Becoming a Part-Time Vegetarian

Being a vegetarian isn’t something I had ever considered. In 2006 that all changed when I met the lady who is now my wife.

Jo, who has written every other post here at veggieadvisor.com, has been a vegetarian since she was very young. When we first started going out she made it clear that she was vegetarian and that she wouldn’t cook meat or have it in her flat. This was something I was happy to go along with not realising how much it would change me and my opinions.

Now I should point out that I am not actually a vegetarian. I still occasionally eat meat and fish, but my consumption has reduced dramatically… and I couldn’t be happier.

Change?

Becoming a part-time vegetarian means that I have tried all sorts of new vegetables that I hadn’t considered before - in fact I have tried lots of different foods I wouldn’t have looked at twice.

I have had a few conversations with my carnivorous friends about the change. They wonder what I eat and how I survive without sausages or spam. They wonder if the food is boring, or if I eat anything other than beans. They nearly always ask about cheese and milk, there’s a lot of people who don’t really know the difference between types of vegetarians (I would say I’m a flexitarian).

Benefits

Besides marrying Jo, there are have been quite a few benefits from eating vegetarian.

• I feel healthier and have even lost some weight.
• It’s cheaper. Meat is expensive, vegetables less so.
• I have more variety in my diet. All the veg I used to ‘dislike’ I now eat. There are only a few I don’t enjoy, and who needs tomatoes and courgettes anyway?

Besides these I find myself actually choosing vegetarian foods when I go out. This is often unplanned, I no longer choose steak when I go to restaurants as I find it unappealing and can imagine it being hard to digest and sitting in my stomach for hours. Instead I will eat veggie or fish-based foods. I can’t go past a vegetarian restaurant without trying their veggie burgers (although I do eat other things as well!).

Being a part-time vegetarian has been nothing but positive for me. I have no idea if I will ever switch over totally, but all the negatives people mentioned simply don’t exist. I feel so much healthier that any possible down sides have been pushed to one side. Even if carnivores don’t turn entirely veggie I would recommend cutting down on the meats; it’ll do you good, I promise!