Vegetarian

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When I went home this past summer and had to tell my oma that I didn't eat meat (including seafood) she looked at me with these sad puppy eyes. I think she just didn't understand why I would voluntarily make the choice to not eat meat. My oma was born during the second world war and back then, you ate what you were fed or else you were going to go hungry. I can see how she doesn't understand that I made a choice to not eat animals. She probably thinks I'm starving because I cut out a major portion in the diet of the average person. (I'm not starving)

I don't know if any of ya'll have seen the videos that P.E.T.A (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has on their website. They are videos that show undercover footage of what goes on in meat/dairy/egg farms. My friend Jonell (the only person at the time that I knew was a vegetarian) showed it to me and it was awful, I was crying not even 5 minutes in when they started throwing baby chickens around like they were not alive, and believe me, they were. 

Growing up, I lived in the smallest of towns (400 people). We got our cheese and eggs from a store that was attached to the farm where they made the cheese and collected the eggs. I for one prefer to have poop and dirt on my egg so I know they are fresh and haven't been touched before I ate it. Our meat came from a butcher that had his own animals before slaughtering them. Buying so fresh is unreal, and something that is not seen anymore. I would love to buy my cheese from an actual farm where they make the cheese, instead of buying it in a plastic bag at kroger. I finally found eggs with poop on them from the farmers market and I love it!

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In June of 2012 I slowly started to take meat out of my diet. I was not a vegetarian, but meat is expensive and I was a poor college student so it just made its way out of my diet. If I was somewhere and meat was served I would eat it, and I would eat a hamburger if I was at McDonalds. In December of 2012, my teacher for some crazy reason decided to show us a P.E.T.A video at the end of the semester. I had my back turned towards the video they entire class, facing my classmates (who might have all thought I was crazy) so I wouldn't have to see it. I could only hear what was going on. And that was enough, just hearing these animals being tortured and in pain was the last straw, and from that day on, December 13th 2012, I have not touched meat since (the people in my class went on to eat pepperoni pizza after that...how they could stomach eating pepperoni after that is beyond me)\

Being a vegetarian has made me feel so incredibly healthy. It has changed me and has given me the opportunity to try so many new things that I wouldn't have tried had I not been a vegetarian. Most people ask how I get my nutrients and there are a lot of ways to get them and I get all of my nutrients and am totally healthy despite cutting out meat. 

I don't judge people that eat meat, but sometimes I feel that those who do eat meat judge me. I think it is human nature to question things that we think are weird or out of the ordinary. Apparently some people seem to think that the fact that I don't eat meat makes me weird. I understand where they are coming from and I don't mind being asked questions about my choice. What I do mind is people questioning me and making me feel like I need to defend the choices I make. They are my choices, ones that I made for myself!
I wouldn't make someone explain and defend why they don't eat sweet potatoes because they don't like them, so why should I be asked to do so?

I'm a vegetarian, not an alien.