Even though I'm a huge fan of seafood, I have decided to stop eating meat. I know that right now this is a huge trend amongst a lot of people who want to seem edgy, but for me it's something I have thought about doing for quite some time. While I have loved and eaten meat for basically the past 20 years, I've slowly weened myself off of it. I first started with red meat. It was pretty easy to work red meat out of my diet, but I still enjoyed to eat a burger every once in a while. I then decided to take chicken out of my diet. While I thought this was going to be the hardest part, I quickly realized that I was really very tired of chicken. Even though I had been eating it for years, I realized that I didn't actually enjoy eating it and that quite frankly it is overused and overhyped. I then had to cut fish out of my diet. This was the hardest part for me because I loved seafood so much. Slowly I cut this from my diet, as well. It was definitely a process that took me most of the summer to complete, but one that I believe was worth it.
I began to think about being vegetarian after a class I took that dealt with animal rights in the Victorian Era. Even though the class was focused on the Victorian Era, it really made me think about the way we treat animals today. Large scale animal farming is wrong. The way that animals are treated on these farms is completely inhuman. The way in which we view cows, chickens, fish and other animals as simply our food sources is also wrong. We should respect these animals, but we don't. I'm also guilty of spending hours of my time watching documentaries on the food industry that show just how bad large scale farming is and why we shouldn't eat meat. While I know that these documentaries are totally biased and not completely accurate, they really make you question what you put in your body. I know meat is important, but as long as I can get everything I need from another source why should I continue to pay into an industry that abuses and kills animals just for our enjoyment at the dinner table.
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At first I wasn't quite sure what I was going to eat, but I've quickly been learning to make awesome food for myself. I've found really great recipes that are super easy and cheap to make. I've also found awesome meat substitutes, which are great to use every now and then. If you are blessed to have a Trader Joe's near you, Trader Joe's has great vegetarian and vegan options that are super easy to make. Their chickenless orange chicken is seriously the best. Overall I've been happy with my diet so far. I feel as if I have more energy and I am continuing to get all the nutrients I need. So far, cutting meat out of my diet hasn't been that big of a deal at all.
