I used to be a huge meat lover. I ate steak all the time, and sausage was one of my all-time favorites. I have even enjoyed lamb and my family loved it so much that kept packages of frozen venison in my freezer. Needless to say, I had meat with pretty much every meal and we always had plenty of it.

My number one reason why I stopped eating meat was how bad eating meat was for the environment, especially the large farms that produce these meats. I then I got to thinking, how good is the quality of meats in McDonald's hamburgers, or McChickens?

Did you know that a 1/3 pound hamburger needs 660 gallons of water to make it and one pound of hamburger meat uses 1799 gallons of water? All of this water is maintenance for the cows for their water intake, irrigation for grasses and grains and the water that is needed to make the feed for cows, so typical things you need to keep your farm animals happy and whatever the FDA describes as healthy. Take these numbers, and think about how many times you eat a hamburger each week, or make spaghetti or chili using that one pound of beef.

What about fish? Well, I do want to keep fish in my diet, but I want it to be local fish from fisheries around me or fish that I catch myself. The amount of pollution in the ocean is heartbreaking and a good number of it isn't from your plastic straws, which are also bad, but it's from the commercial fishing that is going on to provide us with our "Wild Caught Alaskan Fish Sandwiches" as well as our "Friday Fish Fry" at your favorite fast food or sit down restaurants. Again I wonder, what is the quality of the fish, especially at these chain restaurants where they could sell 100's of fish sandwiches or meals a day.

When I cut meat out I did not quit cold turkey, I fished up the meat products in my freezer and then replaced them with healthier non-meat options. I have been asked about meat withdrawals, I did not have those but I still do have cravings for a steak sometimes.

The best part of all of this is that I have found substitutions for my favorite meals. Craving a juicy rib-eye? Cook a portobello mushroom in a little bit of butter and soy sauce and boom, the flavor and texture is there. Want to make tacos? Cook lentils and then fry them up in a pan with taco seasoning and boom you now have "meat" for tacos, nachos, and burritos. You can find soy burgers and fake chicken nuggets at the store and honestly, the taste is not that far off.

What about milk and milk products? Well, I don't like milk anyway, so not a problem there. From time to time I do drink soy, almond, or coconut. It is easier to get plant-based butter alternatives as well as milk free ice cream. The only dairy I keep in my life currently is cheese because, well, I love cheese, but also it is harder to find non-dairy cheese where I live.

While I love these meat alternatives is it also important to look at their impact on the environment. A lot of these products come in plastic and unless you can recycle that isn't helping the garbage and pollution on the earth. It is important to be mindful of what your putting in your body as well as what is good for this Earth we live on because it is the only one we have and that cannot be stressed enough.