My heart was racing. I could feel the soles of my shoes burning beneath my feet on the hot tread. I had already gone twenty minutes and I couldn’t give up now. Something about the excessive amount of sweat that slides off every inch of my body and the loud amplified music filling the bowls of my ears makes working out an escape for me. When I’m in any setting or situation, enduring any type of discussion involving fitness or health-oriented activities, I feel heard. My friends and family all look up to me for advice when they decide to take that initial leap towards a healthier lifestyle. I’m extremely fond of working out and eating healthy and consider it my lifestyle, not just a period in my life. It is my life. I think of each day as a new opportunity for me to explore ways to better myself and my body, which led to my journey as a vegetarian.
It was an average scorching hot, thick humid day in Florida as I was sluggishly sitting in the cold seat of my Ap Environmental Science class. I was eager for my teacher to quickly address the class as we all dreaded lecture days and couldn’t wait until the bell rang to dismiss us. My teacher stood tall in front of the class, read our daily objective and informed us we would be learning about the mass production and regulation of animals in factories, including how poorly the FDA fails to regulate large corporations. As my teacher clicked through the slides of the power point, my stomach felt uneasy, knowing I’ve been consuming meat for eighteen years of my life, unaware of what I’ve been putting into my body. Following class, I sat uncomfortably at my lunch table as I watched everyone around me aggressively shoving grey-looking chicken tenders and hamburgers that didn’t look like real meat- into their mouths.
“Hey Cam, are you okay?” questioned my friend Jackson, “You look like all the blood has been drained from your face…”
“Yeah. I’m fine,” I lied, feeling the vomit rising in my esophagus.
If only they knew the conditions in which their “meat” was prepared and all the bundled heath issues that came along with it. I immediately dumped my turkey sandwich into the trashcan and stuck with trail mix and an apple for lunch.
This whole time I thought I was living a “healthy”, consistent lifestyle, working out every day and limiting my carbohydrate consumption. I was wrong. I no longer felt healthy but felt cheated from not knowing the truth behind the sickening meat production. That day, my definition of being “healthy” changed. I became more concerned with the way food was produced and harvested and stopped supporting mass corporations and businesses who lie to their consumers for the sole intention to make money. My meaning behind healthy now entails eating less processed foods and more organic products. Little did I know, that average scorching hot day would be the last time I would ever consume meat again.
This dramatic change in my lifestyle was not an easy one, but it helped me reinforce the healthy ideals I live by daily. I found myself more invested in researching vegetarian recipes online and broadening my pallet to eating more fiber and protein rich foods like tofu, beans, and whole grains. I became interested in watching documentaries such as “What the Health” by Kip Andersen, that helped strengthen my knowledge about animal cruelty, the meat industry, and the tragic health issues that are entailed with eating animal by-products. Kip goes to great lengths to “uncover the secret to preventing and even reversing chronic diseases”, which brings plant-based diets into play. Being a vegetarian has been an eye-opening experience that assisted me in realizing that there’s more to food than just meat, and it’s allowed me to explore numerous ways to cook without it. I’ve become so in love with experimenting the potential of cooking with vegetables and found cauliflower pizza crust to be one of my favorites. Juicing and making smoothies has been another favorite part of my journey, discovering endless ways to incorporate nutrients and protein supplements into a cold blended treat that satisfies any craving on a hot day. Being a vegetarian has also granted me the ability discover my interest in exploring and finding new restaurants around me that are courteous towards the vegetarian community and focus their motives towards providing unique, delicious dishes to those who are doubtful of the nutritional fulfillment vegetarianism has to offer. After being on a plant-based diet for almost a year now, I’ve never felt more satisfied with myself and my body and have noticed a positive change in my behavior and in the way I present myself to others.
That day in my Ap Environmental class will forever be a prominent memory in my brain. I gained a greater understanding of how poorly animals are treated and the repulsive conditions they’re left to live in, along with the immense number of artificial hormones that are pumped into their bloodstreams. I swore to myself to never consume animal products again and to stop feeding money into the revolting meat industry. I used my knowledge of the health risks associated with eating meat to my advantage, and informed others who questioned my logic behind becoming a vegetarian and encouraged others to do the same. Many people assume being a vegetarian is a hard obstacle to tackle, but people have discovered so many ways to accommodate any eating habit, and still be satisfied with the foods you eat. That lecture altered my perspective towards myself and made me realize that everything I feed into my body is a direct result of the way I present myself in everyday life. It allowed me to grow as an individual, feeling more comfortable in my skin, knowing I have control over choosing to consume alternative foods that won’t harm my body. As humans, our bodies are temples, and we should treat them that way, being consciously aware of everything we feed into our bodies and the way we take care of ourselves.