I love food. I eat when I’m hungry, when I’m not hungry, when I want to be hungry, and at any time in between. But what I’ve often paid little attention to in the past is what I am eating. I’m not majorly unhealthy, but I do eat a lot of meat. And because of my love for meat, I’ve always said ‘I could never be vegetarian’, and never thought much beyond that.
However, it was only recently that I actually realised what a big difference could be made both personally and socially if I just cut down on general meat intake. And this is the thing! So often, I have experienced people telling me to be vegetarian, or people questioning vegetarians for eating something that goes against these morals. It’s almost as if it has to be all or nothing: utter vegetarianism or utter carnivorous consumption.
But this is not the case! Cutting down on general meat consumption means you are likely to use healthier alternatives and lower your risk of things like heart disease, which has been associated with red meat. As well as this, you are getting less of all the drugs that animals are pumped with before they are killed, saving energy in our concerning climate, and obviously, leading to the death of less animals.
In all this time that I have declared myself unable of being a vegetarian, I have neglected the idea of being a flexitarian; that is, eating mostly plant-based foods but still eating meat on occasion too. The benefits of everyone being vegetarian would be great, but the benefits of everyone merely cutting down if not completely cutting out are also huge! And this is what I now intend to do.
I know that it would be unrealistic for me to cut meat out immediately, because I currently eat so much of it. So, for now, I am going to have two meat free days a week. Slowly, I hope to work up to perhaps even just having one day a week that I eat meat, which would be great! I’m not sure I would ever want to cut out completely though, and I would still feel like I am doing my bit by only eating it once a week (fight me, vegetarian activists) …
With this in mind, I went to my favourite restaurant today: Turtle Bay. Usually I would get their browned chicken which is literally insane (I highly recommend), but with great willpower against the jerk chicken options staring at me, I went for the aubergine curry. And it was so good. If I wasn’t consciously thinking about my meat intake, I never would have opted for something like this. So, I guess that trying this out means I will try new kinds of food in the process, which is just an added bonus.
The point of this post is that when it comes to vegetarianism, it really doesn’t need to be all or nothing! I think the idea of cutting down on meat rather than cutting it out needs to be pushed publicly as I think it will lead to much higher success rates in the long run. It also means people who label themselves as a vegetarian will feel less guilt if they give into meat every now and then, when really, they are still making great contributions!
As today is my first meat free day, it’s hard to tell how successful I will be in my challenge. However, I think it is definitely possible with the small target I am starting with, of having just two meat free days a week.
Here is to a healthier lifestyle!
Ellie-Paige x
ElliePaigeAndre 