The Climbing Silver

It is now my third week of “dabbling” in vegetarianism. I’m not sure now how many people I know, know that, but the number is low enough that I feel like I need a public outlet. For those of you not in the know, I am trying to eliminate meat from my diet for both health and ethical reasons. 

I had decided from the beginning that I wasn’t going to quit meat-eating cold-turkey (ha ha), because I’ve tried to do that with other things with little success. So, I decided that I would attempt to stick to vegetarian meals during the week (Monday through Friday), and relax my rules on the weekends. Now, over the past two-and-some weeks, this did get broken at least once a week, for various reasons (to prevent fresh meat in my fridge from going bad, for instance), but overall, I have eaten less and less meat/animal products each week. And the results have been… interesting.

Firstly, my stomach adjusted surprisingly quickly to the lack of meat. To try and put it gently, meat now seems to have an unpleasant laxative effect. Secondly, I’ve been intrigued by the vegetarian options available to me which were previously unknown. Thirdly— it’s an interesting experiment in psychology, both for yourself and the people around you. I’ve definitely seen part of the backlash already, which will be compounded by my family when they find out, but I have also been on the receiving edge of support from some unexpected places. It also really, REALLY helps that I am living on my own and buying my own food (2/3 of my family’s daily meals tend to consist of chicken or beef). 

Will I be able to keep going? I think so; it’s getting easier as time goes on. I’m curious to see some of the longer-term effects, though (after one month, two months, six months, etc.). I will say this: the battle against meat is definitely 80% mental. It’s so easy to change what goes into one’s mouth, but unless there’s a very compelling reason(s) to do so, one’s head will not accept the change. What’s the remaining 20%? Other people: the naysayers, the mockers, the puzzled people who say, “but… don’t you need the protein from meat to live? Isn’t milk good for you? Why deprive yourself?” It’s been amazing how many people have a knee-jerk reaction against vegetarianism/veganism, without really understanding why. But I will stick to my guns and my vegetables for now, and see where else this adventure will take me… so then, even if it ultimately fails, I can at least say that I’ve tried it, and if it succeeds, I will have first-hand accounts of a life without meat. Win-win either way, no?