How to Become an Instant Vegetarian

Good Day World!

I’ve been thinking about becoming a vegetarian for several years now.

One of the reasons is the high price of meat. There’s other reasons of course, but I can’t seem to summon the strength to eliminate meat from my diet.

Then I ran across the story below. I was astounded to find out that there’s a bug that can make a person a sudden vegetarian!

After reading this story however, I think I’ll just live with my meat-eating habit. Bugs creep me out.

HERE”S WHAT’S HAPPENING

Doctors across the nation are seeing a surge of sudden meat allergies in people bitten by a certain kind of tick.

This bizarre problem was only discovered a few years ago but is growing as the ticks spread from the Southwest and the East to more parts of the United States. In some cases, eating a burger or a steak has landed people in the hospital with severe allergic reactions.

Few patients seem aware of the risk, and even doctors are slow to recognize it. As one allergist who has seen 200 cases on New York's Long Island said, "Why would someone think they're allergic to meat when they've been eating it their whole life?"

The culprit is the Lone Star tick, named for Texas, a state famous for meaty barbecues. The tick is now found throughout the South and the eastern half of the United States.

HERE’S HOW IT HAPPENS 

The bugs harbor a sugar that humans don't have, called alpha-gal. The sugar is also is found in red meat — beef, pork, venison, rabbit — and even some dairy products. It's usually fine when people encounter it through food that gets digested.

But a tick bite triggers an immune system response, and in that high-alert state, the body perceives the sugar the tick transmitted to the victim's bloodstream and skin as a foreign substance, and makes antibodies to it. That sets the stage for an allergic reaction the next time the person eats red meat and encounters the sugar. (Read full story here)

Time for me to walk on down the road…