Here is another post from a Blend for my Vegetarian Curious series.
I am loving all of this information and the different perspectives. I am definitely learning a lot and was even able to do a meat-free day of my own (although it wasn’t quite as healthy as most vegetarians seem to be).
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Hi Diary of a Semi-Health Nut readers!!
I’m Heather, a 30-something food and fitness enthusiast living an active life fueled by a plant-based diet. I’m a Digital Strategy Director by day, runner and multisport athlete by night. My husband (Kirk) and I also coach running, triathlon and duathlon to athletes of all levels. And when I’m not doing either, I enjoy writing about my adventures on Better With Veggies!
Last September, I made a pretty drastic change to my diet – I stopped eating all animals and animal products (except honey). This was a pretty big change for me, but it’s probably not for the reasons you are thinking.
It started as a way to eat more fruits and veggies on a daily basis. You know when you go to the doctor and they ask how many servings of fruits and vegetables you eat a day? Well, I was never able to honestly answer 4-5 servings and I was determined to change that. I was training for my first Ironman triathlon and I knew how important nutrition was to keeping me healthy through all the training. I decided to try being “Vegetarian before Dinner”, so that I’d have to focus more on fruits and veggies at those meals.
After my Ironman race, I decided to try a vegetarian month to control my weight. It’s pretty typical for people to gain 10+ pounds after an Ironman race, as your body is still used to eating lots of calories. Focusing on clean, vegetarian eating was my way of keeping it under control. But I had no idea how to cook that many meals without meat! I discovered that there were a lot of vegetarian recipes on blogs, something I had never read before. As I was finding great recipes, I also started to read more information about how animals are treated before they become our food. Even how animals are treated that produce eggs and dairy for us. I had heard people say this before, but I admit I never really looked into it for myself. 
When my vegetarian month finished, I went back to eating meat once or twice a week. I was surprised to feel the difference in my body when I had that first steak. I felt heavy, it’s like I could feel it sitting in my stomach – weird. Besides the physical difference, I was thinking about the animal treatment more and more.
As a Christian, I believe that we were all originally intended to be vegetarians (probably vegans). After we were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, that all changed and many animals and humans became carnivores. We are, however, still charged to be good stewards of the earth, which includes the animals who share this space. What I see today in the way we treat animals is far from stewardship. According to Wikipedia: stewardship is “to take care of something belonging to someone else”. I believe everything belongs to God – including animals – and I KNOW that is not the way He wants us to treat His animals. 
So, after much agonizing and prayer, I decided it wasn’t right for me to continue eating meat, eggs, and dairy. I don’t think Jesus would be okay with the way we treat animals today, so it’s not something I wanted to continue. In addition to the animal treatment issues, I also feel that a vegan diet is the best for our bodies. It eliminates the foods that cause many health issues (there’s no cholesterol in plants). So not only am I doing the right thing for the animals, but I’m doing the right thing for my body. It’s how we were originally made to eat and I love the way I feel when I do!
Not your typical reason for eating a plant-based diet, right?! 🙂 If you’re interested in hearing more about my experience as a plant-based athlete, you might enjoy this post. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading a little of my story. I hope you’ll stop by Better With Veggies and say “hi”!
Questions for you:
- Have you ever thought of eating a more plant-based diet?
- How about trying a Vegetarian before Dinner approach?
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Hope you all have a great day! Get excited for the Foodie Penpal reveal day tomorrow! 🙂
More Vegetarian Curious posts:
Katy’s Story and Tips
Lindsay’s Story and Loaded Sweet Potato
Andrea’s Go-To Pasta
Kelly Dappling with Vegetarianism
Alison’s Journey and Recipes
I love Heather’s story – such an inspiration as a foodie and an athlete!
I felt similarly after eating vegan for a while – I cleaned it up after an overload of red meat and when I decided to introduce meat again I found that my body just didn’t feel as good. For now I’ve decided that a (mostly) pescatarian diet is right for me.
This is so interesting to me that there is a difference in feeling..I mean it makes sense because when you eat badly, you feel badly, but I guess I’ve never thought of meat as being bad for us.
To be fair, I had just eaten my way through Italy culminating in the ingestion of an entire of kilo of beef in one day. When in Rome… LOL!
