How I stopped eating meat
It was an overnight shift, literally.
I’m not here to tell you that you have to stop eating meat, that choice is entirely up to you. For me it just works and has become a second nature. Do I struggle sometimes? Hell yes! When on vacation they don’t have that many veggie options and I have to eat taco’s with mushrooms again for the 4th time, I start questioning if not consuming meat is really that important to me. I usually snap out of it quite fast, but the struggle is real.
I love veggies veggie much! ❤
Why documentaries just won’t do
I watched a bunch of documentaries on what meat and animal products do to your body and our planet. But I must admit, the first time I watched these horrifying documentaries, they didn’t stop me from consuming meat. I just wasn’t ready. Meat tasted too good and most of all I didn’t want to make it hard on everyone who invited me over for dinner. Being the party pooper at the dinner table was the thing that threw me of the most.
So I began to stop consuming meat at home and only kept eating meat for “special” occasions. These special occasions being eating out visiting friends. But the less I was consuming meat, the less I was craving it. Eating meat lost it importance to me, I was perfectly fine without it and even felt better and more energetic. This is the case with me, I can’t speak for everyone.
Because that is what should be your only motive: is it important to you to stop consuming meat? Although there are a lot of secondary motives like:
- Animal suffering
- Health
- Global warming
- …
These won’t stop you from consuming meat.
Watching ‘Earthlings’ just one last time
After a while I felt I was done with eating meat. I saw all of the possibilities that vegetables had and realized there where a lot of meat substitutes. I decided to watch the horrifying 2005 documentary ‘Earthlings’ by Shaun Monson just one last time (I’m telling you, this one makes you sick to the stomach!) and this time it had a very different effect on me. I threw away all the meat I had left in the freezer and stopped eating it completely.
It has been three years now, and as I said earlier, it has been with ups and downs. But I could’t imagine myself eating meat in my near future. It now somehow repels me, although it often looks and smells amazing. I just can not unsee the animal suffering.
Wanting to stop eating fish
While I stopped eating meat, fish is a whole other story for me personally. I’ve cut down my consumption drastically and started eating it on occasions or when eating out (again, often to avoid being called a party pooper).
Just serve me the veggies, please!
I’m often amazed that people don’t know what they should serve me to eat, when I’m perfectly fine with just veggies. Leave out the meat out and I’ll be just fine! I don’t expect a special meal just for me, to be honest, it makes me feel quite uncomfortable when people go through that much trouble just for me. Just give me what you’re having.. minus the meat 😜.
Please tell me your story! When have you stopped eating meat? How was it for you? What where your obstacles? Didn’t you stop eating meat but do you want to? I would love to hear all of it!
Sending love and light,
El
