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As I had been raised strictly Filipino, my mom, and especially my grandma, did the cooking with lots of salt, meat, and rice. Becoming vegetarian gave me quite some time of mocking and really stupid questions and arguments about fish being vegetables and how vegetables were alive before we “killed them,” but the change is beautiful. Everyone should try being vegetarian for a day to open their mind to everything else given to us from the earth without feeling guilty of how it is cruelly raised.
It all started out back in January of this year, 2009, on the third Sunday. I came up with my New Year’s Resolution after I chewed and immediately spat out a piece of beef during dinner. Voila, idea; I’ll give up meat for the year. I’m allergic to chicken and pork, so beef appeared to be no problem to give up. The next day, I figured I could give up fish as well. The following Saturday, the night of formal, I ate out with them at a restaurant and easily chose something with no meat in it. I contemplated on whether or not to give up cheese as well, but I decided to take this change of life style one step at a time. I got pasta, and so did everyone else. I practically murdered everyone who did not finish their food, and gladly took their pasta and some of their meat for my dad, because my mom made him “come” with us. Easy Peasy.
My mom was not very supportive, because she is Filipino and is convinced that I’ll die if I don’t eat meat or fish. I don’t listen to her anyways, and I’m glad I didn’t give up because of her word. She’s diabetic and barely does anything about it, and I’ve learned from experience, as well as the experiences of others, that is it not a good idea to listen to her advice. I understood that fish is good for you, but I also heard that it will run out in half a decade or so, so oh well for me; this is the biggest New Years Resolution I could ever carry out for a whole year, let alone come up with.
One time, I needed to prepare my dad something for dinner, and I found a can of clam chowder, so I boiled that for him. He asked if I wanted any, and he looked worried, so I tried eating some. The clams were way too small, so I looked at him and said “I give up.” I gave up on eating anything with meat in it at all. Good thing I’m a pretty lazy person when it comes to picking stuff out, cause I’m usually someone who doesn’t waste ANYTHING and even try to make other people eat whatever is not. If the poor animal died because of us, I believe we have the duty to use the whole animal, as the Native Americans respected the animals they hunted. We should all be Native Americans, but that would be a little too hard now since everything’s already blow up into industry and what not. Maybe there could be a come back?
Well, after a couple months, I finally tried a veggie burger and started out with the Garden Burgers. Those were good, and when I tried Boca Burgers I stuck with those, even though it smelled very much like meat. It took a while to get used to, but I did not eat these often. I had fun bringing them to bbqs, showing off my strength!! After badminton season ended in May of this year, I just ended up eating mostly bread and gained the weight back. I also began experiencing deadly bloating, thinking that I had developed an allergic reaction to peanuts or wheat, or even white flour, but I used Midol to try to counteract it, along with lots of water. Recently, I have figured out that by drinking orange juice in the morning, the acidity of the juice can balance everything out.
The number one thing I love about being vegetarian is that it has opened my mind to so many different ways to improve myself as well as the environment, and even reducing animal slaughter on a small scale or better by convincing people that moderation can save the world!! I opened myself to so many cool different ways of cooking food, like how raw vegetables contain more nutrients that boiled. Farmers Markets are amazing, and I wish I could get out of school to do groceries xD I finally got a bike after being without for almost ten years and I can get my daily exercise through that. I have become convinced that by not eating meat, maybe someone else who REALLY needs the easily absorbent protein can get it, and that is what I think I want to do in the future: distribute goods from the high-consumers to those in need.
I still have so much to explore, and I hope my younger brother can get into this movement because it could really help him counter his obesity once he finds out what sport he would want to do. You can never eat too many vegetables, as long as it is not covered in salt. Vegetables give you a lot of your daily amount of water, so you’re getting things done faster. There are so many different cultures that focus on vegetables, but I haven’t gotten much experience with them yet, but someday I will!
But one thing that I could complain about being vegetarian is that the original Garden Burger that my dad has just bought is WAY WAY WAY too salty, but it gives me a reason to LOAD UP on lettuce :D So there is no complaint about being vegetarian, haha :]. I get more energy, feel better about myself, and there is no guilt unless I eat too much cake or empty calories when I run out of vegetables. But if you go vegan, you don’t run into those problems xD I’m not vegan because that would really drive my mother crazy, and I would struggle through my loss of lovely plain yogurt. Support organic sources!
Everyone, try it out. Just make sure you eat a variety of natural foods so that you can take in ALL of the good stuff that is loaded in what comes out of the earth, and try supporting your local farmers as opposed to groceries. We can really make a difference. You don’t necessarily need meat to live, especially if you don’t do much on a daily basis, but everything good in meat is even better in fruits and vegetables, without the limit.
