When you first meet someone who doesn’t eat meat, they usually will tell you a traumatizing experience they had while eating meat, or give you a passionate explanation about the ethical issues behind a carnivore diet. I, however, don’t have any special story behind my pescatarian diet.
Being a pescatarian means that although I don’t eat meat, I still eat fish! I first dappled with the idea of shifting toward a meatless diet in 10th grade after watching Food Inc., a documentary about how corporate farming businesses (like Perdue and Tyson) produce food that is unhealthy, environmentally harmful, and abusive to animals. After three or four days of avoiding meat, I broke my short-lived vegetarian streak after a strong craving for a burger from Five Guys. My parents told me that they weren’t surprised that I wasn’t able to stay vegetarian for long because of A) my Korean culture, which always involves some kind of meat at dinner, and B) I’ve always just loved eating chicken with pasta dishes and salads.
Fast-forward three years and now, as a sophomore, I call myself a pescatarian! After finals week in May (aka… a week of eating lots of junk food while studying), I went home feeling sick in the stomach and just not feeling healthy. My mom suggested that I should cleanse my body by eating “clean” for a couple of days. During those days, I just ate lots of greens, including salads (minus the chicken), veggies with hummus, and green smoothies (a blend of spinach, carrots, and apples). I realized that I was basically following a vegetarian diet. After one week of healthy eating, my skin cleared up and I felt rejuvenated! Studies have actually proven that eating less meat reduces one’s risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes! But I couldn’t ignore my body’s desire for meat, so I indulged myself by ordering a chicken dish while out at a restaurant. The next day I felt very queasy. To this day, I don’t know if it was the way the chicken was made or if it was a psychological thing, but since then, I have not had meat. The reason I continued to eat fish was that I was worried that I’d be making too drastic of a change for my body by reducing my intake of protein. Fish is a food of great nutritional value because it provides Omega 3 and a wide variety of vitamins.
It has been three months since I’ve had meat and I love it! I was a little worried about coming back to school and not having a variety of food to eat, but thankfully, my fears were proven wrong! Here are some tips I’ve been following at the dining halls and some resources that I think will be useful!
1. Take advantage of the salad bars. BC offers a wide selection of veggies and tasty alternatives to mix into your salads. Look for the cubed tofu, kidney beans, a rotation of cheeses, and hard-boiled eggs! Whether you’re at Mac, Stuart, or Lower, you’ll always have the salad bar at your convenience.
2. The grills at the dining halls doesn’t just serve steak, chicken, and pork! Even before I turned vegetarian, I would eat veggie burgers and grilled cheeses for lunch and dinner. Veggie burgers are cooked separately, so although you don’t see them out on the food line, they are always available if you ask!
3. Go to Addie’s! Because I lived on Newton last year, I didn’t have that many opportunities to eat at Lower. But whenever I went, I’d eat at Addie’s, which is located on the second floor of Lower. They have great salads, which can give you a much-needed break from the salad bar. They also offer local and sustainable vegetarian options!
4. Visit the Office of Health Promotion. The Office of Health Promotion offers a wide variety of services. From personal health coaches to group programs on healthy eating, you can easily get advice on how to follow a meatless diet. It’s easy as going to the office’s website and filling out a request! Here’s the link: http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/offices/healthpro/workshops.html
5. Use social media! Who said social media has to be used solely for, well, social purposes? You can use Pinterest and Tumblr to search for pictures of yummy meals. Although BC’s dining halls might not offer certain foods, you can certainly become inspired to try to make a similar meal! Simply search “vegetarian recipes” or “vegetarian meals” to get started. Furthermore, here are some great web resources, as suggested by BC’s expert nutritionist, Sheila Tucker: www.vrg.com and http://vegetariannutrition.net/.
Sources:
http://www.fao.org/focus/e/fisheries/nutr.htm
http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/offices/dining/nutrition/topics/vegetarian.html