I eliminated beef from my diet about two years ago, as an easy diet modification to eliminate a possible contributor to my cholesterol levels and weight gain. I switched to turkey or sausage for these kinds of recipes which normally rely on beef. In the past two years, I also began to increase my fish consumption, which I’d never eaten in college or Flagstaff (where there just wasn’t any fish around except for at Red Lobster).

A couple weeks ago, I made some chicken fingers just because we happened to have some in the freezer. It’s an old favorite recipe for the “Ultimate Chicken Fingers”, which uses a batter of Bisquik and Parmasan to add flavor to the chicken. This used to be a staple in our cooking. But once the chicken fingers made their way onto my plate, I just couldn’t stomach it, and I realized that I don’t even like chicken anymore. Chicken has gradually made its way out of my diet over the last few years, and I hadn’t even noticed.

So I got to thinking, what meat am I really eating? I don’t eat beef. I don’t eat chicken. We’ve only bought ground turkey once in the past month for a spaghetti meat sauce, but I ate many of my spaghetti bowls without the meat sauce, simply with butter and parmesan. I enjoy pork, bratwursts and ribs, but I haven’t opted for these meals as regularly now as I used to either. My taste buds and stomach have changed. What does this leave me with? Fish and veggies.

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