How does she feel on a vegetarian diet? 14 changes in my life.

Vegetarian diet – I’ve been on it for almost half a year and this is probably the right time for a small summary. Of course, I won’t persuade you to do anything – but I hope you will find my transformation interesting and encourage you to experiment.

My adventure with vegetarianism really started a few years ago – I don’t remember exactly, but there will probably be 6-7 of them. I also don’t remember how long it took, but I remember exactly that I ate fish at the time. I was a half-vegetarian, if you can even call it that. Anyway, my health began to decline, so I decided to go back to consuming these „animal guts”. Believe me – it was not easy. I was learning to eat meat the way children learn to walk. Piece by piece, for the sake of health and well-being. Today I know that my health did not depend on eating it at all. I just had a shitty lifestyle – maybe I didn’t eat meat, but not too much fruit and vegetables. I won’t even mention the lack of exercise.

This time it is a bit different – I am an adult and more aware – although the plaintiffs remained the same. And this is not some empathy for the killed animals (I’m not a hypocrite – after all, I buy them for my dogs!). I just… feel disgust. Meat is a corpse. Carrion. Rot. Yuck.

Vegetarianism doesn’t have to be healthier

Besides – for health, of course. It has been confirmed more than once in hundreds of studies on this subject that eating meat carries much more negative than positive health effects (although this does not apply to fish?). It’s just that I would like to alert you that vegetarianism does not have to be healthier than eating meat (it’s hard for a meatless pizza to be better than a chicken salad), but by definition it should be. In fact, the biggest problem is not eating meat, but the whole ideology around it. Hunting, slaughter, stress and suffering. Eating meat too greasy with too greasy additives. The myth of the superiority of animal protein over vegetable and too many hormones with which this meat is stuffed. And, by the way, no vegetables, fruits, fiber and exercise. But, of course, I don’t want to defend meat – actually, I’d rather like to alienate you from it. But this is too broad a topic and I’ll leave it for another post.

Am I drawn to meat? It continued, but only for the first month. It might not exist for me now. Well, unless the meat dishes include McDonald’s cheeseburgers, but that’s a moot point. My diet is still not perfect – I’m a terrible lazy and I hate cooking. Sometimes I just prefer to go the easy way and brush pasta with pesto from Lidl, but nevertheless my habits have changed dramatically. And behind them, my whole life …

Vegetarian diet – 14 changes in my life:
What has changed in my life since I switched to a vegetarian diet?

1) I have more energy.
I wake up refreshed and find it easier to deal with the challenges of everyday life. And believe me – it wasn’t always like that. Often in the morning I was exhausted – despite a solid breakfast of course. I suspect I was deficient in vitamins and minerals. Or maybe too acidic body ?!

2) I look better.
My complexion is colored (where is my pale face ?!), for the first time in my life I don’t have white spots on my nails and I don’t suffer from brittleness. Even the hair looks pretty good, although our Dzidunio abuses it every day

3) I’m not gaining weight.
Even though I eat what I want and when I want. I used to be careful about my diet – today I don’t have to. Firstly, because the products I eat are not caloric, and besides …

4) I don’t eat.
I really rarely eat sweets (i.e. once or twice a week) – I don’t feel the need anymore. I think my vegetarian diet is so rich in nutrients that the body does not crave them so much anymore. And no fluctuations in blood sugar. And since I added exercise to this – my body rebels by itself and, for example, does not allow me to eat chips. Even if I wanted to – I can’t. After just a few plays, I get a terrible, piercing pain in my stomach and have to put them off. Well, I don’t feel too bad about it.

5) I am not sick.
I was never a particularly sickly person, but I was often caught by seasonal colds. This year – nothing. Even frost, damp hair or even New Year’s Eve with bare legs – and I – nothing at all!

6) I have better blood tests.
Sugar, cholesterol, iron are normal. Despite the stereotypes, I just experienced anemia AFTER we stopped meat – is it a paradox ?!

7) I have no mood swings.
Satisfying the needs with micro and macro elements promotes hormonal balance – and this – an optimistic outlook on the world. No more irrational crying and unexpected outbursts of aggression

8) The cramps don’t catch me anymore.
Could it be, again, to satisfy the micro and macro elements?

Other changes
Not all changes are related to health

9) I get to know many new flavors.
A vegetarian diet is not an easy diet at first. We are so used to model meat with potatoes, pasta with meat sauce or meat casseroles that for a typical vegetarian freshman – like me – cooking a meatless dinner is a real challenge. But when you get into it – there are flavors that our taste buds have not dreamed of!

10) I’m saving on food.
A vegetarian, meat-free diet is relatively cheaper. After all, no fruit or vegetable costs per kilogram as much as a kilogram of meat or fish. Relatively, because it is known that when the palate is picky, the costs increase.

11) My self-awareness has increased.
Vegetarianism is a lifestyle. It is a choice of a conscious, healthy life. At the same time, the desire to extend it and squeeze as much out of it as possible. It is taking control of your own body and mind. It leaves no room for chance or excuses. And it goes way beyond the meatless framework.

12) I started playing sports.
After all, you have to accumulate this surplus energy somewhere, right?

Negative changes
But the vegetarian diet has not changed everything for the better in my life. There are also negative changes:

13) I’m having trouble ordering something from a restaurant.
And not only in small towns. Even in Lublin. Seriously. Okay, maybe most restaurants have vegetarian options, but it’s max. 3 courses. Usually sloppy, reheated appetizers from a nearby store. I really miss a restaurant with an extensive, meat-free menu here. Maybe things are a little better in larger cities.

14) People laugh.
We live in an era of tolerance and freedom of choice, yet people have a problem with respecting them. „What are you making up again?”, „It’s a mental illness”, „How do you function?”, „You will starve”, „You will not be healthy”, „You will have anemia”, „But you can’t do that”, etc, etc. … Making judgments without having a clue about the matter and never even trying to change it is probably typical for our society, but annoying. Country of fucking experts

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Of course, I’m used to it already, and I mostly fucked up. I don’t defend myself, I don’t try to explain – I just ignore it. Each of us has only one life and has the right to live it as we want – with or without meat is a personal matter. I certainly will not persuade you to do so, but I strongly encourage you – try before you judge! Stay for one month and feel for yourself how your life will change!

“Man can live a healthy life without killing animals for food. Therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking the life of animals only to satisfy his appetite. „
LEW TOŁSTOJ