My Decision to become
Vegetarian
Becoming
vegetarian has been something that I have pondered for a while now. It all
started one trimester at college when a friend and I were discussing things
that we could give up for Lent. One year, we had both given up soda, which led
to a decreased consumption of it and finally I have given up soda for good,
except on those random craving times. Since a new time of Lent was upon us, we
decided to make a bigger sacrifice, one that would help us feel the difference
and that could help us think about why we were going through with this
sacrifice. Finally, my friend and I decided to give up all meats. It was a
tough decision, and one that proved challenging as most of our meals came from
the University’s dining services.
For
a full forty days, we had to be conscious about what we were eating, to make
sure we were not violating our vegetarian diet, but at the same time, we had to
be conscious to also eat all of the nutrients that our bodies needed in order
to succeed. After a couple of stumbles, that helped us to learn what to eat and
what not to eat, our forty days were successful. We were so successful that we
decided we would do this every time for lent.
Finally,
I got to a point where I kept going back and forth between deciding to become
fully vegetarian and remaining a carnivore. As it is, I do not consider meat as
the most delicious meal ever, but I ate it anyways.
It was not until I saw a
documentary, Forks Over Knives, that I realized that being vegetarian is not only
about caring for the animals. On and on I hear some people’s reasoning for
becoming vegetarian, “Oh, the animals just suffer so much!”, or the opposite,
reasons NOT to become vegetarian, “I don’t care how much animals suffer, I like
my meat!”. Each person is entitled to their own opinion, but it is not until
you think of the consequences that you will encounter, that you realize there
is a third side to the story. Being a carnivore, or enjoying too many animal
products, as shown on the documentary, has been correlated with an increased
risk of chronic and degenerative diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and
even certain cancers. You might think, well, “we are going to die someday!” I
am the type of person that believes in action; the will to act for oneself is
the most powerful thing that we humans possess. It is this reason that I have
taken up a vegetarian lifestyle, not so much for the animals, but for myself.
Yes, we will all die someday, but the more we take care of ourselves, the more
possibilities we have of diminishing our chances to attain those chronic
illnesses.
If we take into account all those
risk factors that we have, both genetic and environmental, we can see a
mountain of risks, a mountain that is difficult to climb if we don’t ourselves
do what is best for us. I am not trying to convince anyone to become vegetarian
or vegan or to remain with their carnivorous lifestyle, but I do encourage
everyone to ponder a couple of things, what do you want for yourselves? What
kind of life do you see yourself living 20, 30, 40 years from now? How long do
you see yourself living and what kind of health would you like to have? Yes we
might feel doomed by our genetics, the thing we cannot control, but we are not
entirely forced to live what our genes tell us we will; there is the other
side, the environment. The environment is the one thing we can control, and the
one thing that, if controlled in a positive manner, could possibly outsmart the
genes.
Along with being vegetarian, I have
decided to live a more active lifestyle. I have picked up once again my DVDs,
and am now working out 5 days a week, feeling great. I encourage you all to
watch the documentary Forks over Knives, even if you do not want to become
vegetarian, watch it for the mere reason of gaining knowledge. Finally, I
encourage you to take action for yourselves, do what you know is best for you;
do what makes you feel better because after all, there is only one person that
can make you do anything, yourself!
