Sausage Self-Awareness

 
I had a bit of a 'culinary revelation' yesterday that may have changed my attitude to my own diet. Normally, when I start a post like that, it involves me trying weird combinations of food that haven't been placed together before; but this was different. This was more negative, but I think it will have a positive outcome.
Ten o'clock yesterday morning, after watching some cartoons with the boys and having a couple of mugs of tea, I decided to do something I haven't done for ages and make myself a cooked breakfast. We had some cumberland sausages and some mushrooms in the fridge so I fired up the frying pan and set about the construction of a tiger bread breakfast sandwich. Then a weird thing happened... I found myself watching the sausages as they sizzled away, and becoming rather repulsed by them. I realised that there was nothing attractive or appetising about them whatsoever, which isn't something I've thought about before. I realised that, not only could I not tell what body part I might be cooking and about to ingest, but do I not even know for sure which animal this 'meat' even came from. And that made me feel rather queasy. And in the ten minutes that followed, as they continued to cook away in their shallow bath of sunflower oil, I found myself seriously contemplating whether I should even eat them at all. I remembered all the facts and figures I'd heard about how animal husbandry is bad for the environment, and how a modern carnivorous diet is bad for the human body, and for the first time in my life I started understanding why so many people choose to avoid this stuff altogether.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to go crazy and go vegan or anything, but I'd like to avoid future problems for both myself and the planet I live on, and I'd also like to set a good example for my sons, and show them that a 'stuff it, it'll be ok' attitude to your eating habits may not always be the best option. So I am seriously thinking about having a serious look at changing my intake of certain foods, and limited my intake of the less-nutritional ones. If I can't cook something without looking at it and feeling uneasy, then why would I go ahead and swallow it?
None of this stopped me eating the sandwich, by the way, but that sort of happened on autopilot, rather than being a conscious choice. And a few hours later I had very unpleasant stomach sensations and a very runny poo. Which I suspect may have been a psychosomatic reaction to the thoughts I was having while cooking them. My brain was going 'sod this, I'm not having those in my system' and sent signals to my digestion tract to remove them as soon as possible.
So watch this space. Here in my forties I may suddenly be thinking about making food plans and making better choices.

RC 18-5-26