This March, I passed four years since I became a vegetarian. While I was super nervous to begin a new lifestyle, I’m so happy that I decided to branch out and try it. For me being a vegetarian has been more than just what I eat. Being the only vegetarian in my family means that I have had to make new adjustments for myself. I have learned a lot about myself over these four years and I am excited to see where being vegetarian takes me in the future!
I’ve become a better cook
As the only vegetarian in my family, I had to learn how to make my own meals. Of course my family would accommodate my needs by having vegetarian sides and options, but this got tiring after a while. I started to make my own meals using whatever non meat items we had. I even started watching Youtube videos for recipes and learned not only how to cook vegetarian meals, but also non vegetarian meals. I figured this would be useful for the days where I would help cook dinner with family. Since becoming vegetarian, I’ve enjoyed cooking. It’s fun to explore and be adventurous with new and old foods. One of my favorite things to do is to take a traditionally non vegetarian meal and turn it vegetarian. Now, you can find me cooking something new almost every other day!
I’ve become more aware and organized
When eating a diet with no meat, it’s important to know what you are eating in order to make sure you are still following your diet. I must admit I did accidentally eat a California sushi roll mislabeled as “vegetarian” once. I was upset at first but I realized that accidents do happen. After this, I decided to check the labels on what I ate or put on myself. I didn’t realize how many foods and skin products often have some sort of meat products in them. I was upset after this because I did have to stop eating some of my favorite foods as a result. Luckily, I have since found alternatives for these and try to use them as much as possible. At home I also try to keep everything that’s vegetarian away from other products in order to avoid a potential accident like the past.
I started taking care of myself more
When I first became vegetarian, I quickly noticed some of the well known benefits – clear skin, weight loss and more energy. I knew that in order to maintain these I would have to step up and not only rely on the foods I ate. I did start avoiding processed foods whenever I could but I figured I needed to do more. So, I started to adopt a new skincare routine and followed it closely. I began taking new vitamins as well as exercising in order to remain energetic throughout the week. I did and still have those days where I take a break from my routine. I found this to be okay as long as I made up for it. Since then, I’ve maintained the majority of these benefits.
I’ve learned the downsides of switching to a new diet
While the benefits of becoming a vegetarian were exciting at first, I quickly learned some of the downsides. Oftentimes vegetarians may try to fill in the place of meat with another food group. For me, I stuck with wheat and complex carbs. At first, I hadn’t noticed any difference in this change but that quickly changed. I slowly started to gain back the initial weight I lost from when I first became a vegetarian. I also started getting acne, which frightened me! As a result, I had to do some research on how to properly adjust and adopt new foods into my diet. I also had to exercise more in order to keep fit as a result of this change. Luckily, I was able to work down the weight and clear my skin with the help of proper skincare. Today, I still carefully monitor how much wheat and carbs are added to my diet just to make sure I can prevent any negative reactions.