My Decision to Become Vegetarian

Background
School is definitely not the best environment for healthy eating. I ate out at least once a day with most of those meals being really unhealthy cheap and greasy foods. It's not surprising that I was overweight and always feeling tired because of my eating habits.

After I graduated in June, I actually had time to start cooking for myself and eating healthier. I have to say that my primary goal was NOT to diet and lose weight, but instead to eat healthy. If I lost weight in the process, then it would be an added benefit.

My Steps
I didn't go on a fad diet, but began to eat things that every parent tells their children to eat more of. I increased my consumption whole grains, fruit, and vegetables and eliminated almost all soft drinks, candy, and anything that had high fructose corn syrup in it.

The initial results were pretty astounding. I lost over 30 lbs over the period of 3 months, going from 180 to under 150. The amount of exercise didn't change during this period and was pretty much limited to walking around. The biggest thing I noticed was that I had a lot more energy and didn't have to periodically take naps to get through the day. By this point, I was pretty much only eating meat when I went out to restaurant with friends, which was about twice a week.

After Thanksgiving I finally decided to become a vegetarian. At the time I decided that I would become a pescatarian (fish, dairy, and eggs were allowed). After a few weeks, I noticed that the only fish I ate was when I had sushi with co-workers for lunch. In light of this, I decided to all meats and become a lacto-ovo vegetarian for the reasons listed below. The information below was found in "The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and The World" by John Robbins.

My Reasons For Becoming Vegetarian

1. Eating animal products has a tremendous environmental impact
1. 16 pounds of grain are required to create 1 lb of beef
2. More water/pesticides/fertilizers are required to grow the grains that are fed to the animal.
3. Animal waste such as methane from cows and fecal matter from pigs contribute significantly to climate change and water pollution respectively.
   
2. Eating animal products can be bad for your health
1. Studies show that vegetarians live on average 6-10 years longer than meat eaters
   
2. Vegetarians on average have lower blood cholesterol levels and blood pressure
3. People on plant based diets have lower rates of breast, lung, prostate, and colon cancer

There is of course also the aspect of factory farming and cruelty to animals. However, for me, the most important reasons why I became a vegetarian are related to environmental impact and health. The benefits of eating fewer animal products are twofold: You can improve your health and reduce your environmental impact at the same time. I will be posting a review of John Robbin's book "The Food Revolution" in the near future with more details about health and environment.

I plan to go vegan (no animal products at all) soon and I will keep you updated on my progress on that. It definitely won't be an easy road, particularly when I go out to restaurants. However, I believe it is one worth pursuing for my own health, and the health of the environment.

Recommended Books:

• The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World - John Robbins
• The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter - Peter Singer

Recommended Movies:

• The Future of Food
• Green Genetics