It's been 216 days of my meat-free diet. Whenever I tell someone I'm a vegetarian, I receive one of two responses. One will be a small gasp or scoff with an added comment saying "well the pig was already dead, you aren't saving anything" or maybe "hmm, okay, well I'm gonna go eat my delicious hamburger."
The second response shows interest, some people ask why I decided to become a veggie-eater. I definitely appreciate that response best, but I get it; people are sensitive about what they eat. The facts don't matter to some people or they just matter less than their urge to chew on a dehydrated beef stick from the gas station. Having someone tell you you're doing something wrong isn't fun. Being lectured about it is even worse. So, I'll hide the facts in a more personal explanation—here is why I chose to be a vegetarian.
Since I was a young girl, I always loved animals. In third grade, I actually went a few months as a vegetarian, but quit due to a very strong influence coming from my parents. Then, in late 2015, a friend of mine decided to stop eating meat. Her reason—to challenge herself. I thought that was a great idea so I teamed up with her and avoided meat in every meal. We wanted to challenge ourselves, to test our self control. And I'll be honest, it was tough at first, but it isn't a challenge if it isn't hard.
As I went through with this new diet, I researched why people do this for their whole lives. Not only were there health benefits, but this lifestyle supported the world as well. On average, vegetarians and vegans (a person who cuts out all animal products from their diet) live years longer than meat eaters. Vegetarians have a lower risk of heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and are generally thinner/ will lose weight when converting diets. I knew I wanted to live a healthy and long life so I became much more into vegetarianism.
I also watched documentaries on the forms of treatment the meat industry uses on the animals to make chicken nuggets and frozen patties we see littering the frozen aisle in Pick n Save. The biggest word that comes to mind is cruelty. If you have Netflix, I urge you all to watch Cowspiracy. After learning from that movie my eyes were finally open, and I realized why these "leaf eating hippies" were so angry.
So, I've only been a vegetarian for a number of months, but I truly believe cutting out meat (and animal products if you are vegan) can better your life. Starting something new is the hardest part of it. You might say you "can't cut out meat" or "if I didn't care in third grade I won't care now." If you love meat, try to ease out of it. Cut out certain kinds for each week, or have meatless Mondays. Anyone can jump on the vegetarian bandwagon, I promise there is good food out there! I love being a vegetarian because it has made me a healthier and happier person.
