Dec
13
Social Omnivore
December 13, 2008 | 2 Comments
It all started after I’m back from a 2 days trip from Penang during our Independence Day holiday at the end of August 2008. Since more than 80% of the readers are foreign, maybe a short introduction is fitting.
Penang is one of the most developed island in Malaysia. It was announced as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in July 2008. Besides being one of the most popular historical cities in Malaysia, it is also a food heaven. Me and my friends ate practically everything we can set our eyes on! As usual, we went to a few visiting spots and the highlight would be Bukit Genting. Besides it being my first visit I also enjoyed the sunset styled Thai food.
All in all it was a great trip! Or so it seems…
Losing Hunger
I went to work the next day. During lunch, my colleagues noticed that I ate less than usual. My usual would be twice their portion so it was quite obvious. I told them that my stomach might still be digesting the food from Penang.
I went back home feeling tired. It got worse during dinner time, I had no appetite and started to have cold sweat. Those symptoms reminded me of the worse food poisoning that I had few years back. I slept real early that night.
To my surprise, nothing happened when I woke up in the next morning. Except one thing, I’m still not hungry. I haven’t eaten anything since lunch the day before. At that point, I’m freaking out. As a big eater, that never happened before in my entire life! I decided to see the doctor. He couldn’t find anything wrong with me and gave me some salt sachet to help restore my body’s proper electrolyte balance and vitamin C tablets.
It took around a week or 7 days for me to get accustomed to the new food requirements. If my previous level of hunger is placed on a scale of 1 to 10. I would say the highest achievable level of hunger after losing hunger would be on the scale of 3. In other words, I don’t feel hungry anymore. Scary huh?
I’ve always wanted to try being a vegetarian as part of my self development exercise. I never got to do it due to my enormous appetite for food and also being a meat lover. Since I’ve already accepted the fate of losing the sensation of hunger, perhaps this is the best timing to be a vegetarian.
Vegetarian Detox
To tell you the truth, the first few weeks after losing hunger really felt like I don’t need food for survival. I felt that having enough fluids is enough for my daily diet. I’ve even contemplated on the idea to go on a fluid diet and see how long I can survive. If losing hunger was the first wave, I’ve even considered the possibility of a second wave where I will lose the need for liquids. I think my fascination in Breatharianism and Sun Gazing is taking its toll.
I ended up eating for the sake of eating, just to prevent myself from collapsing. 5 years ago I will consider myself being vegetarian a joke because I was such a pure meat lover. So pure to a state where I can eat only meat in meals, I can even skip drinking water. So I’m considering this a divine intervention.
Going vegetarian was quite easy without the hunger factor but a few detox symptoms can be observed. My head felt foggy or floaty after the 2nd day. Minor flu started on the 3rd day, it was not serious enough for me to apply sick leave but irritating enough to affect your daily job. I would say that the cumulative effects of these detox symptoms decreased my efficiency by 20%. All detox symptoms, mental fogginess and minor flu was gone after 2 weeks on a vegetarian diet.
Pros And Cons Of Being A Social Omnivore
Pros
- Preventing heart diseases or diseases in particular
I consider myself very healthy, judging from the average of 1 medical leave day per year for the past 5 years. Since my father died of cancer, I have no idea if I am inheriting it in my genes as well, so I am a very health conscious person as a result of that. Better safe than well, dead.. right?
From the many articles I’ve read, reducing the consumption of meat will reduce the level of saturated fat and cholesterol in your body which will prevent the blockages in the arteries that will lead to a heart attack. I can’t really prove this one but so far my diet hasn’t failed me.
- Save the animals
It removed the dread that I sometimes get when eating meat, it’s more joyful now knowing that I don’t kill on a daily basis. You might not know what the animals that you eat has to go through in life to end up in your plate. Without much imagination I can guess that it isn’t pleasurable or fun to be put into this world and be eaten before their premature death.
I’ve even heard some people declared that they are animal lovers but they still eat meat. How unconscious can they be? I mean, it’s okay to eat meat. Do whatever you want with your life, I’m a supporter of free will, but please don’t contradict yourself.
- Help reduce waste
Since turning vegetarian I don’t need to dispose of animal wastes like bones, heads (as a kid I do eat chicken brain) , etc anymore.
- Losing fat
It was very difficult for me to reduce stomach flabs with my enormous appetite before. So turning vegetarian has given me a second chance in eliminating stomach flabs.
- Breaking addiction
Besides the health and social reasons, going vegetarian is also a test for me to overcome addiction, the addiction to meat. I’ve seen friend’s and colleague’s mixed results in quitting smoking, most of them failed, unfortunately. Since I’m not a smoker I need to give myself similar challenge. Breaking the addiction to meat sounded difficult, so I took it.
Cons
- Social outcast
Only about 2% of the people I know are vegetarian. So it’s a real challenge for me to keep up with this practice. So in order for me to “blend in”, I allowed myself to eat meat during social gatherings. On average I eat meat about once a week.
- Stereotype
Most of the people have a stereotype about vegetarians looking pale, weak & sickly. I really have no comments on this but I will go on a weight training schedule for the next 6 months to see if I end up pale and weak. Most of the time I learn from personal experiences and I find these stereotypes highly inaccurate.
Darwin’s Theory And Vegetarianism
Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors through the process he called natural selection. His theory :
As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form.
Being a social omnivore for 3 months now, I began to imagine what would be the next step in human evolution. I consider Darwin’s theory observed the physical side of evolution and I think we’ve almost reached a stage of perfection, judging from our current physical ability and the number of World Records being broken every year in sports. If our physical structure has been evolving through natural selection all this while, I think the next step in mental or spiritual evolution will be based on conscious choice.
If nature chose the more resilient species to survive, I think now it has reached a stage where we must dictate our next evolution as nature is dwindling down in numbers, so to speak. Using our diet as an example, humans are omnivores by nature but herbivors by choice. It is really interesting if we would choose to be herbivors as a species as a solution to the impending global disaster such as global warming.
Is This Permanent?
I really have no idea if this is permanent and I have no idea if I will turn full vegetarian, vegan or even a raw foodist in the future. Being a pure meat lover is definitely a no. Most probably I will stick to my current eating habit for awhile, eating meat socially or being a social omnivore. But one thing is certain, I will surely aim to improve as time goes by, definitely by conscious choice..
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2 Comments so far
Good choice!
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