You know that eating meat is not good for you, it’s terrible for the planet, and it’s even worse for the animal you’re eating …the responsible thing to do is to eat less of it, but where to start? The big mistake most people make is to immediately commit to “going vegetarian”. This seems like a paradox, but it’s not. Read on.
The top three problems people encounter when trying eat better:
Problem #1 The Label: You’ve announced to everyone that you’re now an all-caps VEGETARIAN. Your family questions you, “But where will you get your protein?” Your friends act like you couldn’t possibly survive this change and playfully tease you about salads. Everyone is wondering what you’ll eat as if nothing exists except chicken wraps and beef burgers. You’re at a cookout and take one bite of pork and everyone turns to look at you, “You’re eating pork! You’re not a REAL vegetarian! Shame. Shame on you!”
Problem #2 Coming In Too Hot: You decide that on Monday you’re going meatless, forever! Monday comes and you’ve packed your first all-veggie lunch. It’s just ok, and it’s certainly not enough. You’re hungry afterwards. By dinner you are starving. Before you even get home you cave and order chicken curry from the first restaurant you pass and shovel it into your mouth in your car. You’ve “failed”. Tuesday you feel like you’re back to square one.
Problem #3 Expecting the Same Old Things to Work: The day you begin to make meatless choices, your job has ordered a lunch for everyone and it’s a giant meat sandwich…and nothing else. For dinner, your partner has taken you out to that restaurant that you’ve always loved and ordered themselves a plate of steak and potatoes while you must settle for the one item on the menu you can now eat: french onion soup. Everything sucks! I can’t do this! Fail
Real Problems and the Real Solution
The problem isn’t you. The real problem is: commitment to any rigid set of rules automatically sets you up for “failure”.
Get rid of the Title
When you take a stand and call yourself a “vegetarian”, you are saying “I will perfectly stay in this box and never stray.” But the truth is, people don’t want to stay in boxes. They don’t want to be held to any particular thing they said for their entire life. If you leave things more open-ended, you can avoid the scrutiny of others, the playful jabs that actually are very annoying, and the idea of “failure”. Soon you can be on the road to eating less meat without anyone else’s input to derail you.
Often, people who declared vegetarianism and then have one meat meal decide they have failed and they start eating meat again. Wouldn’t you like the option to step out of the box every once in while without losing all of the wonderful changes you’ve implemented? Have some grace with yourself.
Instead of saying “I’m vegetarian”, try saying “I usually make vegetarian choices”. It’s really that simple. Then, no one can criticize you when you take a bite of pork at the cookout. No one can question you on protein (but, they will try!).
Learning New Things
Learning how to cook tasty meals with spices and herbs and without meat doesn’t happen overnight. Your first meals might not be very good if you’ve always relied on meat to bring the flavor. The good news is that most people find when they start cooking vegetarian meals, they learn how to truly use ingredients and spices to bring food to life. If you can learn this, you honestly will never miss the meat.
Follow some easy veggie recipe boards on Pinterest or videos on TikTok to get started. Celebrate each meatless meal that you’ve managed to incorporate into your day. Soon you will be doing this more and more, and eating less and less meat.
Trade the same old for new
If you’re trying to make a change in how you eat, don’t expect that your usual restaurants and grocery stores are going to suit your new needs. You can’t walk into a steakhouse and expect them to have an awesome Vegan choice. You can’t always get wonderful, flavorful ingredients at a massive chain grocery store. You’re going to have to think a bit differently to get different results. Try going to new grocery stores and restaurants and getting something you’ve never tried. Farmer’s markets are a great place to find a vegetable you’ve never tried to cook. You can find a recipe for ANYTHING these days so don’t be afraid. You’re going to have to be a little adventurous in order to find new things, but is that so terrible? Adventure is what life is about! This is going to be fun.
So where do you get your protein?
Because people love to instigate, you will be asked, sometimes by well-meaning people and sometimes by people who want to get under your skin. Assume they all mean well, but my personal answer for the standard, age-old question, “Where do you get your protein?” Look them in the eye and with sincerity, ask:
“I think I get plenty. I feel great. Do you think I look sick and malnourished?”
…then watch them squirm. The truth is, so many vegetables have more accessible protein than meat but no one wants to hear about it and you didn’t sign up to educate them for free. Only explain if you really want to. Otherwise, leave them hanging and keep eating your delicious food.
Go for it!
So instead of “going vegetarian” and setting yourself up for scrutiny, questions, and jokes from others, trying going “Vegetarian-ish” and let the jokers try and get their heads around that. You can’t fail when there’s no rigid rules for you to break. Go for it!
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