When I was in college, a roommate of mine told me that she was going vegetarian. I told her I could never picture myself going vegan, or even vegetarian, so I wished her luck and ate my burgers.
This past spring, I then made a decision to choose to be vegetarian, which I never thought I would do. And I love it. What reasons brought me to become vegetarian? Well, a few.
I started not feeling well at times when ate different meat. Sometimes the chicken was too pink, sometimes something weird was stuck in my burger like a string piece of the meat, and sometimes when I ate bad chicken, I threw up.
Secondly, I didn't realize how bad it was for the environment. I literally just thought that killing cows was fine because we need to survive. That was until I found out HOW they were killing them, which was polluting our environment.
This brings me to my third reason, which was the killing of animals. I couldn't bear the fact that an innocent cow and chicken were killed for my taste buds. It saddened me because I certainly know that I wouldn't want a tiger to come and eat me.
Lastly, it was a healthier choice for my body, personally. It truly does make you feel more energetic and you are getting all the veggies and fruits you need. You may need to take supplements to build up your vitamin D and such, but so far I haven't even need to take extra vitamins and such to get the nutrients I need because many of the foods I am eating have plenty of that.
It wasn't that hard for me personally to make the switch. First, I started cutting out burgers but still ate other meat. After a few weeks, I just decided to switch cold turkey, because truthfully, I wasn't eating that much meat anyway. It was challenging at first to figure out what I could and could not eat. I was worried that I would be eating carbs all of the time, which is actually a stigma for vegetarians.
I found PLENTY of foods to eat that I enjoy. I love veggie and black bean burgers even more than regular hamburgers. I started getting into tofu more and since I can still eat dairy, I can enjoy my eggs in the morning and my pizza on cheat days. Also, I still get to eat ice cream, which is one of my favorites. I enjoy yogurt with fruit, hummus, and carrots, and beans have become a new favorite of mine. Although I will admit that my options have become limited, I am still figuring out what I can eat to add more diversity to my diet. I just got into grilled eggplant as well, guacamole, salads with yummy beans and rice, quinoa has become a new food I have tried.
I am not saying that everyone should drop meat and become vegetarian, even though that would be very cool. But try cutting out maybe a piece of meat and see if you can tolerate and substitute a veggie burger for it. You might enjoy it and even become a vegetarian yourself. If you don't want to cut out on meat completely, maybe just cut out meat once or twice a week and try some tofu or black bean burgers. Becoming a vegetarian is not only good for your soul but is good for the planet and the animals.
Think about it, and you may enjoy a new vegetarian lifestyle. Because I know I do.
