In hopes of avoiding the freshman fifteen, I decided to become a vegetarian upon arrival to campus. After spending pretty much my entire life eating meat just because that’s what was put in front of me at the dinner table, I thought it would be pretty hard to just completely cut it out of my diet altogether. For the first three days, it was pretty difficult, but not for the reasons I expected. Originally, I feared that the cravings for meat was what would do me in; in reality, it was just having to rethink my diet that made it hard. Instead of going to the main food line, I forced myself to go to the vegetarian line every single time, completely taking meat out of my sight so that I wouldn’t accidentally ask for a piece of chicken with my spinach and carrots.
Slowly but surely, it became easy to cancel meat from my diet. I no longer planned my entire meal around what meat was being offered, and I even started to lose a little weight, even though that wasn’t my original goal. There were also noticeable perks to no longer eating meat; when I went out to eat, my meals were often cheaper and almost always healthier than those of my carnivorous friends. I felt healthier, I slept better, and my skin had a healthy glow that wasn’t there when I was eating meat.
For seven months, I remained a vegetarian, abstaining from eating any meat product, and it was great. But with one short trip out of the country during spring break, I broke the streak. I went to Ecuador for one of my classes, and for the first three days, I continued in my vegetarian ways. But on day four, someone made a mistake and a big plate of pork, rice, and potatoes was put in front of me, and it looked sooooo good. In a moment of weakness, I gave in. With one bite, I was a vegetarian no longer.
What I learned from being a vegetarian is that it isn’t as hard as one would think. As Americans, we think that eating meat is central to our diets; if we don’t eat meat during a meal, we’re missing out. I’m here to tell you, that’s simply not the case. Don’t believe me? Try going veg for a day, then a week, then a month, then a couple of months, and see how you feel. It’s worth a shot!