I understand if you hate me for bringing it up. Because we love our dairy. Do I speak for both of us? Frothy lattes. Warm quesadillas. Fresh mozzarella cheese pizzas. Any hot dessert a la mode. Butter.
But I watched this again last week and continue to wrestle with whether or not I am going to continue letting dairy into my life.
Meat has always been easier for me to avoid. I announced to my parents that I was a vegetarian after I learned the word in my 5th grade nutrition unit and haven't really looked back.
I remember standing in my uncle's Ohio backyard one summer and having a nose to nose staring contest with one of the cows from the neighboring farm. She walked right up to the fence, hung her head over, and gazed at me for what seemed like hours. It seemed to me that no animal with such depth in her eyes lacked a soul. America's meat economy is not good. I know that there are careful ways to consume meat. There are good farms and honest farmers. But they are difficult and expensive to access and to be very honest, not eating meat at all has been so much easier for me. But saying goodbye to ice cream? That has been a tougher call.
At the recommendation of a friend, I read The China Study by T. Colin Campbell in 2008 and significantly decreased the amount of dairy in my diet as a result. I stopped drinking cow's milk and eating cheese and switched to nut milk and raw sugar. Some of the changes I made stuck but others I eventually wavered on. Did I already mention my thing for ice cream?
Then Daniel and I watched Forks Over Knives with my parents the week after we returned from our honeymoon in 2011. He was already a pretty careful meat-eater but he loved the occasional burger or Chickfila sandwich.
"I'm convinced. We can do it." he said. Meaning switch to an only plant-based diet. So, just like that, we did. It helped that my dad and his wife made the same decision. The research is that compelling. We are talking cure for cancer! Over the next week, we cleared the fridge of dairy and - armed with our very tight two student budget - began making the most basic plant-based meals that you've ever seen. Baked sweet potatoes and salad. Vegetable sandwiches and lentil soup. Baked sweet potatoes and salad again. But we loved it. We were eating so well and so colorfully and feeling so so good. Daniel was interning at a church-based community garden which we paid $25 to join and we were able to cut our grocery bill in half once the spring vegetables started coming in. It was such a fun thing to try together in our first few months of marriage.
Then I got pregnant.
And all I wanted to eat was goldfish crackers and ginger ale. So we indulged those cravings. And then we moved to a new town with unfamiliar grocery stores and a new church with nice people who wanted to feed us. And we fell off the wagon so hard that we rolled off of the path and into the ditch. Plus I was reading this crazy outdated pregnancy book that recommended 80 grams of protein a day for prenatal health. I now know that is as impossible as it sounds. But I wanted to do everything right so I ate as much yogurt and cheese as I could get my hands on. And cake. Because why not.
But we are back to that place where it feels like the right thing again. I have been so so so tired this year. And yes I have been caring for a new baby. Who didn't sleep for a year. So I thought that accounted for it. But then she started sleeping and I still felt lethargic and icky.
More importantly? Where did all this cheese come from? Who are these cows? Where do they live? How do they live? You might be rolling your eyes by now but here is where I am coming from: I believe that the One whose eye is on the sparrow is also on the life of the cow that we have commodified. And that He cares deeply. According to Judeo-Christian Scripture, we humans were charged with dominion as stewards of Creation in the image of God. Sometimes though, we've appropriated that Scripture as if we are lords over Creation who can utilize it however we please.
But whether I have personally abused an animal or simply tried to remain ignorant about where my cheeseburger comes from, I have been given a better invitation. One to participate in the good of Creation rather than the pillaging of it. How the creatures in my food chain live is my concern. My own recklessness about what I eat and the kind of food system I vote for with each dollar I spend has been bothering me. And I would like to be a little more faithful.
Additionally, for all intents and purposes, Ben & Jerry's has apparently stopped producing Cinnamon Buns ice cream. Consequently, walking away from dairy has never been easier.
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