“The earth can produce enough food for everyone’s need, but not everyone’s greed” - Philip Wollen.
I am a meat lover but not a carnivore. Eating meat is a habit that I was born and raised, especially in a diverse culture of Asian cuisines, meat plays an important role on the dining table. However, since I've watched "Cowspiracy" and "Seaspiracy" on Netflix, my eyes were opened to the truth that governments and politicians around the world indirectly allude to while scientists have been warning about how hefty our meat consumption and animal agriculture caused such a destructive impact on our environment.
Learn more about the impact: Eat less meat, reduce Earth's heat
Therefore, I want to cut down on meat and practice a plant-based diet to save the Earth. I've immersed myself in lots of research, reading, and documentaries about plant power, how I get enough protein and build muscles from a vegetarian diet. It's a brand new knowledge to me and I am dedicating myself to what I eat and what nutrition I take in.
If you haven't watched "The Game Changer" and "Kiss The Ground" documentaries on Netflix, I encourage you to watch them. You will learn how plant power can transform the body and mind as well as help the environment. Everything takes time to learn and change. Bodies take time to adapt. Understanding and training our bodies are the right acts of self-love. You need to understand your body condition to be able to choose the right path for your healthy eating habit.
I am going to share with you my honest journey of trying out vegetarian recipes from part-time to full-time for nearly two months before my husband and I sit down together to come up with a final decision.
Part-time vegetarian
I've started cutting down on meat by being a part-time vegetarian. I've reduced meat consumption to 3 days per week and tried more vegetarian recipes. This is how I've got my body into training and after the first 2 weeks, I felt absolutely lighter and happier. My digestion was better and my energy gained back quicker after gym sections.
These are some vegetarian dishes I have made.
Full-time vegetarian
After 2 weeks of being a part-time vegetarian, I've gained the confidence to move forward with another 2 weeks of full-time vegetarian meals. I've also tried some vegan dishes as well. To help you understand more about the difference between vegetarian and vegan, this is the information that I’ve found:
A vegan diet excludes all meat and animal products (meat, poultry, fish, seafood, dairy and eggs).
A vegetarian diet excludes meat, poultry, fish and seafood; but can include eggs and dairy. A vegetarian diet is more about avoiding animal flesh. However, some strict vegetarians don’t consume eggs at all.
Final decision
My husband and I have tried 2 weeks of being full-time vegetarians. To be honest, it was not easy, especially for my husband. While he misses some ham, bacon, chorizo, pork sausages, chicken or steak now and then; I quite miss a Korean BBQ, Dim Sum, Vietnamese beef Pho, prawn spring rolls, seafood, etc. Therefore, we've come to a final decision of not getting rid of meat but just cutting down on it. So, being part-time vegetarians is a better option for both of us. Then, we've fixed 3 days per week for meat and reduced red meat to the minimum.
Eating habit is also a learning behaviour. I think we all need to learn to eat and be mindful of our surroundings. Eating also needs a balance to keep ourselves healthy. Eating less meat makes us have more careful thoughts on the ingredients and nutrition we consume. Also, thoughts on how to support ending environmental over-exploitation and protect wildlife as well as respect all creatures existing on this Earth with us.
Eat less meat, reduce Earth's heat
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