When people typically think of the stereotypical American diet they think of McDonald's, Chick fil A, Taco Bell, and other unhealthy fast food chains, but my diet is a pretty far cry from "average." Due to health complications, I've been gluten-free for seven years, and due to my conscience and more health reasons, I haven't had meat in a little over three years. Living in Alabama, it's pretty fair to say that my diet is bizarre. I don't get in line in the cafeteria for "Fried Chicken Wednesdays" and at sorority functions, I fill my plate up solely with mashed potatoes and green beans, while everyone else gets chicken fingers, macaroni, and bread sticks.

Don't feel sorry for me though. Granted, it wasn't my choice to go gluten free, but it was my choice to stop eating meat, so I'm alright with it. I watched Food Inc. in AP Environmental Science my senior year of high school, and after learning about the meat industry in the United States, I was way to appalled to continue eating meat. I was never a really big fan of it to begin with, so the choice to stop eating it was simple. Since I stopped eating meat, I've had a ton of health benefits. For example, I used to have really severe asthma, but now I only have asthma problems when I catch a cold. So, yes, I'm happy with my decision to stop eating meat for health reasons, but I mainly just felt sorry for the animals, to be completely honest.

I'll admit, I felt sorry for the baby chicks on a conveyor belt, and I was disgusted with the animals' living conditions in commercial farms, but I don't think my vegetarianism is going to change the industry. I'm not delusional and I don't try to project my beliefs onto other people who just want to enjoy a delicious Five Guys burger. Being a vegetarian is a personal choice and it's not something I try to guilt other people into. I respect other people's choices, but unfortunately, people love to mock me for mine.

I grew up in a family with three brothers and a dad that hunts, so obviously, my family is pretty obsessed with meat. When I told my family that I didn't want to eat meat anymore, you would have thought that I announced that I'm declaring war on Mars or something crazy like that. Let me preface this by saying that I'm largely against the commercial meat industry, but I don't have a problem with free range, organic farming or even hunting. I am mainly concerned with the animals' living conditions pre-slaughter. Anyways, it's been over three years, and my brothers still love to make fun of me for my diet and think it's hilarious to ask me why I don't eat meat every single time I come home from school. It's not just my brothers though. It seems like there are way too many people concerned with vegetarians and vegans' diets.

On Facebook this week I've seen an unusual amount of posts about how vegans are hypocrites because they say that their diet is cruelty-free, but their fruits and vegetables are picked by child laborers. That may be true, but just their diet still has less cruelty than the average American's diet. Veganism and vegetarianism is better for the environment regardless of whether it is motivated by a desire to save animals' lives. While vegans and vegetarians may not be able to get around the fact that their fruit and vegetables are picked by child laborers, no one else can either.

Something obviously needs to be done about the cruelty in the fruit and vegetable business, but fruits and vegetables are a necessary part of everyone's diet and meat is not. Don't tell us that we're doing more harm than good because that's simply not true. We can't cut out meat, fruits, and vegetables all at once to achieve the perfect cruelty-free diet. If we did this, we'd die of malnutrition.

While maintaining your own garden is always a better alternative, it's not always realistic, especially when you're like me and live in a college dorm room. You can't change the world by yourself, but you can do your best to avoid making it worse. That's what I try to do, so I wish people would just leave me alone and let me eat banana nice-cream in peace.