The Pescetarian Diet:
In my last post I talked about how I was going to try the pescetarian diet. If you don’t remember, the pescetarian diet is when you are pretty much a vegetation but you still eat seafood for the omega 3’s. For the entire month of February I tried new recipes and stayed true to my values. I am going to be honest… I had one slip up. It was after a late night outing, one of of my friends made pizza rolls. I ate two pizza rolls which contained meat. I wasn’t all there in my head but I am sad that that was the only factor that caused me not to be meat free. I am happy to say that I enjoyed the diet and will continue to follow through with it.
There are two things that I think I might try but I’m not sure yet. I might want to have meat once a month in case I want to go back to my normal ways. Going vegetation could mess up your digestive system if you go without meat for a certain amount of time and then all of sudden try to bring it back. Your digestive system gets used to not having meat. I have also heard of a weekday vegetation. This means during the week you continue to follow through with not eating meat but on the weekends you are allowed to have meat. This still follows my same values. You are still helping the environment, you are reducing your meat consumption, and it is a lot more healthier than eating meat everyday. It is something I am going to think of. One top of that, I still do enjoy some meals that contain meat. That is why with the weekday veggie or once a month meat eater, you can still enjoy that. I also don’t like to be an inconvenience for people. Not everyone provides a veggie option.
Somethings I learned while trying to go pescetarian:
It is not as hard as you think. When you do try it, make sure you don’t have any meat in your house because it could cause some temptations. Talk to people who support and talk about the struggles. I have also found out that it is not the meat that I love so much.
It is the seasoning. There is a substitute for almost everything. All you need to do is find a substitute for the meat or meal you are making and add that same seasonings. It also always taste very similar if not better in my opinion.
One example that I can think of is tacos. I love tacos but I can’t eat ground beef. A way I found to make this work was to use beans instead of meat. I am not talking about deep fried beans but actual beans like pinto or black beans. I then added tacos seasoning to the beans and a little bit a lemon and it was amazing! Of course I had cheese and tomatoes as well! Literally, I enjoy the tacos just as much as I did before and feel a little bit better about it as well. You just have to be creative.
I have also tried a lot of new fish recipes. I have never had fish until I came to college. My mom doesn’t like it so it wasn’t something that was never cooked in my house. I have actually have grown a real love for fish and have now cooked it often.
One struggle I had was when the weather was nice, my friends had a cook out. They grilled up hamburgers. The hamburgers smelled and looked so good. I held my ground and didn’t have one although I wanted one. Later I found a substitute for hamburgers although I have not tried it yet. I am excited to see how that turns out.
I still challenge you to try the pescetarian diet, you might actually really enjoy it and it might change your life!! Good luck!