1yr Journey As A Vegetarian

CHEERS TO 1 WHOLE YEAR BEING VEGETERIAN!

Exactly August 15th 2018 marked the year anniversary for me being vegetarian. The initial start was my boyfriend’s idea. He did it for discipline and I did it for weight loss. Also at this time, all of the food documentaries started surfacing exposing the hormones, antibiotics, steriods, etc given to animals as well as the meat linking to cancer and other illnesses. So needless to say it wasn’t so hard because now we had even more of a real reason to want to stop consuming meat. Given that we both live on the west coast (Las Vegas & Los Angeles) it’s very easy to make the lifestyle switch. At first you get very hungry, but after meals we wouldn’t feel that sluggish feeling or get “food comas”. That part is amazing! Thanks to Pinterest I was always cooking a new delicious vegetarian dish.

After a few months passed by I saw more documentaries about animal cruelty and WOW I just cannot believe I had never looked into this before. It is just flat-out horrible. After seeing this, the goal was always to transition to vegan and cut out dairy. I had quit drinking milk probably 7 years ago because I mean who really doesn’t know about all of the problems linked to that?! I always saw eggs as meat so I cut those out of my diet as soon as I went vegetarian. The hard item to cut out was cheese. I would purchase dairy free cheese from the market but going out to eat was really difficult to order certain dishes without it. As for traveling to destinations like Hawaii it was still easy to keep my diet. When I traveled to Europe after a few days I broke my diet. I realized its the United States that has the problem with processed food and harmful substances in their meat (ex. hormones and steroids), not Europe. Other times when I traveled to third world countries it was harder to eat plant-based and stay full so I would eat seafood for the trip.

Around 11 months in to my diet with hardly any cheating I have decided to become pescatarian and am completely off dairy products (aside from organic cheese boards for wine night). Throughout my journey I have learned SO much knowledge I’d like to pass on. For starters eggs aren’t really good protein they’re actually very harmful. I would never eat fish like salmon again UNLESS it was fresh from the ocean but even then, salmon is nearly 50% fat. Everything is okay in moderation. If you want to become vegetarian and cheat once a month, its OKAY it all takes time and practice. If you live in a non vegan friendly area it is more challenging, but not impossible to make the change. I’ve realized the importance of a big vegetable side with every meal. Over all I have better skin, more energy, and did lose some weight from making this transition. You know what I also did? I helped saved the lives of poor animals which also makes a difference for our planet. Even the smallest changed you do can impact the world in a big way. Whether it’s switching to dairy free milk, or only eating meat twice a week I encourage everyone to challenge themselves in trying to make a difference. The outcomes will be rewarding and positive.

What products have you cut out of your everyday diet and felt a difference from?

xo Carmen,