This project has impacted me in several manners. For several weeks, I followed the vegetarian diet very strictly and realized that it was difficult in some ways to get enough protein when eating in dining halls because of the lack of control over meal planning. I found it was becoming challenging to meet nutritional needs while eating vegetarian because of my other dietary restrictions including the avoidance of gluten. However, I continued to limit any meat intake to once a day only three times a week and every time I ate meat it was a very small portion. I realized how meat does not need to be the center of a meal and started talking to family members and friends. This is where I realized the power of conversation and communication. I emailed several recipes to my family members and many said that they planned on trying out the recipes. I spoke with many friends about eating vegetarian and though some were initially adamant that eating meat was important to their diets and my diet as an athlete, eventually they questioned whether meat consumption is necessary. I led people to question what they thought as I practiced my communication and advocacy skills.
I intend to continue to eat very little meat. I no longer place meat on half my plate. Rather, a small amount of meat is found on my plate about three days a week. I was curious about the environmental impact of limiting meat consumption even if it is not complete elimination of meat. I found that sustainability can be improved even without complete elimination of food groups (Perignon, Vieux, Soler, Masset, and Darmon 2016, 15). Moving forward, this is encouraging as now I know small changes such as limiting meat consumption can have a positive impact. I will continue to encourage family members and friends to limit meat consumption both to reduce violence against animals and the Earth.
Sources:
Perignon, Marlène, Florent Vieux, Louis-Georges Soler, Gabriel Masset, and Nicole Darmon. “Improving Diet Sustainability through Evolution of Food Choices: Review of Epidemiological Studies on the Environmental Impact of Diets.” Nutrition Reviews 75, no. 1 (January 2017): 2. https://ezproxy.lafayette.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=120221013&site=eds-live.
Kristen, as a fellow (trying to be) vegetarian I have also found that the dining halls offer little variety in plant-based meals. Moreover, unless one wants to eat tofu every day, getting enough protein can be challenging. Which is why I understand your inability to completely let go of meat (especially since you are an athlete). However, I do congratulate you on your commitment to decrease your meat intake, and on your willingness to keep spreading awareness of the harms, environmental and ethical, caused by diet centered around meat. Just for advice, I found that when I mentioned the health benefits of a plant-based diet, people seemed to be more open-minded to the idea of becoming a vegetarian.
Hi Kristen! I want to start off by congratulating you on being consistent with minimizing your meat consumption. When I was doing my project I also realized that it can be really hard for people to completely remove meat from their diet because they often centered their meals around it. Especially for college athletes, such as yourself, it can be challenging to get the nutrients they need with the limited plant-based options we have at dining halls. Making drastic dietary changes like becoming a vegetarian can also be intimidating, which is why I think your approach is very important. You show resilience through your project by not giving up on your goal of becoming a vegetarian and doing your best so you can make an impact. I also like that you went beyond just challenging yourself by informing your family and friends about the benefits of limiting meat consumption.