Summary: Upper Intermediate vocabulary lesson and song. This week's show is about my diet. I tell you about the things I don't eat. Also includes read-along transcript pdf with pictures and vocabulary list. english_diet.mp3 ---------- I would say that I have a very healthy diet - in general I have a healthy lifestyle. To many of you however, my diet may appear extreme - you may think of me as a food extremist because there are a lot of things I choose not to eat. So I want to tell you about the things I don't eat anymore, and how I feel about that. The first thing I stopped eating or drinking was milk. I stopped drinking milk around three years ago. I suddenly realised that milk made me feel nauseous, it made me feel sick. After drinking milk in tea I would feel queasy. I would have a strange, tight feeling in my throat and my skin would itch. It was very uncomfortable. For me, this was a big decision. That's because milk is generally regarded as a healthy thing to drink. It is given to school children everyday. These days drinking milk is even advertised on the side of buses - on the side of buses there are pictures of famous people drinking milk. Here in the UK any people eat cereal with milk for breakfast and English tea famously has milk in it. I can only speak for myself, but I certainly feel better now I don't drink milk. For me, it was also a good decision to stop drinking milk because dairy cows are given a lot of antibiotics. Now I don't drink milk, I know I am not absorbing antibiotics from milk into my own body. The next thing I stopped consuming - the next thing I stopped drinking was coffee. Although I still like the taste of coffee I choose not to drink it. That is because I think coffee is a drug. For me, it's even strange that although coffee is a drug with a good image. It is seen as something that makes us work harder and longer, and as something that helps us have a good time with friends. People don't think about how tired they feel a while after drinking coffee, or even how unpleasant it can make their breath smell! Early this year, I decided to stop eating meat. For 26 years I ate meat, and then I decided to stop. It wasn't very difficult because I didn't cook meat at home anyway. In fact, It was more difficult for some of my friends and family to accept my decision. The reason I stopped is because I believe that animals have emotions and consciousness. I also felt I had no control over what happens to animals on farms. The animals might have had a bad life. And I [knew] I didn't want to eat animals that had suffered. I am not vegan - a person who does not eat or drink animal products - but I do limit - I do limit - the amount of eggs and cheese I eat. That's easy for me because I don't want to eat eggs or cheese very often anyway. These days I don't buy eggs, butter, or cheese when I go shopping, when I go to the supermarket. When I stop eating a food it usually takes a few months for my body and cooking habits to adapt. Right now, I've stopped buying bread. I think in a few months' time it will be easy for me not to have bread in my diet. I've changed my diet so much in the last 5 years that it is now easy for me to give up - to stop eating or drinking - any food or drink. I make these changes because they feel like the right thing to do, for me. Some of my decisions - like not eating bread or drinking coffee - are decisions I made to feel healthier. I don't want what I eat or drink anything that steals my energy from me. I like to feel awake. I don't like it when food makes me feel tired. So why have I told you about all the things I don't eat or drink? Well, actually, I think it reveals quite a lot about English culture. It really isn't that unusual 'not to eat something' here. People usually choose 'not to eat something' because they think the food in question is bad for the environment, animals, or for their health.
