I used to be the biggest steak eater around. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, it did not matter what meal, steak was on the menu. That all changed one day...

I used to be in the military, where at least one meal a day contained meat. I was loving life then.

Then, almost overnight, I went into the chow hall and all of the steaks began to smell like ten day old meat rotting on the road side. I still tried to eat it, but there was no enjoyment. Let me tell you this right now, if you are in the military and you can not eat meat, you will starve.

My last year in the service was culinarily dull. Along with beef I was also unable to drink milk.

After leaving the service I tried to find a diet I could stick with that did not involve meat and I settled on chicken and turkey as my meat replacements. This worked for about ten years but even now, chicken is starting to bother my digestion.

I've been tested for allergies and they confirmed that I am now highly allergic to beef. If I even eat a small amount of beef I break out in hives.

There are so many foods I can no longer enjoy. To make matters worse over the last decade companies have been going full bore to prove their products are 100% beef with no fillers... Yeah, that sounds great but now I can't even eat hot dogs anymore!

This allergy also makes eating out difficult. The menu may say “vegetarian” but what if it is cooked on the same grill as the steaks?

I understand restaurants are profit driven but can't someone open up a chain of restaurants for people like me?

Another thing that bugs me is gyros. This traditional wrap food is made from lamb meat NOT beef but... everyone is now dropping the lamb and going for beef. Scratch one more food of my list.

In another ten years I'll probably be reduced to eating protein drinks and fortified rice cakes.

Whoopee!