Moving Forward with a Vegetarian Diet

Sep
9

Moving Forward with a Vegetarian Diet

Posted by Kevin Doak on Thursday at: 6:47pm (September 9th, 2010)

 For the last 3 months, I've been slowly moving toward an entirely Vegetarian diet.  I really dislike people who preach about their diet constantly so I'll attempt to make this brief.
 
Let me start by saying: I love a good hamburger or steak just as much as the next person.  I'm just becoming more aware of where my food comes from.
 
I've always been a little grossed out by meat.  We've all eaten chicken or steak and got the little veins, arteries, tendons or fat that we need to dissect from the meal before we consume it... This kind of stuff really turns me off but it wasn't entirely the reason I chose to go Vegetarian.  It was really watching the movie "Food Inc" that made me change my diet entirely.
 
 There are plenty of disgusting facts about the meat industry, all of which a few web searches could expose in detail.  Of course, we both know you won't search it because you know it's horrible and you'd prefer to not know about the food you consume.  The issue that got me was the fact that for the vast majority of us, myself included, we have no idea where our food comes from.   Most of the meat industry is run by massive corporations which lobby to control their own industries and really only care about profits, not animal or human health.  The whole system really just rubs me the wrong way.  Therefore, I changed how I eat all my food including my fruits and vegetables.  Permanently.
 
At one point I was concerned that somebody who considers themselves an athlete could not excel (or even exist) without the protein contained in meat.  My experience over the last 3 months has lead me to think differently.  In the last 90 days I've probably only eaten meat during 15 single meals.  I would consider that a drastic decrease from the rest of my life.  Now, I would have thought that I would see a clear difference in my performance in the pool and in my daily life.  Without meat based protein I figured I would be weak and not be able to do the things I normally do.  The most amazing thing about the last 90 days is that I've seen NO difference in or out of the pool.  I'm swimming just as fast, if not faster than ever before and I feel great!
 
Overall I'm looking at animal based industries and my diet more these days and I think that's a good thing.  You won't see me preaching about being a Vegetarian simply because I don't think most people want to hear about it but feel free to send me a message if you have any questions.  I'll probably make a page with details if anybody really wants to know more.

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