Vegeterian

Vegeterian

(Or why I decided to change my diet for the better.)

Hi everybody, Mary here.

So, as you may (or may not know...), I am a vegeterian. So, today, I decided to talk about it ! Why I decided to change my diet, why I am willing to become a vegan one day, and the frequently asked questions I get from... erm, EVERYBODY around me when I talk about this decision.

So let's go, shall we ?

I decided to become a vegeterian last year, after a few months of watching documentaries that made me SO SICK of eating meat, or fish. I finally realised that not only I was eating ROTTEN FLESH from a DEAD ANIMAL (just to put the image in your head when you eat your next steak or chicken wings), that was BRUTALLY TORTURED for their ENTIRE LIFE. The milk you use is destined for other babies, not you. The eggs are taken from stressed animals locked in cages for their entire life. Animals are reproduced at a really high speed and have a way shorter lifespan than free animals. Whether it's meat or fish, the conditions of living/killing are ATROCIOUS. Even in "free range"/"organic" productions, I can't stand the animal abuse on Earth.

What for ? A quick meal ? When there are SO MANY alternatives that are not only HEALTHIER, for you AND for them, that we could stop animal cruelty and testing, and that you could also SAVE THE MOTHERF*CKING environment in the same time, I didn't hesitate anymore.

(P.S. : Sorry for caps lock, I am just a little bit dedicated to the cause. Please don't change your diet for me, do it FOR YOU, because it's YOUR choice. I'm not judging you in anyway, just reminding you of what happens and that people sometimes don't know or tend to forget.)

I stopped eating meat, and fish (I never ate eggs or drank mike anyway), and I became a vegeterian on July 25th, 2014. I want to be vegan as soon as possible (I set September 25th, 2015 as THE date, as I will be vegeterian for 14 months). By the way, vegan is not only a diet, but it's also a life-style including the avoidance of :

- Leather, fur, wool, etc...

- Products that are used on animals (such as make-up, perfumes, and many other things).

- Circuses, zoos, and ANY place using animals for entertainment/recreational purposes.

So, here are the frequently asked questions I get as a vegeterian :

1) So, how do you get any protein/calcium (for vegans) ?

Answer : You have soy (only for protein though), lentils, kidney beans, that provide as much protein, iron and vitamin B9 as meat or fish. Even better, they aren't fat, which means you'll have a lower level of bad cholesterol, and you'll be less likely to have a heart attack ! Fantastic, isn't it ?

And if you're vegeterian and not wanting to be vegan, eggs are always an option.

For the calcium, if I am correct, you can find it in mineral water, almonds (just a little), but for the most part, soy milk fortified with calcium.

2) Isn't it a little bit unhealthy though ? Like, don't you have any deficiencies ?

People tend to believe that vegeterian/vegan diets are unhealthy, because most of the time, people transitioning change their diet without taking any alternatives. OF COURSE a diet that's lacking some important nutrients such as protein, iron, etc..., will eventually exhaust them and lead them to the hospital. That's the reason for which, just like me, you should Google your information on nutritionists' websites to be sure you diet will be healthy.

For vegans : the only nutrient you CAN'T find in a "natural" vegan diet is vitamin B12, so me sure to eat foods fortified with this vitamin, or if you're really worried about deficiencies, you can ask for complements at your local pharmacy.

3) So, why did you change ?

People have different reasons to change their diet : for the animals, for themselves (as it was proven by scientific studies that an healthy vegeterian/vegan diet can reduce fat, bad cholesterol, and other diseases because of the bad treatment of animals leading to germs going in your plate), or for the environment (did you know that to produce 1kg of meat, you need 10kg of plants ? We could save these lands to vegetal alternatives for everybody to eat, couldn't we ? And stop the waste of your precious water, that is a limited resource, and land that are destroyed by chemicals). In my case, all reasons are valid and I chose them all.

4) Aren't you restricting yourself a little bit though ?

Not at all ! I live happily and I am not going to change any time soon. But if you're worried, we have alternatives that are sometimes good, sometimes bad (ask some vegeterian/vegan people, as they probably know better than me) alternatives, such as soy meatballs, vegan "fish", vegetal milks (soy, almond, coconut, etc...), vegan yoghurt and ice-creams... There is pratically an alternative for everything (even for eggs if I am correct). I don't use those alternatives at the moment, but as I said, you can ask vegeterian/vegan people who use it daily to have their opinions !

5) Don't you crave meat/fish sometimes though ?

Not at all ! In the beginning, it was certainly difficult. But I guess I just got used to it in the end. Now when I see meat/fish, I don't go around like "Oh, man, I wish I weren't a vegeterian so I could eat these !". And trust me, I was the BIGGEST carnivorous person alive. If I didn't get meat for a meal, I used to moan and got yelled at by my family who constantly told me that the only things I liked were meat and chocolate. (I still love chocolate though.)

Okay, that's it for today ! I hope you liked this post ! If you have any more questions, pleace leave them on my Twitter with #AskAVegeterian so I can answer you ! Again, sorry for the long post... Please tell if I forgot anything/anything is wrong so I can add it/correct myself, since I an not a professional nutritionist ! I will see you very soon ! Bye !

And as usual, our last word... KIDNEYS !