Hi friends! I’m going to preface this post by saying that I literally don’t care what you eat. At all. There’s no one right diet for everyone. WHEW! I said it.
Now that we have that out of the way… In April of this year I went vegetarian after about a year or so of eating not much meat. I’ve never been a huge meat eater, and it slowly just started losing appeal for me until it made me feel kind of nauseous to eat it. So I have the benefit of not really enjoying meat, which made my transition to vegetarianism WAY easier, but I still encountered a lot of interesting issues that I thought I’d share with you today.
This isn’t going to be a preachy post. I debated even writing about this because the last thing I wanted was to come off like “I stopped eating meat so I’m better than you :>”. I don’t feel that way at all, and I also know that my diet isn’t perfect. Would it be better for animals and the environment if I went full vegan? Of course. Are there people who eat meat but still have a more sustainable diet than me? Ya. But neither of those are right for me at this point, much like vegetarianism might not be for you at this point and that’s okay!
I’m not going to write much about ethics or the meat industry or any of that stuff. Instead, I just wanted to share a few things about my experience transitioning from a meaty diet to mostly plants. If you’re trying to cut back on meat, want to go full veg, or are just curious about the process, this one’s for you!
to start, i recognize that privilege is a huge reason i was able to go vegetarian.
Produce is expensive, y’all! It doesn’t HAVE to be, but when you live in an expensive area, it certainly can. I’m an unmarried 20-something with a stable job who lives with her parents and doesn’t have to pay the rent. If I had a family to cook for, a less steady source of income, or more bills to pay, this process would have been a LOT harder.
I don’t have a lot of time to grocery shop, so I pay way too much money for Hungryroot, a meal subscription box. This is not sponsored in any way, but if you use my referral link we can both save some $$$ so click on that if you want to check it out! Hungryroot is vegan and low-calorie. Everything is pre-cut and pre-packaged so each meal takes under 10 minutes to cook, which fits with my super busy life. EVERYTHING is delicious, although I do think the amount of packaging involved is pretty wasteful – a lot of it is recyclable, but it would be better for the earth if less things were pre-packaged.
So anyway, I don’t have to think too hard about what I eat. But not everyone will have that same experience.
i mostly stopped eating meat because i stopped liking it
Although I’m happy that I’m cutting down on my carbon footprint at least a little by cutting out meat, the main reason I went vegetarian is that I started getting grossed out by eating meat. It doesn’t bother me when other people eat it around me, I just don’t want to eat it myself. It’s mostly a texture thing.
if you’re a picky eater, you’re going to have a bad time
Speaking of texture, I also hate tofu! YES, I know there is firm and soft tofu. YES, I have tried it all. YES, I still hate it. I have a very sensitive stomach and I get grossed out really easy and lose my appetite. Things that gross me out include every fake meat out there UNLESS it’s made of vegetables and not like, soy protein or whatever. I don’t even like saying the words “soy protein.” That said, I have found some delicious veggie burgers and veggie meatballs that I love, but they’re definitely not pretending to be meat. That’s the way I like it. (And if meat grosses me out, why would I want to eat something that resembles meat anyway?)
So that means 99% of my protein has to come from plant sources, which is hard. I definitely don’t get enough of it in my diet. I also hate tomatoes and bell peppers and onions (unless they’re cooked very soft), which means I pretty much can’t order anything at a restaurant without customizing it a ton.
that said, restaurant options are way easier than i expected
I really haven’t had a problem at all with ordering at restaurants. Almost everyplace has some kind of vegetarian option on the menu, and if they don’t, you can usually customize things pretty easily. For example, there’s a chicken veggie wrap I used to love at a restaurant down the street that I just order without chicken now. It’s still delicious! When in doubt, most places have salad. But you really do get sick of eating salad all the time, so I encourage you to think outside he box (and be nice to your waitstaff while requesting customizations! don’t be a jerk about it!)
it took my body some time to adjust
I went vegetarian the first week of April, and I would say it took that entire month for my body to adjust. It wasn’t anything major – since meat grossed me out at that point anyway, I didn’t have any strong meat cravings (except on my period, when I always crave super rare steak. am I a werewolf???) I did, however, suffer from what I can only describe as “gastrointestinal distress” resulting from cutting out meat cold-turkey, eating HELLA beans, and going ham on the cruciferous vegetables. My body also felt… weird. I don’t know how to explain it and I can’t pinpoint any specific symptoms, I just remember feeling kind of weird for a while. #helpful
it took an emotional toll, too
This was something I didn’t expect at all, but cutting out meat made me feel… sad. Sharing a meal with my family is something rooted deeply in my childhood, and suddenly I couldn’t do that anymore – I had to cook all my own food that no one else wanted to eat. It made me feel left out, and all of a sudden my go-to comfort recipes (chicken soup, stuffed peppers, golabki, lasagna) were off the table. Can I make veggie versions of all of these? Of course! But it’s not the same as that nostalgic taste I’ve known since I was a kid.
I’m honestly over it now and have found ways to modify my favorite recipes. But I felt a little lost and sad for probably an entire month or two while I broke those old habits and connections.
i have lost 0 pounds
I really thought cutting out meat would help me lose a little weight, but that didn’t happen. Turns out potato chips and pizza can be vegetarian, too, so just upping my veggie intake didn’t really do much for my waistline.
you’re going to have to make your own rules
Cutting out meat can be complicated. Does fish count? (I don’t personally have anything against eating fish and have done so once since going vegetarian, but it turns out fish grosses me out too so I don’t want to eat it unless it’s in tuna salad.) What about broth? Soooo many dishes are cooked in chicken broth. (For me, as long as it’s not actual animal flesh, I’m fine with eating it.) What about products like instant ramen that may contain traces of meat but aren’t actually meat? If a dish comes with meat on it, can you pick it off or do you need to order a whole new dish?
A lot of these are things you don’t think about until you’re in the situation. For example, I ordered a salad and requested no bacon but it still came with bacon bits on it. The bacon bits were small enough that the texture wouldn’t gross me out, but do I send it back because of the principle of the thing? I didn’t in the end, because it would have been wasteful to get rid of a perfectly good salad when I could just eat the bacon bits. But if I was super grossed out by bacon, it would have been a different story.
Likewise, if I order a dish that accidentally comes with meat on it, I’m fine with just eating around the meat. But a lot of people have a problem if meat even touches their food, so that would be a no-go for them. You’re going to have to figure out what your own personal rules are and how rigid (or not) they turn out to be.
So those are my main thoughts! Overall I’ve been vegetarian for almost 4 months now and I’ve never once looked back. I’m not saying I’ll never eat meat again, but right now I don’t feel a need to. I think the process would be harder if I missed or craved meat, but as I said before I’ve luckily been spared that because I don’t have any desire to eat it to begin with.
Would you ever go vegetarian? Have you tried, but went back to meat? I’d love to hear about your experience (and your best vegetarian recipes!)
