by Rachel Culp
For years and years, probably since my freshman year of high school, I always gave up pop/soda for Lent. So this year, I decided to try something different. I have always been super interested in the environment and trying to be as “green” as possible. I am by no means the most green person in the world, but I do try to recycle as much as I can and do the little things that a lot of people forget about. This year, that meant getting a recycling bin for my apartment and taking it once a week to the recycling center here in Oxford. My heart breaks a little bit that Oxford does not have a city-recycling service, but that’s for another article.
Anyway, so as I have been researching pollution and being green, I realized how much of our pollution, specifically in the US is caused by meat consumption. So, I decided to give up meat for Lent! Along with my best friend, because everyone knows the best way to suffer is together.
The first few days were not too bad, but I was quickly realizing how often my body was accustomed to getting chicken or some kind of meat every single day. I must admit, I decided that since Sunday does not technically count as one of the 40 days of Lent, I allowed myself meat on Sunday’s throughout Lent. And let me tell you, that first Sunday I stuffed my face full of every single kind of meat I could. Shout-out to the McAlister’s club for getting me through.
After having given up meat for 40 days, I learned that I should never, ever be a vegetarian. I shall be forced to find other, more creative ways to protect Mother Nature because vegetarian life was not amazing. The only thing I replaced meat with was carbs. I am talking 10,000 pieces of bread a day. Pasta every single meal. Literally just carbs all day every day, and I am pretty sure I ended up gaining like 5 pounds. I realize that I did not do this the healthiest way possible, I should have replaced the meat cravings with veggies and fruit and healthy carbs and all of that nonsense. But as a college student who survives on Starbucks coffee and her sorority’s meals each day, this was the best I could do.
So for anyone willing to try and give up meat- good luck! I am sure you will do better than I1