First, let me go ahead and answer the question that you are all probably asking yourselves: what is a pescatarian?
A pescatarian is someone who does not eat meat but still eats fish.
Basically it is the middle ground between carnivore and vegetarian.
As the new year rolled around I decided I wanted to do something different that would require me to challenge myself. One of my friends had already been a pescatarian for about four months and it seemed to be working well for her so I decided to hop on the crazy train and give up meat too. When I say crazy train, I mean it. Everyone around me thought I was absolutely insane, especially since 50% of my food intake was Chick-Fil-A. No one understood why I decided to give up meat, and to be completely honest I wasn’t too sure myself. I just new that I wanted a change and was curious as to how it would effect my body and overall health.
The first few days of living with a meatless diet I was at home over break so it wasn’t that hard. I was able to prepare my own meals or go out to restaurants and order things that specifically did not have meat in it. I didn’t really think it through that I would not be able to keep this up when I returned to college.
Once I got back on campus I came to the realization that this whole pescatarian thing might be a little harder than I had anticipated. I never noticed how much meat I actually ate until I could not eat it anymore. This meant no more chicken tenders, pork in my burritos or turkey on my sandwich–even bacon in my salad was no longer an option. It took a little bit of adjusting, but eventually I found foods that I enjoyed eating that did not contain meat.
Things like veggie burgers, french fries and salads became my new favorite foods. Since my college typically does not serve a lot of seafood (not that I would be brave enough to eat it if it did) I was basically eating like a vegetarian.
It may not have been the easiest of transitions I have made but it has, in fact, been worth it.
I have been able to prove to myself that I can stick to some though even though it is difficult. I have learned that if I put my mind to something that I can make it work, even though my campus doesn’t have the most option for people like me. Overall what I have learned from this ongoing experience is that I can do anything I set my mind to…and you can too, Collegiettes.
Be brave, be strong and try new things. You can do it!