Peace,

I’ve been a vegetarian for about 13 years.  I started in college back in 1999 and have always been health conscious since I was a kid.  It seems like today, more and more people are getting into watching what they eat.  But back when I was in college, it was just beginning to become something popular.

It seems like the first question I always get when I tell people I’m a vegetarian is “How do you get your protein?”  It’s funny…because with the variety of “snack bars” on the marketplace, I’m amazed how people can ask that question while eating a Kashi or Cliff bar almost daily.  But beyond the snack bars, most people don’t realize that you can get plenty of protein from leafy green vegetables, nuts, and legumes.  And on top of that, “vegetable” protein is healthier for you than “animal” protein.

And to be honest, I’ve never been the one to try to influence or force people to think that eating meat is bad…even though in my opinion, there’s really no major health benefit to eating meat.  We all have our own life, so I always tell people to live your life however you want.  BUT at the same time, I think a lot of the “habits” we have when it comes to eating food, is because we’re so accustomed to them in American society.   Everyone from adults to kids know who Ronald McDonald is…but we never think about if Ronald is truly a “friendly clown” or a representative of a corporation that contributes, majorly, to the obesity epidemic in the U.S.

But back to me…lol…When I started the vegetarian lifestyle, I told myself “I’m going to give myself a good six months to figure out if this is truly something I want to do”.  So I did that…and I’ll never forget…The VERY first week, I went to the NC State Convenience Store to find something to eat, and tried to go for some vegetable soup (I believe it was from Campbell’s).  I looked on the back of the label for the ingredients, and what I noticed was that “vegetable” soup contained “beef stock”.  I was like WOW!  So that made me hit up the supermarket, and low and behold, there were all kinds of foods that you wouldn’t expect to have animal ingredients, but did.  So I feel like an alien to this day when I go into a traditional supermarket because there is but so much I can really eat.  I’ve been wanting to eventually move into the “vegan” lifestyle, but my schedule is crazy hectic right now, and I know for a fact I would HAVE to cook for myself every single day…and I just don’t have the time right now.  I know it’s possible, but I have to be committed to make those changes in order to be successful.  It’s still a debate…but we’ll see what 2012 brings.

There will be future posts about the vegetarian (possibly vegan) lifestyle.  I wanted to at least give you a quick introduction on how I got started.  Once you understand that there are alternatives out there, it becomes habit forming (just like how you’ve made it a habit to eat what you like right now).  We rarely think about the choices, just what we’re so accustomed to.  And this is one of many ways you can make a change to better your health and mental well-being.

Thoughts?  Leave it in the comments!