Meat-Pressure

In a famous song sung by George Strait, one of my favorite country singers, he states “You don’t know what you’re missing, till its gone.” Although I know he is not singing about food, that line continuously replays in my head when I walk into the dining hall and look around for my next meal. The craving to stick with my old diet, which consisted largely of meat, is the greatest barrier that I have faced throughout this sustainable behavior challenge. However, there are measures that I have taken in order to reduce this major barrier.

My first mission was to gain an overall acceptance of the challenge that I was embarking on. This included discussing what I was doing and why with my friends. I wanted them to appreciate my new diet for more reasons then it just being a healthier choice. I explained to them the negative effects on the environment and showed them how the animals are being treated. Although this inspired them, I knew they would not stick to it if they had to make a quick jump from eating meat any time to immediately cutting it out of their diet. We decided upon two days of being meatless a week. This in turn helped make my task easier as I was now only facing the challenge of eating no meat alone twice a week. The second measure I took to decrease the barriers I faced was to more frequently vary the places that I eat. The meatless options at one dining hall overtime became bland. However, once I began switching between the various dining halls on campus and checking out the close off campus options, I realized there are a lot more delicious meatless options then I had thought.

In contrast to reducing the barriers I met when becoming meatless, I also increased the benefits. I motivated myself by both doing research on healthy foods for my body and in turn feeling better about myself and by enjoying a cup of strawberry fro-yo at the end of each successful week. Both of these incentives worked toward me achieving my goal week after week. However, one measure that I quickly stopped using after the first week was to save my three days that I could eat meat for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This did not work for two reasons. First, I found myself to be more unhappy during the week and second I eat less meals on the weekend so occasionally I did not even eat meat on these days.

Am I going to continue on this exact diet? No. However, I am definitely going to consider, and many times select, options that do not have meat in them. When debating whether to order a sandwich, which was the hardest item that I had to cut from my diet, I can now order one confidently after trying and enjoying sandwiches that have roasted red peppers or cucumbers as their base. This challenge has forced me to look at the ways that I have been eating and my own effect on the environment. I can safely say that there will be changes to my diet.