Guest Post: Melissa Nibbles on becoming a Vegetarian

Hi Running Leaner And Greener Readers!  My name is Melissa and I write the blog, Melissa Nibbles.  I was honored that Heather asked me to write a guest post for her while she attended her conference.  I hope she’s having a great time!

After seeing the movie Food Inc, I made the decision to become a vegetarian.  I was a vegetarian for three years in college, but after college, I started eating meat again. One night I craved a steak (I have no idea why) and gave up being a vegetarian. A few months ago I saw the movie Food Inc. and was moved to become a vegetarian again. The movie made me completely disgusted with the meat industry in America. What we buy at the store isn’t even meat! It’s corn and fillers! Even Purdue, despite their claims to be healthy, are one of the worst. My opinion of the American food industry was forever changed. My favorite quote from an article on Food Inc. in the All Movie Guide by Jason Buchanan is, "As chicken breasts get bigger and tomatoes are genetically engineered not to go bad, 73,000 Americans fall ill from powerful new strains of E. coli every year, obesity levels are skyrocketing, and adult diabetes has reached epidemic proportions. Perhaps if the general public knew how corporations exploited laws and subsidies to create powerful monopolies, the outrage would be enough to make us think more carefully about the food we put into our bodies." It definitely made me think. I walked out of the theatre vowing to return to my vegetarian ways.

When making a dietary change, such as converting to vegetarianism, it’s important to find out what other changes you’ll have to make besides just giving up a particular food group.  I researched nutrients that are important for vegetarians to pay attention to.  Calcium, vitamin B12, and iron were on every list I saw.  I make sure to eat lots of yogurt, kale, chickpeas, broccoli, and whole grains to get my fill of these nutrients.

The only challenge I face is stretching my grocery budget to accommodate my meat-eating boyfriend and myself.  I would never push my diet or views on him.  He’s an adult and can make his own decisions.  He also has the right to eat what he wants, when he wants in his own home.  I’m fortunate that he’s just as respectful towards me.  We both like to eat well and don’t mind spending a little more money each week to eat quality, whole foods.  We don’t go out to eat very often (it makes it that much more special when we do!) and that helps even things out a bit. When I became a vegetarian again, we knew we’d have to put more thought into our grocery shopping. We worked out a compromise where he would get one package of meat and I would get one package of Boca Burgers, Quorn Chik’N Cutlets, or tofu per week. We both like beans and keep them on hand anyway. He’ll tell me what meat he’s craving for the week and I’ll look in the papers to see where it’s on sale. I do the same with my meat replacements and only buy what’s on sale. Working together to make sure both our bellies are satisfied has made my transition easy on the both of us.