The Vegetarian March

Life is hard for a vegetarian in a society that seems to thrive on the products of cows. Today it can be hard to find food without meat in it, especially cheap food that a broke college kid like myself could afford, but for the entire month of March, I threw the meat out of my diet and became a vegetarian.

Many people think that being vegetarian is expensive, but it is easy to eat under the average budget. I gave myself $50 for food for the month and stocked up on Jasmine rice, refried beans and a ton of mixed vegetables. This cost about $40, leaving me under budget for the month with $10 to spare.

All my food was prepared using a simple crock pot. Just put in water to steam the rice then add any vegetables or spices of your choice then come back an hour or two later for a delicious vegetarian creation. Using a crock pot saved a lot of time in food preparation. I never had to worry about watching the food cook or burning it since it was slow cooked to perfection as I went about my daily duties.

It seemed easy at first, but getting through the first week proved difficult. The first couple of days were simple, but as that Friday came my stomach began to grumble for meat and a terrible hunger set in. However, the urges to eat meat quickly subsided in a couple of days, and the next three weeks were much easier to deal with as my body became more accustomed to a meatless diet.

Becoming vegetarian is more than just a diet change; it’s a lifestyle change. When the diet started out my energy began to fluctuate, making me tired at odd hours. As my body got used to the change and began to process the vegetables better I soon found that being vegetarian gave me a ton of energy that had never been there before, but to keep that energy up I had to eat larger portions at every meal and a couple of snacks throughout the day. By the end of the third week my body felt amazing and my personal fitness records were being smashed left and right. The only downside was the constant craving of fatty food and the nightly energy crash that would hit me around 9 o’clock every night.

It took some time and a lot of willpower to keep to the diet, but the payoff was worth it. Over the entire month of March my weight changed from 189 pounds to 181 pounds with a total loss of eight pounds. At the fourth week my energy fluctuations stopped, and I began to feel healthier than I ever have before.

Unfortunately, I love my steak and fried chicken too much, so it’s doubtful that this diet will continue in my life, but my outlook on nutrition has changed from this experience. I have a higher respect for vegetarians around the world, and my diet will contain less meat than it has in the past.

After the diet ended, at the beginning of April, I had my first taste of meat for a whole month. It tasted amazing. It was like eating meat for the first time again, but since my stomach had not had greasy hamburger meat for a whole month, I felt sick, which led me to further believe that vegetarianism is a more viable option for a healthier lifestyle.