6TH MONTH UPDATE: Life as a Vegetarian

I started my life as a vegetarian on May 1st, 2016, so technically 6th months has already passed, but we'll roll with it. I became a vegetarian for many reasons, but long story short, I was horrified by the implications of the animal agriculture industry and told myself I could no longer support it. If you want a more in-depth explanation of why I became a vegetarian, you can read about it here. 

THE BEGINNING

The first two months of my transition were easyyyyy. Honestly, it wasn't really a transition, I kind've just quit meat cold turkey. I recommend doing it this way, instead of slowly ruling out meat from your diet. This way your dependence on meat is immediately eliminated and you're forced to adapt to the vegetarian lifestyle, rather than taking MONTHS to do so and still eating some meats during that time. OVERALL, If you're a real OG than quit meat cold turkey my guy. Another reason why the beginning stage of my transition to vegetarianism was easy was because the horrors of meat and the animal agriculture industry were fresh in my brain.

But don't be fooled, vegetarianism gets harderrrr...

THE MIDDLE

Once you hit the middle stages of being vegetarian, which is around 4-6 months, it's like hitting a wall. If you are a runner, it's kind've like when you're 100 meters from the finish line and you hit what coaches call "the wall." It's like you've been using all your energy and you felt like you were floating, and then all of a sudden your legs give out. You experience a similar phenomenon around the 4 month mark of your vegetarianism journey. You get tired of eating just salad, pasta and beans, and all of a sudden that documentary that you watched (the one that made you go vegetarian in the first place) doesn't seem to ignite that fire under your butt like it used to. In my case, the only thing that helped me get over this "wall" was to take it one week at a time. I set goals for each start of the week, a goal to not meat for the entire week, which made accomplishing the goal at the end of the week more tangible. Although I knew that I was vegetarian and that meat was out of my diet for the long term, setting and accomplishing short term goals left me feeling more satisfied and proud. 

After you get over that little inconvenient hurdle, then the rest of the transition is a lot easier...

RIGHT NOW

So here we are, almost seven months in, and I'm still vegetarian. I had slip-ups for sure. Some seafood dishes here, some Wendy's chicken nuggets there. But to this day, I haven't had beef or pork since I started being vegetarian and thatsssss what I'm super proud of. Changing your diet isn't easy. Especially, when you're an athlete like me and live in a family full of carnivores. But with lots of research and lots of support, from coaches, family and friends, being vegetarian feels like second nature and it becomes routine. However, I never forget why I'm doing this, why I'm abstaining from eating meat and neither should you, if you do choose to become vegetarian. 

The next step is becoming vegan. Woah I know, "no dairy too Zaria??? You good? Why are you trying to be a rabbit and only eat grass brooo. "

If wacka flocka can be vegan, anyoneeee can be vegan bro. 

Ps. watch the documentary Cowspiracy (It's on Netflix), it will change your life.