I wish I could say I started down this road from an ethical perspective, becoming a vegetarian out of objection to killing animals and the questionable agricultural practices that surround the production of meat. However, that’s not quite true. I became a vegetarian for two reasons: my health and my fear.
I loved my steak as much as the next girl, and ate plenty of it. For me, the end result of eating lots of meat and dairy (with some hard partying thrown into the mix earlier in life) was gall bladder issues. Not a fun thing to deal with on a daily basis. The recommendation to prevent attacks? Eat a vegetarian diet.
Around the same time, my boyfriend (a wonderful guy, vegetarian as well) recommended I read The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health. To be fair, he had been recommending this book for months, yet I had resisted. I found that 'The China Study' is one of those books that is hard to put down once you start it…a very compelling read and a real eye-opener. Enter fear. :) I recommend this book to everyone – it is a book that you will want to share with all of your friends and family.
The things I learned, on top of the health issue I was facing (the gall bladder has since been removed), drove me very quickly to adopt a healthful, vegetarian diet. I purged my house of meat, eggs and most dairy. Filled the refrigerator with fresh vegetables and fruit. Got rid of white flour products and switched to whole wheat/whole grain. Threw out the soda (liquid Satan, even the diet stuff!) and artificially sweetened drinks (goodbye, Crystal Light)…and brought in decaffeinated teas, soy milk and just plain water. After a couple of weeks of adjustment, I noticed I started feeling different - more energy and a better overall feeling of health.
I started reading more, kicking it off with Rory Freedman’s Skinny Bitch – a caustic, up front and in your face wake up call to women who want to be healthy. With this read, the ethical edge started to kick in. My boyfriend told me I would eventually ‘evolve’ to this point….damn if he wasn’t right again. :P Anyway, my next read is Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect and Inhumane Treatment Inside of the U.S. Meat Industry. I’m fairly sure that after this one, the ethical vegetarian in me will fully emerge. I’ve already realized that meat and dairy products are bad news, and stopped listening to the Meat and Dairy Industries that are lining their pockets as a result of their ‘healthy’ propaganda campaigns directed at the American public.
So today, three bad things remain. I’m trying hard to kick these in order to become vegan:
- Pecorino Romano cheese (on top of whole wheat pasta, of course…at least that part is good), and cheese in general
- Sour Cream (have not found a great non-dairy substitute for this, although Follow Your Heart just came out with one I’m going to try)
- Chocolate
A lot of people ask me – don’t you miss meat? Seafood? Eggs? At first – yes, within those first couple of weeks it was hard. I made it easier on myself by not having any in the house. However, after you move away from eating animal protein, you no longer crave it. Fellow veggies say that eventually it will become repulsive. I’m only three months into my journey and haven’t hit that yet, but I no longer want or have any desire to eat meat, seafood, eggs, etc. (with the exception of the evil three above).
I’m not here to try to convince anyone to become a vegetarian or vegan. People make their own decisions in life. I’m simply sharing my experiences and some tasty treats I’ve found/developed during my journey.
Enjoy! :-)
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