Today I realized something that to me was stunning. I still am having a hard time dealing with this realization several hours after the fact. I’m having a hard time with it because I currently love to eat meat. It’s delicious and it’s fun to cook, it’s filling, and there are many options. Almost everything I have eaten for the last 18 years or so has included some meat with every meal, but today I realized something about meat that made me a sad panda.

This realization was that meat is not very good for you and your body does not really like it or need it. I realized this today after having eaten only fruits and vegetables for the beginning of the day. I felt energized and clear headed and I was coming up with all sorts of great new ideas for articles and other opportunities that I could take advantage of to help grow this site. Things were going smooth, ideas were flowing and I was feeling good. I was also craving boneless dry ribs, so a co-worker and I placed an order with a restaurant and had some delivered. Since I haven’t started the 30 day raw food detox which I am preparing to do in the coming weeks, I thought it would be fine to eat a big box of dry ribs with a bottle of fruitopia to wash it down.

Because I have been preparing to do the raw food detox I have been trying to eat a lot more fresh fruits and vegetables and steer clear of meats and processed foods more than I ever have in the past. I have noticed that when eating higher quantities of fresh foods you have noticeably higher energy levels, but something I have never noticed before is how when you eat meat or dairy products, you have noticeably lower energy levels. However, I did notice this today after eating those dry ribs.

After eating those dry ribs, within 30 minutes I began to feel more and more fatigued at work. My mind started to feel foggy and I started getting frustrated. This may have been due in part to the fact that I was working with, um, how do I say this.. Someone who may do better working as a doorstop, or paperweight? I think you get the idea, but that doesn’t explain the mental fog and the fatigue. After about 90 minutes passed since having eaten those ribs, I got brutal heart-burn which I am still experiencing. I used to get really bad heart-burn every day, but that has mostly gone away since I quit drinking energy drinks and switched to a low acidity coffee. I quit the energy drinks around the same time I started making a conscious effort to eat more fruits and veggies and I suspect that has played a big part in combatting the heart-burn as well. I noticed today that it was definitely the meat that gave me the reflux this time. I also felt heavy and lazy for a while and got really tired far faster than normal. I am almost nodding off now as I type this post!

Until today I had never noticed how eating meat actually made me have less energy and feel noticeably worse than I did before I ate. It was extra easy to notice this today because instead of eating a meal of many kinds of foods in one sitting, I ate only fruits and veggies for the first part of the day, and when I did eventually eat some meat it was one big serving of only meat with some juice, no veggies or fruits mixed in with it. It has been easy to feel the effects of the meat hitting my digestive system and it came as a not so surprising surprise to me. I still don’t want to believe it because I’m still clinging on to the ‘I love meat’ boat. . . But it’s becoming more and more clear to me that meat may not be a very important part of my future diet.

Try doing an experiment like what I did today, and post your results in the comments below. I’d love to hear your experiences with meat/no-meat and the differences in your energy levels, mental clarity, mood, and anything else you notice that’s different between the two.