10 Years Of Being A Vegetarian

As of this month I have been a vegetarian for 10 years (well I did eat fish but I stopped that after about three weeks of becoming a veggie). I wanted to talk about my experiences of being a vegetarian, how to deal with the drastic change in diet and what I eat - I am not trying to make anyone become a vegetarian or feel guilty about eating meat, this is just my experiences and my opinions. Also this week 19th - 25th May is national vegetarian week!

All images above are from Google

Firstly, I became a vegetarian as I saw a video online (I think it was on Viva's website) about how some animals are being killed and also I think it was just a realisation of were the meat I was eating actually comes from. My family have been very supportive over the years, making meals specifically for me although I think it was a bit of a shock at first - and a bit worrying for a girl who was almost 12 years old to stop eating protein. Apart from me, there isn't another vegetarian in my family (or my friends) that I know of but my grandad is a pescatarian so he hasn't eaten meat for about forty years but he does eat fish. I understand eating fish for health reasons as it does contain good nutrients but I am fully vegetarian for moral reasons, I don't eat meat, fish or meat products because I personally think it is wrong to eat meat. Animals do not need to die for me to live. 

I personally found the change from eating meat, fish and gelatine based sweets (such as Haribo) really quite easy, I would miss certain meals that I liked which contained meat but on the whole it was easy for me. There are a lot of meat free alternative such as store own meat free products and Quorn. My favourite Quorn product is definitely the 'bacon' as it is really nice with pasta. I don't know if it tastes like meat because I do not remember what any meat or fish tastes like. 

Some of my favourite veggie meals include pasta, I make a lot of vegetable pasta dishes. I just cook whatever pasta I want and I then lightly pan fry kale, broccoli, celery, pine nuts, green beans and samphire which is a gorgeous combination along with some cream alternative (a less fatty version of single cream) and herbs - heaven! I also love roasted artichoke, homemade Quorn coconut curry, Quorn burgers, mushroom and cheese pizza and risotto. I do eat milk, cheese and eggs as I am not a vegan. Nuts, seeds, pulses and meat alternative are good sources of protein. I also take vitamin/mineral tablets when I remember. 

There are some difficulties being a vegetarian, for example, I did become anaemic (lack of iron in the blood which causes tiredness, fatigue and reduced concentration) while I was in high school/college which may have been because I wasn't eating enough meat free protein sources. I did have to have ferrous fumerate liquid which tasted like blood/rust from my doctor. Also while eating in restaurants it can be difficult as there are usually only one or two veggie options or I would be unsure if it is completely vegetarian as the stock or cheese used may not be suitable for vegetarians. Also I have to check food packaging a lot to see if it suitable for vegetarians which can be annoying, I am definitely looking into ordering occasionally from solely vegetarian food websites - any suggestions? 

I am so glad I became a vegetarian and I think it is a good achievement to make it to 10 years meat free - if you are interested in becoming a vegetarian check out the Vegetarian Society website, here. I only have one vegetarian healthy recipe on my blog currently, you can see it here and I am thinking of starting a vegetarian blog, would anyone be interested in recipes etc? 

If you have any questions for me, leave them in the comments below