Well the results are in and I'm pleased.
I had decided on November the 5th to try out 30 days of vegetarianism.
Some of my motives to try it at the time were:
- Curiosity. Why were so many people I knew vegetarian and/or becoming so?
- I wanted to reassess my diet and everything I was putting into my system.
- The acid/alkaline diet that I've been reading about really frowns on the consumption of meats.
- I always felt like a vegetarian but never really was conscious enough about my eating to second guess things.
- I wanted to research vegetarianism where I live here in China.
The results after 30 days are:
- I feel a new sense of personal empowerment. Like I am making a difference by not eating animals. That I am in control of what I put in my body.
- I am generally a lot healthier. A lot of unhealthy habits go along with eating meat. Ie: gravy, fast food, street vendor food.
- I now understand a lot more about how the meat industry "makes" meat and how most of the world has no idea when they are stuffing their faces full of KFC...
- I feel like part of an elite club.
- A lot of cooking was done at home during this time. That's a plus because it was all really healthy cooking, a lot of greens, tofu, tomatoes and TLC.
- I found a lot of really neat restaurants in my neighbourhood that I had never noticed before.
- I feel lighter somehow. On a spiritual level.
- My friends were quite understanding of my decision not to eat meat. Even my wife's parents who vehemently opposed it began to understand why and support me now.
- I made some terrible tofu. And then I made some bad tofu. And then it got better. Now it is finally edible.
- I have saved a lot of money! Meat is expensive here... tofu and meat alternatives are cheap!
- I have educated myself a lot on the pros of eating veg but haven't done similar research into any pros on eating meat. If any of you have any good reading materials it is only fair that I try to balance things out.
In closing, I have decided to continue on eating veg for the foreseeable future. It feels good. I feel better than when I ate meat. My quality of life has improved thanks to this MEX.
Learning, growing and understanding myself and my surroundings. Now that is living!(( The next MEX will be announced before the week is up! :) ))
2 comments:
Well done! It's inspiring. I almost wish you had been able to do a film documentary of your experience, "Supersize Me" style. Apparently I am attending one of the most vegetarian friendly schools in the country right now... I just may give this a whirl myself!
Thanks for dropping me a comment Sneels ;) It would have been really neat to have documentarized the whole thing. Having the cameras follow me as meat eating students of mine look at me like I'm nuts and try to talk me into eating the stuff again. That would've been good to get on camera.
That's interesting that your uni is one of the most veg friendly ones in the country. How did you find out about this? Do you have any friends who eat a veg diet?
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