When I was 13, my cousin Denise was born. Oh, how I loved to carry her around & play with her! Then she grew up and traveled around a bit & I haven't seen her in a long time, but she's back! You may remember her from Grandma's birthday dinner.
And now we are emailing on the regular because... she just became a vegetarian! She's new to the blog thing, but I send her links all the time. I thought it would be fun to 'interview' her for my blog & she kindly agreed. So, here we go.
1. You're doing the vegetarian thing-is this long term or are you trying it out for a short time? How long has it been?
As far as why I even considered this as an option, I found out about 6 months or so ago that my cholesteral was at 270. Which for anyone is high, and for me a 24 year old woman that weighs only 115 was a shock and very scary. Right away I did research on what cholesteral really was, where it comes from, how to prevent it from getting worse and so on. I found out that the cheese, milk and eggs were the main producer of these and like cold turkey, I took it all out of my diet. Instead of dairy milk I went to almond milk, which is great, and I stoped eating eggs and milk as much as I did before. Everything but the milk came back into my diet slowly after about 3 months. Although I did begin to eat a significant amount less and increased my whole grains, beans and veggies.
While talking to a doctor that I do marketing for about my cholesteral she told me about a book called Skinny Bitch
. While on a plane to Florida about 2 weeks ago for a business trip, I read the whole thing and just about died. I also have several friends who are vegans and vegetarians all for different reasons, who have communicated the benefits with me. I made the ultimate decision on the plane on september 12th. I have not eaten meat since then.The chemicals, side effects and all the crap we are putting in our bodies really spoke to me......but, what will keep the meat from my diet is the inhumane ways these poor animals lose their lives to satisfy our needs. I must admit it is hard to say that since I have not crossed over to vegan and still eat products that come from animals, but my thought process is the amount of meat that I am not eating is one more person saving that many more animals. The longer I have been going at it, and more reading I have done, the more the health benefits are helping solidify why I should stay on this path.
Being a vegetarian was not planned, but my plan is to not only stay a vegetarian long term, but use this as a stepping stone to hopefully becoming a vegan! As for now I have been getting organic products as much as I can, in hopes that the animals were offered a better life.
3. What do you think so far?
I think its great! Its easier than I thought, many options and really, much better tastes. I feel much better, not weighed down from processed foods and better because I am aware of what's going into my body. I love it. Its a wonderful feeling and I don't miss meat at all, just missing the years I have lost not being on board sooner! I feel thinner, but it could be in my head cause it has not been that long yet. Overall, happier!
I can add that I have been able to be a motivator to my boyfriend as well to help him in eating better. Even if he is not as gung-ho as me yet, or may never be, he is doing great and really getting into it. I am not someone who does anything half-assed and not only will I work at this everyday for me but I hope to be a motivator for others as well. The more people that jump on board, the closer we are as a society to offering these 'better for you' solutions at less expensive prices and having more restaurants and grocery stores carry these options! Call me an optimist, but I believe that if you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything, and I will stand for this.
She was even kind enough to send me some pics of her creations!
Pumpkin Stir Fry Hash brown & cauliflower skillet
Many thanks to Denise for allowing me to grill her for the blog! I hoped you enjoyed it as much as we did!
