As of Feb. 21st, I am officially a vegetarian (a trial-run vegetarian).
What helped me make this decision?
For starters, I used to eat horribly throughout my senior year of high school and early college years.
I’m cutting myself some slack on that because…being a broke college student is hard! Let alone eating right and being broke. If you’ve been a broke college student, or just broke, you know first hand how easy and convenient it is to stock up on Ramen noodles, Hot Pockets, frozen pizzas, and anything else that may be quick, easy and CHEAP!
I would eat Taco Bell, McDonalds, Wendy’s and plenty of other unhealthy fast food joints ALL the time and at all times of the night because it was cheap, easily accessible and pretty good for the most part.
It wasn’t until I had a bad experience or two (or three) with various fast food restaurants that I finally said, “Bruh, I can’t eat this shit anymore,” and began to cut them from my diet. It was much easier than I thought. After eliminating fast food restaurants, I moved on to eliminating beef and finally pork (except bacon because I’m weak). That leaves chicken, turkey, and fish; none of which have done me wrong. (LOL)
Okay…well, why NOW?
Truthfully, I just want to lose weight! I figured cutting out meat could help me do that. Beyond weight loss, just simply wanting to feel better within as a whole. I’m considering this journey something like a detox which at this point, is very necessary. My healthy eating and gym habits have been almost non-existent since my Vegas trip in October. That’s 4 months of laziness and intentional bodily harm for absolutely no reason.
Eating “healthy” isn’t a real issue for me as much as working out consistently is. However, it seems as though I’m never able to work out and eat healthy at the same time. That’s a problem, obviously.
So…what’s my plan?
First and foremost, I have to be extremely mindful of the things I’m eating in place of meat.
For example: Just because I’m cutting meat out of my diet doesn’t mean I should eat an entire bag of grapes instead because essentially, the amount of sugar in that bag of grapes is likely equivalent to, or much worse than the serving of meat I would typically have.
That makes sense, right?
I’m still doing my research on everything, learning the ropes and talking to my vegetarian and vegan friends. I know there’s so much more to this lifestyle and I can’t wait to learn and share the things I learn along the way.
I plan to hit the grocery store this Friday to stock up on healthy alternatives and make something shake for the next few weeks. Only two days have passed and I’m already struggling to come up with decent meals. Before you read what I’ve eaten and judge me, please note I am already aware that I need to do better! (LOL).
Day 1: I ate lots of fruits like pineapples, cantaloupe, and bananas. I drank a ton of water and I had a few cookies. For dinner, I had some fried rice from Panda Express.
Day 2: I had fruit and peanuts for breakfast and lunch. For dinner, I had fried rice and steamed vegetables from Panda Express.
Per usual, I’m in the same boat as you. I stopped eating meat in December. I might have had chicken twice since. I definitely feel way better and nowadays I’m sick at the thought of red meat. I’ve also been leaning towards a vegan ish lifestyle. I’ve been eating almost no dairy (except ice cream and when my roomies mom make pupusas!) My problem is I’m a sugar fieeeeeeend I need ice cream and all this other stuff. Anyway. I say a good way to go about this lifestyle is to glamorize is. Make it feel like you’re treating yourself. Make the cutesie meals. I try to go on Pinterest once a week and plan two to three meals. Some of them are fails. But it’s a learning experience and I learned I don’t like that vegan cheese shit. It’s either real cheese or nothing for me. Last week I made spaghetti squash chow mein. It was delicious and amazing! Also made honey garlic cauliflower omgggg. Keep staples like veggies and rice in the house that you can easily fry up or roast or throw together. I have a green smoothie (spinach, frozen fruit, water and sometimes quinoa for protein) every morning because I’ve never been a big fan of breakfast food. Anyway. Hope my rambling helps. Good luck on your journey!
Yesss! That helps tremendouslyyyyy omg. I’ve been looking on Pinterest and I feel so overwhelmed but I’m gonna just have to pick something that sounds good and get started! I’ve been thinking about doing a low carb trial run as well but it seems so hard because like you, I’m addicted to sugar and I literally cannot stay away. I’m gonna do better though lol. I know so many vegans and idk how they do it! One day I’ll join the squad, but I love cheese. I don’t think I can stop eating it. 😂