Most of us here in Quezon, we rarely meet a vegetarian and we barely know anything about it. It is still common that people and most waiters/waitresses have an impression that vegetarian means you can't eat pork or beef but you can eat fish and white meat of the chicken. Funny.
Vegetarian, how hard can it be to process that it means eating just vegetables? I haven't heard of a seafood that grew as a plant so why are we under that mentality? Except for the seaweeds, of course.
Well there are many types of vegetarians but there are only 3 types that is qualified for the challenge, Lacto-ovo, Lacto and Vegans!
Set a goal that is realistic and doable to your daily life. Here are some few tips that might help you get through it:
1. As early as now, you might wanna gradually transition by having 1 animal protein before the target date. Do not give it up all at once or you'll fall back into eating meat again. Although, it's different for everyone, but this one I highly recommend.
2. Plan your meals for the day so you wont have to deal with last minute meatless meal that is unhealthy, like chips, fries, etc. Remember, meatless doesn't mean everything is healthy. Meatless means, eat veggies! <3
3. Bring an apple or banana at work in case you starve in the middle of the day. There are plenty of meatless snacks like turon, maruya, banana cues to fill you up so no excuses on chowing chicharong baboy or isaw before dinner! Fruit is as accessible as McDonald's!
4. Drink plenty of water! Most people who transition to healthier meals thinks they are hungry all the time. Your body is used to heavy meals and meat takes a more than a day for it to get out of your system. A dead animal in your gut for more than 72 hours. Digest that! >.< Sometimes, we are not really hungry but just thirsty and bored. So drink up!
5. Know where to eat when you're out. It won't hurt researching what food you can eat in a restaurant. Actually, I find it extremely difficult to be out with your friends and find out that you will have nothing to eat in there. Most establishments now have Facebook pages and sometimes they upload their menu. Check out if there's something you can enjoy and not just settle for a chopseuy.
6. If you go to work everyday, the best thing to do is know which karinderya or canteen serves meatless meals. If there's nothing in your area, cook before leaving your house. This is one of the biggest issues of people who want to eat healthier. There's no time to cook and sometimes, they just don't run out of excuses.
Why do it?
Doing this is not easy for many people. It is not called a challenge for nothing. But it is only hard
coz we were conditioned by culture to eat it. But not every culture is correct. We may find some cultures in Middle Eastern countries offensive, but to them it's right. They may find women's cover-less head very obscene but to us, it's normal. It is a man-made standards that we simply follow. Through a challenge like this, we will learn a lot of things, that I guarantee you.
If we are determined enough to make it all the way, we will be pushed to read labels, know where our food are coming from, be forced to use our creativity to make something good to eat. Remember, we eat meat since the day we are born and this is only for 22 days. You can always eat meat after this challenge. It's what you'll learn doing this challenge that counts. Plus, you'll feel lighter!
That is one of a countless reasons why you should do it and I believe that this may be a gateway into something that you don't even know about yourself. Isn't is exciting?
And oh, here's some other reasons why you should do this!
So now, are you ready?
;)
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