Essay: Teen vegetarian goes back to eating meat
It was extremely difficult to stay away from meat when my dad was cooking bacon every Sunday morning and my friends were offering me chicken nuggets at lunch to see if they could “break me.”
Grace Pastoor
I am an animal lover. When I see a worm on the sidewalk, I’ll pick it up and put it in dirt so it doesn’t get squished or dry out. I believe animals should have the same rights as humans, so for me, going vegetarian seemed to be a perfectly logical and easy decision.
My parents saw it differently, however. They thought I wouldn’t be able to get proper nutrition without the protein I got from eating meat.
“I think a lot of them [parents] grew up eating meat so they just don’t know any different way,” says Dr. Suzanne Sorensen, a nutritionist for Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota and a vegan.
That was certainly true for my parents. Both of them are kind to animals, and my mother calls herself a “vegetarian at heart,” but neither of them have considered a vegetarian meal plan for themselves.
So they were very skeptical when I announced that I had stopped eating meat in the fall of 2008, as they should have been. I returned to eating meat by the summer.
Vegetarian — a vegetarian is someone who does not eat meat.
Vegan — a vegan is someone who tries to avoid the use of animal products in every area of his or her life, not just diet.
“The main challenge that causes people to go back to meat eating is the social aspects,” Sorensen said. “They don’t know other vegetarians, they don’t know where to shop, for food… so it’s just easier for them to go back to eating meat.”
I agree with Suzie. It was extremely difficult to stay away from meat when my dad was cooking bacon every Sunday morning and my friends were offering me chicken nuggets at lunch to see if they could “break me.”
It was ethics against animal instincts, so whenever I was tempted I would think of a chicken named Elvis I knew when I was younger. But that would stave off the desire for protein for only a little while.
I am also a very picky eater. When I’m forced to go out to eat, the only thing on the menu I can stand to put in my mouth are the children’s chicken fingers. I don’t drink milk or eat cheese, and I am literally terrified of beans. They’re either too slimey, or too sticky and they seem to swim in their puddle of juice. This fear is quite inconvenient since beans are a very important source of protein for vegetarians.
“Anyone who doesn’t like certain food groups needs to decide if they want to commit to getting the nutrition their body needs,” Sorensen said. “For instance, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, if a person doesn’t like milk or milk substitutes, they will not likely be able to meet their vitamin D or calcium needs. So, they need to take a look at other sources of that nutrient and consider eating that or, as with vitamin D when there isn’t another food group that has that vitamin, take a supplement (a vitamin pill).
“It can be tricky for anyone who is a picky eater to get adequate nutrition and for teens, this is really important for growth and development,” Sorensen said.
While I was vegetarian, peanut butter was practically my only source of protein. I pretty much lived off peanut butter sandwiches and fake burgers. Obviously, that got pretty boring. I think that boredom and my family’s eating habits played a role in me going back to eating meat.
“Children … or teens are more influenced or even more controlled by their family,” Sorensen said. “If everyone in the family eats meat and you don’t, it depends a lot on the support of your parents.”
I think that’s what it came down to for me. If my family had been vegetarian, I probably wouldn’t have broken down one day and had a cheeseburger. Now I eat meat once a week, usually chicken. I feel guilty about it but it makes my parents, and me, feel better.
“There certainly are fabulous benefits for a plant based diet … vegetarians have a lower body weight, decreased risk of diabetes … lower cholesterol,” Sorensen said.
But for me, I decided the healthier choice was going back to eating meat. My body weight was much too low —110 pounds — while I was a vegetarian, but now it’s back to 120. It might not sound that bad but at 120 I’m still skinny as a rail.
I admire vegetarians everywhere, but it just isn’t for me. Sorry cows.
Vegetarian Food Pyramid
Courtesy of Loma Linda University Department of Nutrition
For an example of a healthy vegetarian meal go to www.vegetariannutrition.org
Comments
I am sorry you did not get the support you needed to be a vegetarian. It may be something you choose to do later in life. Good article.
I can totally relate to you Grace, I have tried turning vegeterian myself like 3 different times, but the same pressure was put to me by my parents and friends to eat meats. I went back to eating meats and decided to leave vegetarianism for when I live by myself. It's true that support is a big factor when choosing to turn vegetarian. Awesome article. (=
Sacrifice, that's the key. You don't like beans? try different ways of cooking them, find the way you would like them. Vegetarianism is not for everyone, strong convictions are needed, you put in one hand the life of an animal and in the other hand your taste for food. When you understand that this is not about you, you will be ready to do what it feels right for you and you won't feel tempted with meat.
It's hard to go against one's family, it happened to me, but in the end -like after several months- I realized that they actually admire me. Now they understand, they still eat meat but not too often. You will be a vegetarian soon, when you are ready, don't throw away this option.
You could definitely consider switching over to Pescetarianism, if Vegetarianism doesn't work well for you. I had switched to Vegetarianism back around seven to eight months ago, but I'm incredibly active with sports, which include Nordic skiing and Lacrosse. I'm a picky eater as well, I only drink soy milk and water, eat mostly fiber and wheat related products, and prefer to eat only vegetables during the lunch hour. I became sickly thin and was accused of having an eating disorder, simply because I wasn't sure of what it was that I should have been putting into my body. I switched over to Pescetarianism, where you eat fish, so I could keep myself mildly nutritious. My parents are of Chinese descent and prefer the traditional ways of meat-related recipes and with my previous attempts of Vegetarianism, they had tempted me into eating my favourite meals and eventually broke my attempts. But this time, I had sacraficed lots of good dishes and had shown my parents that I was serious about this change in diet.
I would recommend stopping by at Trader Joe's and grabbing one of their lists for products that're Vegetarian friendly. My diet consists of mostly Trader Joe's products (minus their sweetened products, I'm on a strict diet mind you) and various sorts of fish and different ways to serve them.
It'll take time to win your parents' respect and they will from time to time offer you meat in the future, well this is if you decide to pursue Vegetarianism or Pescetarianism. Just don't take too much of an offense!
And with your body weight, I'm 5'5 and 126 pounds, I keep myself active which built lots of muscle. Vegetarianism isn't all that bad of a diet. In fact, it can be quite a healthy factor in your life if you just properly eat well.
Good luck!
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