Why I Gave Up Being Vegetarian (Again)
And probably won’t pick it up ever again
I’ve tried many times over the last 10 years to be vegetarian, and never tried being vegan because of the specter of B12 deficiency. I’d lapsed into eating meat a few times, but I think my vegetarian days are way behind me.
It was mostly an exercise in trying to be healthier and something I tried to do for environmental reasons, but I decided within the last year that both things are not 100% true.
Eating purely plant based foods can be bad or worse for the environment and your body, just in different ways. If you’re on the fence, maybe I can help convince you one way or the either.
It’s Not Healthier
The best counter to an all meat diet is the health content. High cholesterol, high saturated fats, you’re setting yourself up for an early grave with lots of meat. So clearly the counter is vegetarianism/ veganism, yes?
The more insidious part of vegetarianism is this magic wand of healthiness that not eating meat bestows. Here’s a short list of vegetarian items that are way worse for you than a piece of beef jerky:
- Any form of fried potatoes (chips, fries, etc.)
- Any form of baked goods (pies, cakes, etc.)
- Any candy
Being vegetarian does not automatically equal being healthy. And most people are too busy with the rest of their lives to be super healthy vegans/ vegetarians.
I have the simplest rule for what makes a food healthy: if you can eat it in single ingredient form (a whole apple, a slab of meat), it’s probably healthier than a prepared form (caramelized apple, hamburger). They named the grocery store “Whole Foods” for a reason.
So much of my vegetarian experience was with highly prepared foods. I made lots of Indian dishes at home or vegetarian lasagna. These were by no means healthy, and a lot of times they left me wanting more. This gets me to…
Fullness and Bioavailability
I never felt very full while eating vegetarian. Even soy or peanut butter, supposed high protein vegetarian sources, left me feeling hungry. This is purely anecdotal, but I usually feel much fuller when I eat some amount of meat, usually a credit card sized piece or more.
For a less anecdotal piece of evidence, look at some articles on the bioavailability of protein in meat vs. vegetables.
At this point in my life, I find I can eat a lot less and feel fuller if I have a piece of meat or fish in the mix, instead of the vegetarian equivalent.
I feel like I look better and recover better from working out with a bit of meat in my system.
It’s Not Better for the Environment
This is a pretty simple tradeoff. If you eat meat, you’re eating a more resource intensive product.
A cow has to eat lots of grass. A pig eats lots of slop. A chicken eat lots of feed. These animals also require lots of water, labor, and CO2 to make, compared with their plant based equivalents.
But those plant based products aren’t free either. In fact, in many ways they are made using one of the worst modern pollutants, industrial fertilizer.
To get enough protein as a vegetarian, you need a good amount of soy, or milk (back to cows). Modern agriculture is incredibly resource intensive for all of its products, and I definitely consider it to be bad for both producing both plants and animals. It’s all about keeping costs down and turning profit, not about sustainability.
This brings me to what I try to eat now…
Locavore, Probably what Matters Most
Eat the food from where you live, or as close as possible. That’s how you can be healthy and environmentally conscious. And eat the food that’s in season (which will guarantee it’s not shipped from another country/ continent).
Oregon/Washington have lots of apples and cows, and I’m a big fan of beef, dairy products and apples.
I’ve also tried to eat more grass fed beef but that’s arguably not much better for the environment either, just a bit leaner. Eating locally and from smaller, less industrial farms is much better for the environment than the mango shipped overseas.
Tl;dr
- Eating vegetarian didn’t make me healthier or save the environment
- I feel fuller and am in better shape eating meat
- Eat local and eat whole foods to be healthy. Vegetarian != healthy
