"Not Going Back"

Well, its been almost 5 months and I'm still a Vegetarian. I never thought I could do it but once I make up my mind to do something I usually do. The benefits are, I'm getting slimmer around the waist, now 34 plus and I feel much better physically. It seems like its taking too much time to lose the weight (like I want everything done yesterday) but my stomach is disappearing and I'm not as tired. I'm down to 162 pounds. I know I have lost a few pounds of fat around my waist line. They make all sorts of foods and veggie burgers. There are also recipes and web sites for vegetarians. Its a big market now and getting bigger. When I was very young I asked my Dad what was in a hotdog? He was a part time butcher at the A and P (Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company) supermarket before it was called a supermarket. Then it was more of a big neighborhood market on our street. I remember walking to the store when I was very young by myself. It was at a time when the streets were safe and I went to see how he did the meat. I remember thinking that. “How he did the meat” At the time you could eat meat safely because it was just meat. The cattle, sheep and pigs weren't injected with steroids, hormones and chemicals and chickens weren't fed tainted grain. It was at a time when they butchered the cows and pigs with a reasonable semblance of dignity, if there is such a thing. When I was young I was also very curious like most kids are. The "How comes" and "Whys" were part of my vocabulary. I said and I remember saying this, "Dad, what's in a hot dog"? He said, after a moments hesitation, "Lorenzo, they put anything and everything they can sell on a cow". (Now I realize what that is.) He went on to say, "They don't waste anything". I said, Oh, but how do they make them? How come they look like that? Pointing at them from behind the counter in the show case. I was so short I could barely see over that wooden cutting board behind the counter. He hesitated, and did have a look on his face like. Should I tell him this stuff? Well, he did and told me that guts are intestines and they are stuffed with ground up cow parts. I don’t want to say what parts but if you think about that today and how its all about making money you can just imagine. A year or so later I walked down stairs into the cellar in my Grandfathers house and I seen my Grand Father making Genoa Salami putting stuff into those intestines from a butchered pig. It was later around Christmas where I have vivid memories of my Grand Mother killing a very young Lamb in the garage for Christmas dinner and hearing it scream. I watched her as she held it upside down so the blood would drain out of its slit throat into a pot. I can still remember my Aunt Mary chasing me out of the garage. I have never in my life eaten Lamb or Sheep. That was years ago and now with the way they mass produce sheep, cattle and pigs, the way they slaughter them and poison them with steroids I will never eat meat again. The Beef and Pigs are injected with growth hormones to mass produce them. Veal is made from baby Calf's kept in those small plastic cages you see on the side of barns only to slaughtered very young for the meat. The same thing with Chickens. They are locked in small cages suffering and crying used only for their eggs and then slaughtered for fast food nuggets. Believe me, they mince and feed you everything on that chicken including the fat and skin. It’s the same with fish. If you knew how they make Fish-sticks you would never eat that crap again. The oceans now are poisoned with mercury. Remember the Mercury warnings? They don’t say that anymore so you assume its not bad but believe me its worse now. Now its oil and what ever else they dump in the ocean. Don’t you ever believe that they care because they don’t. Remember when you could trust the producers of food. Well, now you can't! Stop and take a look at all the fat over weight people limping around this country. Believe me, No one cares!  They make all that garbage to make money and you eat it. Don't believe or trust any of them...

This link is for a Vegetarian recipe site.... Check it out you won't be sorry...

 http://vegetarian.about.com/od/sandwichesandwraps/r/vegpaninibasil.htm