Becoming a Vegetarian

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Becoming a vegetarian is not difficult. It's definitely a task that looks like a mountain but ends up being a hill. To me the hardest part was finding my why. I had been eating meat for the last 30 years and never gave a single thought to becoming a vegetarian. In my youth I never even ate vegetables. The closest I got to a vegetable were french fries. 

My why came to me in my journey to lose weight and becoming a better runner. I had hit plateaus in weight loss and wanted better performance from my body. You don't have to look very hard to find the nutritional benefits of going vegetarian. Over the years I had also become more concerned with where the meat on my plate was coming from. Not eating meat is certainly the easiest solution to that problem.

Planning

I knew I would fail if I went big bang and cut all meat out at once. To start I decided to eliminate everything except fish, more specifically sushi. Sushi is my favorite source of animal protein and is the easiest to eat lean and clean. It's available almost everywhere these days. Tons of supermarkets have an in house sushi chef, I have even been to hospitals with a sushi chef on site. This kept things simple and easy to follow.

Next I needed to expand my at home vegetarian menu. The easiest thing to do here was google some recipes. One of my favorite sites is Eating Bird Food. They have a recipe for roasted broccoli quinoa salad that I still make weekly. Other than that I have turned to a few cook books. The most helpful for me was Run Fast Cook Fast Eat Slow. While this book is not strictly vegetarian most of the recipes have tips for making them vegetarian.

First Experiences

If you have anyone at home who is not joining you on the journey to becoming a vegetarian it can be challenging. My wife joined me but the kids didn't want anything to do with it. At dinner time we have to prepare 2 meals. One for the kids with meat and another for us without. The skill to pick up here is learning to intersect the two. Make a vegetarian meal that can be the accompanying vegetable to the meat dish. With a little practice this becomes very easy. Our variety of vegetarian meals has grown a lot so the kids have actually grown to enjoy the new ways we prepare their veggies.

Menus at restaurants shrink. Every time you dine out your options are usually limited to about 25% of what is available. Depending on where you are, asking for a menu item without meat is usually ok, but not always possible. This definitely takes some getting used to. One nice thing is a lot of places mark vegetarian items with a V so they stand out. The immediate pay off is it steers you clear of a lot of unhealthy menu items. The upside here is its difficult to leave a restaurant feeling over full and bloated.

On that same subject I never feel as full as I used to. This lead to some over eating as I was searching for that same feeling of fullness. Meat will sit heavy in your stomach unlike a plate of greens. After eating a large salad being content with this new feeling of fullness takes some getting used to. Eating slower really helps with this.

Be prepared to talk about your journey with others. In any social situation with food the vegetarian always stands out, especially if you have to make a special request. Most people are just curious as to why you would make that choice. Other than that they want a breakdown of what you eat everyday. The good conversations are with folks who care about nutrition and want to know where you get your protein from. Telling people about my journey and stumbling upon others who are also vegetarian has become a lot of fun.

Settling In

Finding new go to meals and snacks is the first step in finding your new normal. In the beginning I constantly found myself struggling to replace something I used to eat regularly. Meal prepping chicken on the weekends turned into quinoa and roasted veggies. The meat in tacos morphed into roasted buffalo cauliflower. Bacon and eggs became avocado and eggs. To finally settle on new meals I went through a lot of trial and error. The first month is a little bumpy but it starts to smooth out shortly after.

Grocery store habits start to catch up after a little while as well. I developed a much better eye for detail in the produce section. Spotting which vegetables are in season and those have been refreshed recently. Subbing out one ingredient for another if something is unavailable. This isn't something you can really get better at without putting in the effort over time. Once you get acclimated your taste buds and you wallet with thank you.

After about 3-4 months I gave up fish. My variety of vegetarian meals had grown enough to where I stopped having the desire for meat. Getting enough protein was not a problem. Between the quinoa, lentils, nuts, and beans I had more than enough. When eating out I had picked up on all the nuances I needed to be aware of to order something I could eat. Occasionally having to just settle for french fries when everyone wants to hit a burger joint.

Outcomes

Within 6 months of becoming a vegetarian I had dropped another 10 pounds. Having hit a plateau with weight loss this was awesome. I had been working hard to drop more weight but wasn't able to get it down with my appetite from all the running I was doing. As of this writing almost 2 years after becoming a vegetarian I still float around 170 pounds.

My running times have gotten faster and my energy level is way up. I have actually switched to a no days off schedule. Each day I am either running or hitting the gym for weight training. My body feels great and recovers faster than ever.

I feel a lot better about my food choices. It really just makes me happy knowing I didn't eat like crap at a meal. Eating clean with the restrictions of being a vegetarian is so easy. As much as I love a big juicy burger or a giant bucket of wings I don't miss the way they made me feel. After everyone else is done eating their meat I can definitely say I am the most nimble in the room because they are so weighed down by the meal.

Lessons Learned

1. Becoming a vegetarian is much easier than it sounds. Put simply you are really just trading meat for protein rich vegetables.
2. Don't be afraid to take smaller steps in the process. You don't have to become vegetarian over night.
3. Collect a bunch of recipes that sound good to you ahead of time. Having these readily available will make the first couple months easier.
4. Think about what you are going to say to folks who ask you about being a vegetarian. Being put on the spot in a large group can be awkward.