According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2015 Americans consumed 24.8 billion pounds of beef. In hindsight, that is a lot of beef to swallow.
I have been an omnivore for all my life. I love meat for its taste and versatility in meals. In my mind, no meal is complete without meat. Thus, as a challenge, a couple of friends and I decided to become pescatarian. Here’s what went down.Photo courtesy of Photopin.com
Monday’s Menu:
Breakfast: Veggie omelet, hash browns, and a chocolate muffin from the Commons
Lunch: Grilled Cheese with salad from the Centrum
Dinner: Salad and pasta with white sauce from the Commons
Overall, for the first day, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Although it was very tempting to grab a slice of chicken for dinner, I felt very satisfied with my pasta and salad.
Tuesday’s Menu:
Breakfast: Cheesy eggs and hash browns from the Commons
Lunch: Cheese pizza bagel from Ullman-to-Go
Dinner: Tilapia, vegetables, Caesar salad, potatoes, and a cookie from the Commons On this day, I found myself snacking and eating more throughout the day. While I was eating a sufficient amount of food, the food felt light and airy, rather than heavy. Thus, I thought that I wasn’t full.
Wednesday’s Menu:
Breakfast: Breakfast burrito with eggs, cheese, and potatoes from the Commons
Lunch: Mac and cheese and onion rings from the Centrum
Dinner: Pasta and fish tacos from the Commons
This was the first time that I ordered fish tacos from the Commons, and it was delicious! The tacos were my favorite dish from this week.
Thursday’s Menu:
Breakfast: None
Lunch: Poke bowl from Pokeland
Dinner: Fish tacos from the CommonsThis was this day where I realized that I had an affinity towards fish. With meals like delicious poke bowls and yummy tacos, I realized I could probably eat fish as my main protein for the rest of my life.
Friday’s Menu:
Breakfast: Eggs and potatoes from the Commons
Lunch: Leftover mac and cheese and garlic bread from the Centrum
Dinner: Poke Burrito from Kreasian
Saturday’s Menu:
Breakfast: None
Lunch: Veggie Sandwich from Ullman-to-Go
Dinner: Cheese enchiladas and sweet potato fries from the Commons
I did not think I could endure a sandwich without meat. I was also close to giving up on this day. After my hiking field trip, I felt like I needed some meat to replenish all the calories I burned from hiking. However, I stuck to my guns and ate my veggie sandwich.
Sunday’s Menu:
Breakfast: Cheesy eggs and potatoes from the Commons
Lunch: none
Dinner: Fish, rice, and vegetables from the Commons
While I definitely had some great meals this week, I encountered some problems–the Alfredo sauce from Monday was chicken Alfredo sauce. Throughout this experience, I learned to read labels more carefully. For examples, when looking at soups, I had to check if the stock was an animal base. Likewise, I had to make sure my enchiladas were only stuffed with cheese.
I’ve also learned that there is a serious lack of vegetarian meal options. Breakfast was the easiest meal to be vegetarian because it consisted mainly of eggs, potatoes and various flour-based foods like pancakes and toast. However, for lunch and dinner, finding things outside the Commons that fit the rules were hard. At Ullman-to-Go, there are a few options–a veggie sandwich, a cheese pizza bagel, and various options for creating your own bagel. The Centrum had multiple sides like onion rings and fries, but for the most part, the only whole meal that is vegetarian is the baked cheese sandwich. Sure, you can always mix up the vegetables in a salad, but at some point, there will come a time when those options become repetitive and boring.
My goal for this challenge was to eat healthier and I learned that there are plenty of unhealthy snacks that are vegetarian. It’s easy to eat unhealthy, even when your diet consists primarily of vegetables. Before this challenge, I’d previously thought that a vegetarian diet automatically made you healthier. However, I learned that it goes beyond the food you eat and has more to do with your mindset–that was the only thing I struggled with during this challenge. Choosing healthier foods is a challenge no matter what your diet consists of. Would I do it again? Probably. It was a nice fun challenge that made me think twice before eating something.
So, props to you veggie eaters. It takes a very strong-willed person to stay consistent with this lifestyle.