CARNIVORE TO VEGETARIAN – AND BACK AGAIN?
From the midwestern meat and potatoes of my upbringing to Julia Child, meat or fowl has always been the main event on my table. And I haven’t limited myself to muscle meat, but enjoyed sweet breads, liver (young), tongue, tripe, black pudding, and kidneys. I was even exposed to chicken feet, cockscomb, and a sheep’s head in my travels. Organ meats, I admit, are not my all-time favorites, but I’ve given almost everything edible a try at least once.
Shellfish of almost every kind found its way into my mouth, raw and cooked – sea urchins fresh from the sea; raw oysters washed down with a crisp white wine and accompanied by a crunchy slice of baguette slathered with the cultured butter I’ve only found in France; winkles on the English coast.
Years ago on a Hopi Indian reservation I was honored to be offered the cooked eyeball of the sheep’s head boiling away in a cauldron. I was seized by a sudden need to be elsewhere, possibly the only time in my life I’ve found it necessary to turn down a supposedly tasty morsel.
For yearsI bragged that I had a cast-iron stomach which could digest anything, and for many years that was true. Sadly, in the last few years it wasn’t true anymore. Everything I put in my mouth was followed by nausea, bloating, and severe heartburn, the kind that made me think I was having a heart attack. Forced into action, I found a grastro-enterologist who diagnosed GERD. An upper endoscopy revealed mild changes in my lower esophagus called Barrett’s esophagus.
No cause for alarm, said the gastro-enterologist. Just take pantoprazole to alleviate symptoms and you’ll be good to go. So I did. And it seemed to work. Until it didn’t. Even though I minimized the onions, garlic and tomatoes I usually cook with, the symptoms were back despite medication. I confess that the wine I usually drank with my evening meal remained as part of my daily intake, though the doctor said spirits, like vodka, gin, or even whiskey would be easier on my system!! Not the same, I countered, and what about my brain?
So I tried to accommodate my habits by only drinking white wine, then filtering sulfites out of the red wines that I prefer, but which were anathema to my system. I tried putting ice cubes in the wine (mais non!!!) but I wasn’t enjoying food anymore, dreading the inevitable unpleasant reactions of my body. As with everything else in my life, the willingness to change comes only when there is no other option.
I heard about an MD in Chapel Hill who also practiced Ayurvedic medicine. I am skeptical of alternative medicine, but anything was worth a try, and how off the wall could an actual licensed medical doctor be? So I made an appointment.
Here is what Johns Hopkins has to say about Ayurveda:
“Ayurveda,a natural system of medicine, originated in India more than 3,000 years ago. The term Ayurveda is derived from the Sanskrit words ayur (life) and veda (science or knowledge). Based on the idea that disease is due to an imbalance of stress in a person’s consciousness, Ayurveda encourages certain lifestyle interventions and natural therapies to regain a balance between the body, mind, spirit, and the environment.”
It’s a complicated system with unfamiliar terms and concepts, but I trusted Dr. Edwards’s knowledge to guide me through. He found where my system was out of balance by a series of questionnaires I filled out about my eating and drinking habits, and by taking my “pulse” on various points on my arm, but not my wrist. Apparently it is possible to check the health of other organs in the body by this method. He recommended the vegetables and fruits I should eat, and some to avoid. He told me to eat only lightly cooked food, to eat my main meal in the middle of the day, and eat lightly at night. He recommended I keep a regular schedule every day, including meditating twice a day and a 30 minute walk in the morning. Alas, no form of alcohol was recommended!!
So for once I did as I was told, with desperation to goad me.
I started to feel better very soon. I lost 25 pounds. I slept well. The symptoms of GERD went away. I regained a sense of inner solidity. I stopped taking Pantoprazole. A subsequent endoscopy showed no Barrett’s esophagus. I began this regime with occasional culinary adventures in October, 2021. And then, in May of 2022, I slipped and broke my hip. Unfortunately, that turned my life upside down.
Meals in the hospital were inedible for me, and I lost another ten pounds. At home, I went back to my lentils, beans, rice, farro, etc, plus veg and fruit, while slowly recovering strength. All was going well until I got Covid. It was never life threatening, just thoroughly unpleasant and slow to lessen its grip.
At that point, my energy level was unacceptably low. The anniversary of my fall approached. I started feeling that maybe I was missing something that I formerly got from meat. Maybe B vitamins? So I bought nutritional yeast to supplement B complex vitamins, and it helped some. But I had started painting again with the best art teacher I’ve ever come across (more in another newsletter!!) and longed to feel up to the remaining challenges and opportunities I might encounter. I finally gave myself permission to paint however I want to!!
I added meat – once a week, then twice, and although I can’t be sure that is the only reason, I feel better. I feel stronger. I walk with very little pain now. I am more optimistic. Of course it’s also spring – the azalea are blooming, as are the Dogwoods. Trees are beginning to leaf, and it’s warmer outside. It’s time to put new flowers in the pots and bare spots in the garden.
I’m taking longer walks to improve my aerobic fitness, which has taken a hit while my hip was healing. And I can do it.
I’m telling you this because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only aging person to experience digestive issues, and to say there are alternatives to medication. This worked for me. It wasn’t easy to make the change in my diet, but was definitely worth it.
I became aware during the convalescence from my hip that it would have been easy to give up. Easy to tell myself that I’m old enough – that the effort required to make it through was more than I wanted to make and I could just let go. I am not sure where the willingness to do what it would take to heal came from. But the life force, whatever it is, pushed me through each day, and now it’s spring again and I’m still here. Making summer plans. Making art. Loving my life.
Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as a spectator.
Confucius
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.