A Lesson Learned

Last night, I decided to bake the Morningstar veggie bites that I had purchased the day before. Spinach and artichoke – they sounded edible and looked good at the store and I bought them without paying too much attention to the label. (And, wow they were great! Amazing actually!) And then in curiousity over the grams of protein after I ate them – I noticed in the ingredients it said “egg whites”.


Shit.


I looked to see if it mentioned that the eggs were from free-range chicken but couldn’t find any info. So my first failure in eating "non-cruelty" food as far as I know. I was so mad at myself - why didn’t I look carefully before buying them?!

And then I just had the weirdest sense of hopelessness and defeat and so many things were running through my head. I already screwed up.


How am I going to do this for life?! And how, can I, just one person, ever make a difference? Am I crazy for wanting to do this? I felt like giving up. I heard the words of people saying that “not all farms are factory farms” and “not all animals are treated inhumanely before they’re slaughtered” and thinking maybe I'm overreacting by wanting to do this.

So I was just bummed out for awhile last night...thinking how my giving up meat won't help any, how there are so many animals out there that i can't help and how my heart aches for all the unwanted, neglected, abused horses and cats and dogs and I wish i could help every one. Argh. I felt so mad and just.....powerless.

This morning, I tried to remind myself – its another day and that small changes add up.

And despite the many people out there who inflict cruelty on animals - there are also many that do incredible, wonderful, selfless things to help animals.


Like the people at Rolling Dog Ranch: http://rollingdogranch.org/


















Or the people behind Save a Forgotten Equine: http://www.safehorses.org/index.html







These guys are awesome inspirations to me. And reminders that small change - or even helping one life is something.


So I'm gonna buck up - keep taking small steps - read labels carefully - and see where I end up.


Today’s Food Diary (so far):
Bkfst: Granola bar & protein bar, iced tea
Lunch: thai food: cashew nut & veggie stir fry, vegetarian pad thai & rice
Snack: skinny vanilla latte

Last night for dinner I had:
Hummus & ½ piece of naan
Steamed broccoli & cauliflower
Morningstar Veggie bites – spinach and artichoke
Frozen yogurt
Popcorn


PS - I emailed Morningstar to ask them about their egg sources – I doubt I’ll get a reply, but still it felt good – empowering almost – to communicate with them as a consumer and ask about free range chickens.