Author: Kristen Steudel

               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.

Over the past couple weeks I have been working on gathering vegetarian recipes. I find this to be a very enjoyable way to encourage vegetarianism because I love to cook. My friends and family know this about me and like to have conversations about what I have been cooking recently. I am also finding that it can be helpful to share nutritious and delicious vegetarian recipes. People can try making the recipes and be aware that they are eating a vegetarian meal.

I sent the recipe links to a couple family members and friends by email. I have not heard back from any of them yet. I think I will call some friends and family this week to talk about vegetarianism and ask if they are interested in trying a couple recipes.

Eating vegetarian has been difficult for me at points because I am a division I track athlete. Some days I am working out for three hours straight. I sometimes want to eat meat to make sure I am getting enough protein after really hard workout days. I know that eating too many eggs is unhealthy and many alternate proteins for vegetarians contain gluten which I cannot eat. Therefore, on the occasion of a difficult workout day, I have had a little meat just to be precautionary for my health. My thought process is that reducing my intake of meat from once a day seven days a week to once a day two or three days a week still helps. If everyone ate meat only a couple times a week, there would be fewer animals raised for meat.

I look forward to trying to persuade friends and family to try eating meat only a few times a week. I hope that the recipes I share help them in reducing meat consumption by providing a set of instructions.

Here are some of the recipes I shared with friends and family.

The Cooks at Stone Pier Press. 2018. “Easy Quinoa Burgers.” Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.stonepierpress.org/recipes/easy-quinoa-burgers

Schaefer, Rebecca. 2018. “Garlic Green Beans.” Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.stonepierpress.org/recipes/garlicgreenbeans

The Cooks at Stone Pier Press. 2017. “Vegan Asparagus Lemon Risotto.” Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.stonepierpress.org/recipes/asparagus-lemon-risotto

The Cooks at Stone Pier Press. 2018. “Baked Sweet Potatoes with Chili Lentils.” Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.stonepierpress.org/recipes/baked-sweet-potatoes-with-chili-lentils

Throughout the past couple weeks, I have been continuing to work on eating vegetarian. I shared this video with some of my friends and family. I think it explains well that eating even partially vegetarian can make a difference. The video talks about a movement towards making vegetables and grains a center of the meal rather than a large piece of meat.

I recalled voting that occurred last year in Massachusetts when I watched this video. I remember discussing in some of my high school classes the different laws that we were voting for in Massachusetts. Question three was passed and prohibited farmers from raising animals in confined spaces that prevented lying down or turning around and the sale of products from animals confined in that way. I remember arguing that this bill may not be good because it would raise costs for local farmers and simply cause us to import more meat rather than raise it within the state. Now that I look at the bill from another view point. I think it is a great movement towards protecting animals and giving them a right to living comfortably.

I have begun to lean towards the viewpoint that people do not need to be completely vegetarian to improve the quality that animals are living in. This is a larger lifestyle change that in which some people are not ready to commit. Perhaps what is needed is a larger emphasis on eating dishes that are vegetable and grain centered and working on limiting meat intake. I am thinking of sharing vegetable and grain centered recipes with friends and family to help them practice the habit of eating less meat.

Sources:

The Humane Society of the United States. 2017. “Working to Protect Farm Animals” Filmed September 2017, Video. 2:49. http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/campaigns/factory_farming/

WBUR. 2016. “Mass. Voters Approve Question 3, Banning Certain Farm Animal Confinement Processes.” Accessed October 22, 2018. http://www.wbur.org/politicker/2016/11/08/question-three-animal-confinement-results

My decision to become vegetarian has come as a surprise for much of my family and friends which has helped me initiate conversations about my choice to be vegetarian specifically for moral reasons. Much of the shock stems from being an athlete and people are surprised that an athlete would sacrifice the protein in meat. I have not found it too difficult to get enough protein as I have been eating eggs, peanut butter, tofu, fish, and yogurt, but this shock helps me initiate conversations. One morning I was sitting in the dining hall and I began a conversation with a friend about being vegetarian. His response was how is this helpful? You kill plants when you eat them too. This is technically a logical fallacy because it takes the argument to the extreme. It would be harmful to oneself not to eat anything. By not eating meat, I am protesting the poor conditions in which animals are raised.

Additionally, I discussed conditions that animals are raised in with my mom. We talked about a local slaughterhouse and how a cow escaped the slaughterhouse and found its way to a peace abbey and the peace abbey kept it.

I did have one slip in my diet during family weekend. I went out to dinner with my family during family weekend and I was splitting a meal with my sister and completely forgot that I was eating vegetarian and ended up eating steak. It is not the easiest transition, but when I think about the conditions that animals are often raised in I am convinced to continue.

I look forward to continuing to have conversations with friends and family about vegetarianism. I learn from their point of view just as they can learn from mine.

example of one of my meals, tuna salad and yogurt as proteins.