It was a pleasant summer evening when, finally, we didn’t have to think about studying and we just walked along the narrow cobblestone streets of the central part of the city of Lvov in the company of Sykh punks. Sykhiv, this is one of the sleeping areas of Lviv, and punks (my friends) belonged to that category of informal youth, which can be called rather “majors”, who do not disdain reading various philosophical books. One of my friends suggested attending one of the philosophical lectures that was just starting nearby. Not finding a more interesting alternative, we just looked at this event out of curiosity. Of course, it was a lecture on Eastern philosophy, but the topic of vegetarianism at that moment became the most key for me and turned my entire eighteen-year life, which had just begun to grow with moss. I heard about a film that shows the process of killing cows in a slaughterhouse. Some girl told me it in detail, and about how animals are stunned with electric current, and about how cows cry before they die, and about how their throats are cut, draining the blood while still conscious, and about how they film skin without waiting for the animal to stop showing signs of consciousness. It would seem that a teenager who listened to heavy music, wore leather jackets, was very aggressive, what could have affected him so much from this story, given that the absorption of meat was an everyday and necessary process for a growing organism. But something trembled in me, and even without seeing the film, but only visualizing it in my head, I realized that it was not right to live like this and at the same moment I decided to become a vegetarian. Strangely, these same words did not affect my friends in any way, and although they did not find how to object to me, they did not take my side either. That very evening, when I came home and sat down at the table, I realized that I would have nothing to eat. At first I tried to just fish out a piece of meat from the soup, but I immediately realized that eating what was left was a stupid idea. Without leaving the table, I made a statement that from this day on I am a vegetarian. That now everything that contains meat, fish and eggs is completely unsuitable for me to eat. The fact that this is just the very first stage of “food perversion” I learned a little later. And that I am a lacto-vegetarian, and there are even more strict followers of this culture who (it’s scary to think) do not even consume dairy products. My dad showed almost no emotion. He had already begun to get used to the fact that his son rushes to extremes. Heavy music, piercings, young ladies of dubious informal appearance (well, at least not boys). Against this background, vegetarianism seemed just an innocent pastime, which, most likely, will pass in a very short time. But my sister took it extremely with hostility. Not only is the sound space at home occupied by the melodies of Cannibal Corpse, but now also in the kitchen they will cut off some of the usual pleasures. A few days passed and my father started a serious conversation about the fact that now I need to either cook separately for me, or everyone should switch to my way of eating. In the end, he decided not to focus too much on what had happened and made a compromise. All boiled food began to be prepared without meat, however, if desired, it was always possible to make a sandwich with sausage. My sister, on the other hand, threw tantrums at me several times about the fact that she could not even just eat in her house, and this aggravated the already conflict situation with her. As a result of the conflict, we still do not maintain a relationship, despite the fact that later she became an even more ardent vegetarian than me. Moreover, my father also became a vegetarian two years later. He always joked in front of his acquaintances that this was a necessary measure in his life, but his sudden healing became a strong argument in favor of vegetarianism. My father was from the guys of the post-war generation, when there was only penicillin among antibiotics. The loading dose of this substance had a strong effect on his kidneys, and from childhood I remember how he periodically went to the hospital for treatment. And suddenly the disease passed and has not returned to this day. Just like me, my father after a while had a strong change in worldview. The pope did not pursue any philosophy, he simply did not eat meat for reasons of solidarity and argued that it was good for health. However, one day he told me that he experienced a feeling of horror when he passed near the meat aisles. The dismembered carcasses of animals in his mind were no different from dead people. From this we can conclude that even the simple act of not eating meat, makes (possibly) irreversible changes in the psyche. So if you are a meat eater, you should know and understand this. However, the father held on to the meat phantom for a long time. Since, after the death of my mother and the children scattered around the world, he again became a bachelor, the refrigerator began to defrost much less frequently. Especially the freezer has lost its relevance and has become a cold closet, and concurrently the place of the last refuge for one (how to say, so as not to offend) …. Chicken. Like normal children, when after a long time, we came to visit, we began to clean up. The freezer also came into play. Without thinking twice, the chicken was sent to the trash can. Which just pissed off my father. It turns out that not only is he now forced to drag out a miserable existence and abstain from meat, but also in his own refrigerator they take away his last hope, that maybe someday, if it really needs to, but suddenly … and so on. No, well, maybe he kept this chicken for humane reasons. Eventually, someday, technology will make it possible to defrost bodies and bring them back to life. Yes, and somehow in front of chicken relatives (and in front of the chicken itself) is not convenient. They threw it in the trash! No to bury like a human being. Such a small accessory as vegetarianism made a very significant revolution in my subsequent destiny. My institute teacher in physiology (God bless her) prophesied for me a year, well, a few years at most, after which I would begin irreversible processes incompatible with life. It all sounds like “ha ha” now. And then, when there was practically no Internet, for me it all looked like a situation from a classic comedy: “I might even be awarded, … posthumously.” And Nikulin’s face with a trembling chin. Friends are friends, but somehow all communication has lost its meaning. Now I could not combine in my head the image that my colleagues represented in communication and their diet. Consequently, visits gradually ceased. As expected, vegetarian friends took their place. A few years passed and the society that eats meat simply ceased to exist for me. I even started working among vegetarians. Married (as it happened) twice. Both times the wives do not eat meat. I stopped eating meat when I was eighteen years old. At that time, I was a member of the Ukrainian junior luge team. My main competition was the Junior World Cup. I studied at the Lvov Institute of Physical Education. I had an individual schedule that allowed me to do two workouts a day. In the morning I usually had a run. I ran 4-5 kilometers, and in the afternoon I had weightlifting training. Periodically there was a pool and sports games. It is difficult to say how vegetarianism affects all sports qualities, but from personal experience I want to say that my endurance has increased significantly. I ran in the morning and did not feel tired, I sometimes did fourteen approaches to one or another exercise with 60-80% of the load from the maximum with a fairly high dynamics of the training itself (weightlifting). At the same time, in order not to waste time, alternating approaches to shells for different muscle groups. And in the end, when all the guys had already left the “rocking chair”, every time I saw the nervous face of the coach, shaking the keys, who wanted to go home, and I was an obstacle to him in this. At the same time, my food was very student-like. Everything is somehow on the go, sandwiches, kefir, peanuts, apples. Of course, the age at which “rusty nails” can be digested also affected, however, vegetarianism removed the burden of relatively long recovery processes of the body after high loads. When I first switched to plant foods, I noticed a sharp weight loss. About ten kilograms. At the same time, I felt a strong need for protein, which was compensated mostly by dairy products and silent legumes. A little later, I began to put on weight and even got better. But high loads smoothed out this compensation. Weight stabilization occurred after six months. In the same period, the physiological craving for meat disappeared. The body, as it were, remembered the meat source of protein and reminded me of it for six months in moments of hunger. However, my mental attitude was stronger and I managed to overcome the critical half-year period of craving for meat relatively painlessly. With a height of 188 cm, my weight stopped at around 92 kg and stayed that way until I abruptly stopped playing sports. Adulthood came without asking me anything and brought me 15 kg of body fat. Then I got married and the weight mark reached a critical point of 116 kg. Today my height is 192 cm and weight 110 kg. I would like to lose a dozen kilograms, but this is rather prevented by the way of thinking, willpower and a sedentary lifestyle. For some time I tried to switch to a raw food diet. Unsuccessfully.
2022-11-11