Vegetarian… not quite.

I wouldn’t call myself a vegetarian just yet, but this past week I have taken a rather important, first step in that direction. From my meal to meal analysis that I periodically write down to both determine what I eat and what my caloric intake looks like, it seems I am reducing the amount of meat I eat by about two chicken breasts per dinner. To compensate for the loss of protein and calories in my diet I have tended to replace chicken with tofu, broccoli, and chocolate milk. Replacing the calories is very important in my muscle recovery and miscalculations can lead to over-training and future injury.

From a taste standpoint I do not really notice the change all that much because the grilled chicken they serve at upper I find is over-seasoned and most of the time dry; I really only eat the chicken in the first place because I know its low fat and high in protein. Further analysis my eating habits, cutting whites eggs out of my breakfast and cutting a tuna wrap from my lunch is not going to happen, so the only meal I can totally cutout meat is at dinner. Another reason for why changing dinner is a lot easier then breakfast and lunch is because there are more options to choose from on campus during dinner: simons, lower, upper, gilbert’s, many others; however, for breakfast I can only choose upper, which isn’t a bad thing I love the egg whites Bon Appetite employees make me every mourning.

In my opinion I do not think I am currently doing enough to really make an impact on my carbon footprint. Nevertheless at http://www.sustainabletable.org/794/should-you-eat-less-meat, the data they have conglomerated would suggest otherwise. I am helping to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted. I am helping to reduce water usage. I am helping to reduce fossil fuel dependence. Looking ahead in the challenge I am hoping to completely whip meat from my dinners. A change like this, but at a larger scale would make a huge dent in humanity’s carbon footprint. My advice, try out a meatless dinner and see if a change like that is sustainable in your current lifestyle and if the change is easy, why not make the change.