Why I'm vegetarian

First of all, I normally don't label my diet as vegetarian. It puts me in a restrictive mindset and I don't see the need for labelling diets. But, it is a vegetarian diet. I have been vegetarian since about February this year. It started as my goal for Lent to eat less meat and I'm proud that I managed to do it. All my other Lent goals of eating less chocolate or cutting out sweets have never followed through. Yet, this one I made a promise to myself that I would do. 

Before I was not particularly a huge meat eater. I had never even tried steak or lamb. My meat consumption was mainly chicken and ham which I thought would have been more difficult to cut out of my diet than it was. I think that the main reason I cut out meat for Lent was the fact that I lived with flatmates who were all vegetarian. I found this difficult and often would feel embarrassed cooking chicken in the kitchen whilst they were preparing their meat free meals. I therefore found myself subconsciously buying less meat. Another reason was the fact that every corner of the street in Spain was a meat lovers paradise. There was pigs legs hanging from the butchers and raw meat in every window. On the corner of my street was a butcher shop and I remember one morning when I was walking to class and a man came out of the van holding a dead pig in his arms. I feel this would give anyone nausea. 

I have to say that the transition from a meat diet to that which is meat free was not difficult. I did find myself eating countless baked potatoes, however, it was not vastly different. I mean I did have to switch my baked potato toppings from mince and chilli to cheese, but, it was not the end of the world. At first, I did think a vegetarian diet would be more expensive but have you seen the price of takeaways nowadays? Also the price of meat is not exactly cheap. If you are thinking of changing your diet, I would like to list a few bits of advice:

• First of all, don't label your diet as vegetarian as this sets you up for failure and puts you in a restrictive mindset. This is automatically telling your brain that you can't eat meat which will ultimately make you crave it more
• Don't do what I done and change your diet overnight- start off slowly and try and incorporate one or two meat free days each week and build it up from there 
• Find out what meat free alternatives you love and what you hate 
• Be mindful of your body - it can be easy to eat fewer calories on a vegetarian diet without even realising. Make sure to listen to your body and be aware of any depletion in energy level
• If you have any dietary requirements or allergies, make sure to speak to your doctor before changing your diet to ensure that it is safe to cut out meat 
• If you need some extra motivation, there are tonnes of Netflix documentaries to watch - my personal favourite is 'Cowspiracy'

You will find that there are so many more alternatives to meat nowadays than there were years ago. I have found an alternative for pretty much everything I used to eat when I was eating meat. I have also found that I have a new source of extra energy. I feel more energetic and when I do my runs I can do them in faster times than I have done before. This has been the main area where I have seen the most change by being vegetarian so it can be easy to see why so many athletes follow this diet. Something which started off as a challenge to do for Lent has now become part of my lifestyle. There are of course millions more health benefits to becoming vegetarian: 

• An estimated 70% of all diseases, including one-third of all cancers, are related to diet. A vegetarian diet reduces the risk for chronic degenerative diseases such as obesity, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and certain types of cancer. 
• A vegetarian diet is inherently healthier because vegetarians consume less animal fat and cholesterol and instead consume more fiber and more antioxidant-rich produce 
• Animal products clog your arteries, zap your energy and slow down your immune system 
• Balanced vegetarian diets are naturally free of cholesterol, artery-clogging animal products that physically slow us down - whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables are high in complex carbohydrates that they supply the body with energising fuel

Whilst the health benefits are amazing, the main reason I continued this lifestyle were for environmental factors. The meat industry is devastating the environment. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, chemical and animal waste from factory farms is responsible for more than 173,000 miles of polluted rivers and streams. Agricultural activities can cause pollution including confined animal facilities, plowing, pesticide spraying, irrigation, fertilising and harvesting. It estimated that nearly 95% of the pesticide residue in the typical American diet comes from meat, fish and dairy products. 

You can save the rainforest by not eating meat. Tropical forests in Brazil and other regions are destroyed daily to create more space to raise livestock. Rainforests are vital to life on earth - they regulate the global climate and the water cycle, absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and provide humans with medicines, food and much more. Every second, one football field of rainforest is destroyed in order to produce 257 hamburgers.  Eating one pound of hamburger does the same damage as driving your car for three weeks. 

By being vegetarian, you can save famine around the world. It takes up to 16 pounds of soybeans and grains to produce 1lb of beef. About 70% of all grain produced in the United States is fed to animals raised for slaughter. The 7 billion livestock animals in the US consume 5 times as much grain as is consumed by the American population. If all the grain currently fed to livestock were consumed by people then the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million. 

It can be beneficial for your mental health. By being vegetarian, you are reducing the suffering and killing in the world and increasing compassion for animals as well as a feeling of lightness in oneself. The reality is that ten billion animals are slaughtered for human consumption each year. They are crammed into factory farms with cages where they can barely move and fed on a diet tainted with pesticides and antibiotics. They spend their entire lives in cages where they can't even turn around. By not eating meat, you are helping the animals. 

Ultimately if we are all more mindful of our meat consumption then this can help the environment significantly. If you are unable to be a full-time vegetarian, then I urge you to do as much as you can. Dedicate one day in the week, whether it be a Monday or a Wednesday, to not eating any meat. Or start by giving yourself small challenges - to eat one meat free dinner throughout the week. 

The Global Environmental Outlook report, compiled by the UN, estimated that by 2032: 

• Half the world will be short of water 
• 70% of the Earth's surface will be suffering severe impacts of man's activities, destroying the natural world with roads, mining and cities 
• There will be another 2 billion mouths to feed 

The time to save our planet is now. I challenge you for the next 7 days to have 2 meat free dinners during the week. Let this be the start of your journey. If not, our planet will be a very dismal picture by 2032.