Let me be 100% honest, I used to eat meat everyday. Like: bacon with my eggs, hot dogs for lunch, steaks for dinner. Suddenly my eyes were open to the reality on how the food industry works (I won't explain this because if you really wanted to know, you'd look it up yourself). Since that experience, I swore off meat; but I learned some really interesting lessons that only being vegetarian has taught me.

1. Setting realistic standards about going vegetarian.

Honestly, it's not going to be easy going 100% Vegetarian the first few months and even the first year. Depending on where you live, sometimes meat is very hard to avoid. Personally, holidays like: the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas can be very hard get around. The first year was the toughest because those tend to be big meat holidays. The second year was easier, I learned to bring my own food to places and holiday get-togethers. Its okay that your first year isn't perfect, I found that it was easier to ease my way into this the way that I did.

2. Understand that almost everyone will say at least one of three phrases.

When people catch on that you're vegetarian (because you didn't pick up the loaded potatoes with bacon on top of bacon) you will be told these three phrases:

"I could never go vegetarian"

- your response will probably be along the lines of "okay.....cool?" because you're pretty sure you didn't ask if they would go vegetarian.

"I could never live without meat"

- you will probably say "luckily for you, no one is making you stop eating meat"

"What do you eat for protein?"

- Do your research! This is a very frequently asked question!

-a few answers:

-Veggie burgers

-Tofu (prepared for people to look disgusted when you say this)

- Veggie dogs

3. If you look "skinny" people will ask if being vegetarian is the reason you're "skinny."

This one will make you give that same look as Grace is showing above and then say "sure?". You know what's truly humorous about this? Even though you may not eat meat, people forget how you can still eat; a plate full of cheesy nachos, EVERY bag of chips you can think of, Mac and Cheese, and a bunch of items from the Taco Bell menu. Just because you don't eat meat doesn't mean you automatically eat healthy. If you lose weight it's because you changed your diet for the better and may have picked up a fitness routine.

In the end, through all the irrational theories on why you would pick up Vegetarianism or the constant question of what the difference between being Vegan and Vegetarian. You know that what you're doing is something bigger than just yourself and sometimes, that's all you need to remember. It also doesn't hurt to remember that pizza can be vegetarian!