How Do Vegetarians Do It?

I am a carnivore at heart. As a child I grew up with my dad cooking on the grill every weekend. Every trip we went on, my family and I would stake out a new barbecue restaurant to try. All to say, I have been to my fair share of barbecue places in my lifetime thus far. What can I say? I am from Texas.

However, one of my best friends is a vegetarian. I have always marveled at how she does it and have secretly always wanted to try it. So I did! I became a vegetarian for a day today. No meat, no poultry, and no fish for a whole day (what was I getting myself into?)! I thought about giving up half way through the day because I just couldn't take it anymore. But it actually wasn't that bad although it did take some extra effort.

Here are some of the common vegetarian foods/meals....
1. Hummus
2. Tofu
3. Veggie Pizza
4. Veggie or Black Bean Burger
5. Peanut Butter (aka my main food group)
6. Vegetables, lots of them!
7. Fruit

I did a little research on the topic to see why people made the change and learned some astonishing facts. According to this website, www.farmsanctuary.org, "factory farming is an attitude that regards animal agriculture, this attitude has led to intructionalized animal cruelty, massive environmental destruction and resource depletion, and animal and human health risks." In general, I believe that as Americans we really do eat too much meat. Meat is protein which is a necessity for our diet, but how that meat appears on our plate is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. Factory Farming has created living conditions for animals that are just down right repulsive. There are laws that are enacted to reflect societal values, but laws addressing how animals are treated on farms are inconsistent with popular concerns. Farmed animals are excluded from most federal and state anti-cruelty laws, so animals used for food production are legally subjected to intolerable suffering. We are endangering ourselves with the disease and anti-biotic resistance that comes from factory farming. which could lead Americans to greater health issues.

I am not saying that I am going to go cold turkey and cut meat completely out of my diet and become a vegetarian. I don't think that would be physically possible for me. I am saying that I am going to be more conscious and aware of the next time I eat meat. I recognize that this is a problem and will help the other vegetarians out there by being more decisive with my eating choices.