The question I get asked the most when I tell people I’m vegetarian/that I don’t eat meat, is if I’m vegan. My answer is always no, because I eat some animal products and vegans don’t eat any animal products. Vegans have to read every label to make sure there isn’t any animal byproducts in it. While lacto-vegetarians, such as myself, still eat dairy and I will actually eat anything that doesn’t have actual meat in it (i.e. the beef/chicken flavor packets that come with Ramen noodles – but not a steak). I realize that might make a lot of people scratch their heads and wonder why I just don’t eat meat, and my response would be because I don’t want to. Also because that would require a lot of label reading and headaches because of how many ingredients are not spelled out in plain English.
I’ve been a vegetarian since I finished fifth grade in 2008, which marked this past summer as my eighth year being a vegetarian. The reason I decided to switch was because I watched a PETA video (yes, that extremist group) that showed how animals are killed in slaughterhouses. Of course, as a little ten year old, I was extremely upset by it and saw that PETA had a “five day trial” of being vegetarian, and if you signed up, you got a free cookbook that had tons of vegetarian recipes (which I still didn’t get). On my third or fourth day of the trial run, I ate a bologna sandwich. Uh-oh. I called my mom at work sobbing and telling her I broke it and how awful I felt, to which her response was “…You know you can start again, right?” And that’s pretty much where I am now.
My family is not vegetarian at all. Every meal my mom makes has meat in it, and for the past eight years she’s had to make two separate meals every time I eat at home – one for my family with meat in it, and one without meat for me. But, of course, it’s not that easy if I eat anywhere else. For example, every time I go to someone’s house for the first time, I get asked what I eat and I respond with “anything without meat in it.” Sounds simple, right? Not really. Most of the time, I end up eating salad because I guess it makes a lot of people malfunction. And don’t even get me started on my college’s dining hall.
As far as my diet is concerned, I eat terribly. I feel like everyone has an image of vegetarians/vegans being the epitome of health, then there’s me: I eat a heaping plate of fries every day for lunch (sometimes for dinner, too) while I’m at college. It’s honestly a miracle I have not ended up on My 600 lb Life or some other TV show about people that eat fast food their whole lives and end up stuck in bed. Although, I hope I get to stay a vegetarian forever – minus the French fry diet.
