My friend Samantha has been a vegetarian for more than half her life, and, as you will read, it’s been quite an interesting journey. Making a decision like that is never easy, but when you are from a religiously meat-eating culture like Ireland, it’s especially tricky. However, she has found what is right for her, and as an interested observer, I have to say, her steadfast resolve amidst judgmental carnivores is nothing short of admirable. As we each explore what is right for us, sometimes we find our answers come from the least likely places: like strangers in the supermarket who comment on the contents of our trolley...
With love,
Gabriela
I really am proud of being a vegetarian. Finally.
At 16 years of age I gave up meat (won't bore you with the long story involving a row with a boyfriend, a field, and a cow) and there followed about two decades of apologies for being the difficult one: ‘no honestly, it’s fine, I’ll just scrape the ham off.’ Or, ‘no don’t worry, I’ll stick to the bread.’ And the holidays? Oh, the holidays -- eating nothing for days on end but bowls of cereal and pizza – Yum!
Hardly healthy, you’d agree. And definitely not fun.
Slowly I learned to stop apologizing for my choices, probably about the same time I started to notice how what I ate made me feel. Cheese and chips are tasty but they won’t sustain you through college/work/heavy socializing!
In the last 20 years there have been the odd weak moments. But if the mouth-watering smell of sizzling bacon or the temptation of dropping two easy stones on a steak-heavy Atkin’s diet didn’t turn me, then torturous ‘meet-the-parents-who-haven’t-been-told-you’re-veggie’ dinner parties and cracks about my washed out skin tone were never going to either. I am very proud of sticking to my meat-free principles.
And how times have changed… in the supermarket the other day the checkout assistant commented: ‘oh that’s a healthy basket’. Chatting to her as she scanned my over-salted fake meat products I discovered her perception of my sin-free basket was precisely because of the lack of meat. The heavy reliance on ‘fake’ chicken and sausages told her I was veggie and so health conscious. Blimey!
It is a common perception that today’s vegetarians are a healthy, health conscious bunch. Instead of lacking in energy from the lack of cow, we’re ethically considerate citizens with cupboards full of quinoa and tofu. Yes, I probably eat a higher amount of veg than the average person, but I have to work hard to balance the lack of meat.
And while the meat substitutes I find myself turning to at times are advertised as low in fat and high in fibre, they’re also factory produced and rely a little too much on salt and sugar. They’re my guilty pleasure, my own version of convenience food, and they only make up a very small part of my diet.
Because after the wilderness of what I like to call my Cheese Sandwich years, I have finally found balance, especially when it comes to my protein intake. It wasn’t easy; it took a lot of research, trial and error. And a food diary that even noted my mood and energy levels, with as much nutritional information as I could cram into each entry.
Each person can figure out what works for them, but some things that I have found to work for me include adding a handful of lentils to homemade soups – it won’t change the taste or texture but will up the protein content as will using chickpeas as a ‘thickener’ rather than always relying on potatoes for example; yoghurt and nuts with fruit at breakfast; a handful of seeds and nuts on salads and veg dishes; some soy beans tossed into a stir-fry. It all helps.
What I won’t do these days is waste a gorgeous, precious eating opportunity on something I don’t like or will make me feel rubbish. I adore food and I especially love sharing meal times – and while you are tucking into your stew/fish pie/beautifully succulent piece of whatever, why should I make do with the rather lazy ‘veggie pasta’ option?
And I make no apology for that :-)
Comments