Four Days In
Day One
My journey to becoming a vegetarian started off with a Tik Tok, specifically one of those Tik Toks that promises you can change your life with just a few simple steps. Rather than saving the video and never referencing it again, as I do with countless Tik Toks, I decided that this would be a change I was going to make in my life. I have been wanting to go vegetarian for a while due to environmental concerns, but something has always held me back. My family is very into food, including cooking and eating out, and many of our favorite meals include meat. However, now that I am a college senior who needs to cook for myself most of the time and is afraid of cooking meat, I felt like this would be the perfect time. On day one, I made Trader Joe’s fried rice for lunch and Trader Joe’s frozen veggie burgers for dinner along with some roasted vegetables. So far, I didn’t miss meat too much.
Day Two
The second day of being a vegetarian was already weighing on me. I craved chicken nuggets and a burger. I knew that I needed to bring in some reinforcements, so I convinced my sister to go on the journey with me. She goes to school in another state and documenting our meals and giving each other meal ideas seemed like a fun way to keep in touch and keep myself accountable. On day two, I ordered a salad, making the conscious choice to leave out the chicken, immediately texting my sister for validation. For dinner, I made beyond beef, which I don’t think tastes much different from regular beef. Meat substitutes like this make it seem more plausible for me to maintain my vegetarianism.
Day Three
Unfortunately, day three was when things began to go wrong. I had only made it two days, and I was already struggling. I started my day off well with a smoothie and bagel, but it was later in the day, after a long day of tailgating, that my friends decided to go to get tacos. I could have gotten the veggie taco, but anyone who knows me knows that ground beef tacos are my weakness. I felt guilty after cheating, but I realized that it wasn’t going to be a perfect transition. There would be slip ups, and I was going to have to go easy on myself if I was going to successfully phase meat out of my life.
Day Four
I got back on track with a day full of pasta. Pasta and ravioli are some of my favorite vegetarian meals because they are meals that are already meatless. Overall, my advice as a four day long vegetarian (who cheated once) is that it’s a process, and you can’t be too hard on yourself in the beginning. I can’t set my expectations for myself too high, and I know that there will still be another ground beef taco in my future before I am able to become fully vegetarian. So if you are considering becoming vegetarian, this is your sign! But if not, know that it’s definitely not for everyone, and I am still struggling. Hopefully, I will be able to maintain this diet for years to come.