A series in which I explain my decision to stop eating meat and want to encourage you to have a more plant based diet, fast from eating meat (like Meatless Monday), or become a vegetarian.  Please be advised that I respect all opinions and am not a health expert.     http://wp.me/p1vSeV-2y  

Once upon a time I had posted about me deciding to become a vegetarian.  In this post I said I’d make it a series.  Well, I never followed through.  So, I’m going to start this again.

March will mark a year that I had decided to become a vegetarian.  I kinda abandoned all changed I made in the past 6 weeks when I opted for sushi for my birthday dinner.  And then I realized that I can’t quite give up the occasional sushi dinner, fish taco, or crab cake.  So technically, as of April I was a pescetarian who primarily eats vegan.  I’d have to say, this was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for myself!

I’ve found that developing these new eating habits have opened the door for me to really new and exciting foods.  Vegan baking tastes a lot better, and is much easier than regular baking.  I hated touching and cutting raw meat, so removing that from any meal was great and I hated buying pre-cooked meat (I caved at times, normally from Whole Foods).

When I was a teenager, I read an article in Vogue about a woman who was told she had 3 months to live and decided to cut out dairy from her diet.  The one article gave me the idea to cut dairy out of my diet.  By the time I got to college I had incorporated dairy back into my diet, as well as copius amounts of junk food, and eventually realized how much better life is without dairy in your system.

I intend to post specifically about meat, dairy, and the literature that I’ve read to make sure making this change was benefitting me and not harming me (there’s SO much that you can miss out on if you aren’t fully aware of the nutritional value of certain foods).  I also want to include a post of blogs that have helped me transition and inspired me with my meals.

I really look forward to anyone who wants to weigh in and voice their opinion on anything!

Disclaimer:  I’m not an expert or a nutritionist, just someone who wants to eat healthier due to observing the direction of the food industry and growing up in a family (immediate and extended) who struggles with their health due to food choices.