One day, I flew through the door, ran into my bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. I kicked off my shoes and unbuttoned my blouse and started crying. I cried and cried until I found myself curled up in a fetal position and became numb. And in that moment, I knew that I had to make a change. I had just been fired from my high paying, stressful corporate job by a ruthless boss who teased me for 7 months with the threat of giving me the pink slip. She finally handed it to me and I cried not because I was fired but I had held in all of the expletives I wanted to call her over those months for so long that the tears were a huge release of garbage.
Over the next several days as I licked my wounds and bandaged my ego, I had very little appetite and I found myself visiting the health food store several times a day and buying freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices. I began trying out some of the products and asking the employees questions. They all seemed to be very content and at peace with their choice. And the calmness is what I desired, too. I had no idea until one of the cashiers told me that I was in a fasting and cleansing phase and she recommended that I do a colon cleanse. After doing this, I felt 100% better, happy, and ready to take on my next goals.
So that’s how I landed into my vegetarian lifestyle. Getting rid of meat from my diet seemed very easy to me. I had made friends by now of people who used vegetable protein to make chili, tempeh for tangy meat substitutes and tofu in fried rice dishes. I was able to replace cow’s milk without any issue because I started fixing my child real meals for breakfast including leftover soups, rice or oatmeal dishes. In fact, vegetarianism allowed me to let go of the notion that soup was not a breakfast food. I ate what I wanted and when I wanted because I personally made each meal and new all of the ingredients that went into each meal.
Before I became vegetarian, I could not cook. I ate out and bought more packaged foods. But now that I am careful about reading labels and buying organic foods, I enjoy cooking. The day that I knew I had made the complete transition from being a meat eater to no meats is when I was walking across the parking lot to enter the supermarket and the smell of those roasting chickens and fried chicken wings that they sell at the deli smelled as if it was burning flesh. I was so nauseated. It’s amazing how cooked meat smells so different after you stop eating it and purge it from your system.
Another fear that I quickly overcame was the idea that being a vegetarian was more expensive. That is the excuse that I often hear from people who believe that eating meat is cheaper. If you buy fresh food items such as beans, rice and oats in bulk, you can use that as the base for many dishes. Additionally, soy and almond milk’s cost more but their expiration date is much longer so you actually save money through longer shelf life. Finally, I’d much rather pay a little bit more now for preventive health than to pay for insulin, hospital stays, and medicines because I had meat lodged into my colon causing me harm.
Here are some tips to transition into the meatless world.
1. Start by replacing cow’s milk with soy, almond or rice milk.
2. Taper down to eating meat one or two days per week if you are accustomed to eating it everyday.
3. Visit your local health food store and ask for help about products that can be substituted for everyday foods such as sugar and white flour.
4. When planning your grocery list each week, do not think about vegetarianism as what you are giving up. Rather focus on what you can add to your diet that is meatless. So get the ingredients for egg rolls, chili, spaghetti, soup, rice dishes and prepare enough to last for a couple of days.
5. Don’t be afraid to add herbs and non-salt seasonings to your dishes. Make them tangy and tasty. Vegetarianism does not mean bland.
6. Buy Bragg’s Amino Acids which can be found at your local health food store. It is similar to soy sauce and can be used in fried rice dishes or as a salt replacement. And most importantly, it has protein.
7. Swap out your pasta noodles for wheat pasta noodles. Why? Because they are packed with fiber and protein.
8. Spend one day making fresh juices such as lemonade and teas.
9. Replace white sugar with raw sugar. Or take it a step further and buy Stevia, a natural sweetener that tastes wonderfully.
10. Instead of adding egg and oil to a cake mix, add a cup of diet soda to the batter and cook. Your cake will taste just as moist and great without the egg. And add a little flaxseed or psyllium to the batter to give your cake that fiber boost!
11. Treat yourself to an Indian, Greek, Jerusaleum, Ethiopian or Muslim restaurant. In my community, many restaurants offer buffets where you can try a variety of dishes. Not only will you appreciate the seasonings, but you can get new ideas for dishes that you can cook at home.