I've always wanted to try being a vegetarian, but it never felt like the right time. I lived with my parents so I had to eat what was at the house. Eating meat was more convenient, and I didn't have the money. And with college approaching, the thought loomed in my mind more and more. Well, here we are. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking about being a vegetarian with my friends while eating at the dining hall when I looked down at my plate and noticed there wasn't any meat on it. For some reason, I decided that I was going to start right then and there. I'd already taken the first step, chosen my first meal, without even realizing it.
The next morning, I went back to the dining hall and got a piece of pepperoni pizza. As I was about to take a bite, I remembered that I was a vegetarian, so I began removing all the pepperoni. After that, it was easier to remember. I would eat rice, pasta, cheese pizza, cheese quesadillas, fruit, and salad. Please take notice that a source of protein was not included in my new diet. See, for some reason, I thought I could just not eat meat and that was it. It didn't really occur to me that I needed to find a new source of protein for my body. I was so swept up in the idea of being vegetarian and feeling good about myself for doing something good for the environment that I brushed my personal needs to the side. In case you were wondering, doing good for the environment and not for myself is practically the keystone of my personality. Well, that and having divorced parents.
A couple of days in, I noticed I was hungry more often. I should've started eating more protein, but I didn't. I don't really know why either. I don't hate beans and I would eat tofu before I was a vegetarian so I'm not sure where the disinterest came from other than the fact that I preferred rice, pasta, cheese pizza, cheese quesadillas, fruit, and salad. Soon the trend began of my body telling me it was hungry and me eating ramen in my dorm at 11:30 p.m. in an attempt to satisfy my body's hunger continued. That is until I went home for the weekend.
For some reason, I'd decided to keep my vegetarianism to myself until the day I came home in an attempt to surprise my family that I'd actually done it because I decided that randomly texting them in the middle of the day on a Tuesday to relay the message wasn't surprising enough. I think I just wanted to prove to them that I could do it. I thought it would be easier to approach the situation with a few days of experience behind me like it mattered to them if I was vegetarian or not. When I got home, my mom didn't really have any food for me to eat, so I just ate ramen. Again. The next day, I went out to lunch with my aunt and decided that I was tired of being hungry, so I got a turkey sandwich. I lasted precisely one week.
