’t change anything I consumed during that Easter meal but within a week or two, being vegan was a thing of the past. I was tired of limiting myself that way.
Another funny part of the story, and maybe it affected me subconsciously, that friend who challenged me years earlier, he was a vegan at the time but I had talked to him earlier this year (2024) and he said, “Oh yeah, I changed my diet years ago and started eating meat again.” I said, “That would’ve been good to know!!” Not that I was doing it for him but there was a sense of camaraderie with both of us being vegan, living in Nashville, etc.
Now we’re both normal again, I guess! I didn’t regret becoming a vegan and I don’t regret ending that era, either. The full picture, though, is that I haven’t added dairy back in very much. I actually love being able to pick and choose what I want from normal food and vegan-prepared food, as well. I see it as being able to enjoy the best of both worlds.
What have I enjoyed the most since going back to meat? Sliced turkey, sliced ham, chicken parmesan, and lots more. What do I still eat from the vegan days? Beyond burgers, Daiya brand cheese, almond milk.
How about you? Have you been vegan or vegetarian then gone back to eating the food you’d been avoiding? How did it make you feel?
-Out of the Wilderness
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