12. Going Vegetarian

It’s startling when you realize that you can become a vegetarian with little to no sacrifice. I had recently made the decision to stop eating red meat. It was because I actually wasn’t really that fond of it to begin with. I can appreciate a steak every once in a while, but really it isn’t much of a treat for me. Along with my active dislike of lobster, I like to joke that I would always be a cheap date.

So yeah, no beef. It helped that along with my dislike of the flavor, I had other reasons too. For one unorthodox reason to go meatless is that it’s a lot less hassle to cook. No slimy fat to trim or stinky garbage. Peel, boil, serve; great for a student with not a lot of time to be in the kitchen. I do have more normal reasons for going meatless. I know raising cattle is terrible for the environment with all the methane and waste the cows produce. It takes the grain that should be going to hungry people and instead give it to animals, which is counterproductive to me. And finally, I don’t have to worry about wading through the confusing terminology of “free range, organic, hormone free” just to find a meat that won’t pump by body full of strange chemicals. Plus, I’m a jobless grad student living on savings at the moment. My wallet thanks me for laying off the beef.

When I told this to my parents, I thought they would be proud of my decision. Instead it caused them to worry about my health (one of their favorite pastimes). My mother told me that I would have to be very careful to make sure I ate enough protein.  Never mind that I usually don’t pay the slightest bit of attention to the nitty-gritty requirements of my diet. I figure as long as I’m full, I’m feeding myself.

So I decided to look into this protein problem. First I found a page that would help me calculate the amount I needed. Just convert your weight to kilograms (multiply pounds by 2.2) and then multiply by how much protein you want to add to your diet. The about.com page I used suggested a range from .8 for a sedentary lifestyle (that’s me all over) to 1.4 for athletes who want to bulk up. I picked .9, because I didn’t want to admit total defeat, and got 56 grams of protein per day. Here’s the page if you want to learn more about protein in your diet: http://exercise.about.com/cs/nutrition/a/protein_2.htm

So what was next was finding out how much protein is in the food I usually eat. I did a web search and found a few pages that list off the protein I can get from things like nuts, dairy, grains, and soy products. Surprisingly, nuts and seeds don’t have as much protein as I thought they would. They usually fall way under the double digits. But looking around the list I began to realize just how easy it was for me to still meet my requirement. Just one cup of cottage cheese contains 31 grams of protein, about ¾ of my daily needs. Pair that with a 2 egg, 2 servings of cheese omelet and boom, mission complete. If I’m low I could always round out my day with one of my favorite snacks, a slice of toast with almond butter on top: 12 gs of protein a pop. Or get out some hummus and chips, about 5 gs for a decent snack. This is all without counting the vegetables I eat, many of which do have a small amount of protein in them. 

So yeah, I pretty much get my daily requirements of protein already from non-meat sources. I think I would probably get into the habit of eating more beans and lentils before I kiss all meats goodbye. And I don’t think I could possibly go meatless forever. I love a succulent marinated and grilled chicken breast, or a luscious pork tenderloin with pineapple baked on top. But that would be a once or twice a week treat rather than an everyday meal. I won’t preach how the meat industry is evil (even though it is) or how everyone must convert to this method of eating (although really they should). I just found that going vegetarian was a surprisingly easy step for me in my current lifestyle.