Oh wow! That’s a lotta meat!! lol “when in Rome” reminds me of Anchorman…
I’ll second the “feeling” – it really does sit in your belly differently. You just feel lighter without the meat, it’s one of those things you don’t get until you experience it for yourself though!
Now that I can do. I’m actually probably about the same as you on this. I eat meat probably once a week? I prefer fish, but sadly I am in the heartland and not on a coast. Definitely had my share of bacon this year though (BLTs are the best).
I love Heather’s story – such an inspiration as a foodie and an athlete!
I felt similarly after eating vegan for a while – I cleaned it up after an overload of red meat and when I decided to introduce meat again I found that my body just didn’t feel as good. For now I’ve decided that a (mostly) pescatarian diet is right for me.
I love reading all of these stories and seeing how many different reasons and paths we all have/take to get to our ‘certain way of eating.’ Now that I have taken up an interest in running, it has been interesting to me to balance my vegan with benefits ideas about eating with the need to maintain proper fueling for running.
That is true, something I want to experiment with since I am running pretty regularly. I have recognized I am very dependent on meat for protein…and we need that when we are working out especially!
I find that I have more energy and am better fueled on a plant-based diet, so it might be just thinking about your overall nutrient intake for a while. Making sure you get a wide variety of foods in your diet typically results in the right balance, but it doesn’t hurt to track and review occasionally 🙂 You know I LOVE to run!
I love reading all of these stories and seeing how many different reasons and paths we all have/take to get to our ‘certain way of eating.’ Now that I have taken up an interest in running, it has been interesting to me to balance my vegan with benefits ideas about eating with the need to maintain proper fueling for running.
these are great stories and great ladies! we have to find what is right for us!
Exactly! 🙂
these are great stories and great ladies! we have to find what is right for us!
To be fair, I had just eaten my way through Italy culminating in the ingestion of an entire of kilo of beef in one day. When in Rome… LOL!
That is true, something I want to experiment with since I am running pretty regularly. I have recognized I am very dependent on meat for protein…and we need that when we are working out especially!
This is so interesting to me that there is a difference in feeling..I mean it makes sense because when you eat badly, you feel badly, but I guess I’ve never thought of meat as being bad for us.
Exactly! 🙂
Oh wow! That’s a lotta meat!! lol “when in Rome” reminds me of Anchorman…
I find that I have more energy and am better fueled on a plant-based diet, so it might be just thinking about your overall nutrient intake for a while. Making sure you get a wide variety of foods in your diet typically results in the right balance, but it doesn’t hurt to track and review occasionally 🙂 You know I LOVE to run!
I’ll second the “feeling” – it really does sit in your belly differently. You just feel lighter without the meat, it’s one of those things you don’t get until you experience it for yourself though!
I love Heather’s story. I never knew that Christians believed that we should be vegetarian. And I totally get what she means about eating her first piece of meat after going vegetarian. I’ve been thinking of trying to go mostly meatless, but I don’t think I can commit to vegan or vegetarian completely.
I can tell you for sure that not all Christians believe we should be vegetarian. Her story is actually the first I’ve heard citing the bible in their reasoning to go meat-less. And I agree with you…I enjoy my meat too much to give it up completely! 😉
Actually, I should have mentioned that I was a vegetarian for 4 years. About April of my senior year of high school I decided to go meatless as some sort of experiment. Then came college, and I continued because it was cheaper to eat vegetarian anyway. I started eating meat again when I started running heavily.
When I was veggie, I missed two things (oddly enough): bacon and bratwurst.
And no way in hell am I going to try vegan. Well, I take that back. I think if I purposefully didn’t eat dairy and other animal products, but wasn’t as picky about animal additives, I could probably do it. Most of the stuff I get that’s gluten free is actually vegan already, so that helps. I realized a couple weeks ago that I was eating mostly vegetarian and almost vegan (except my chobani and BLT salad).
I love Heather’s story. I never knew that Christians believed that we should be vegetarian. And I totally get what she means about eating her first piece of meat after going vegetarian. I’ve been thinking of trying to go mostly meatless, but I don’t think I can commit to vegan or vegetarian completely.
I can tell you for sure that not all Christians believe we should be vegetarian. Her story is actually the first I’ve heard citing the bible in their reasoning to go meat-less. And I agree with you…I enjoy my meat too much to give it up! 😉
Actually, I should have mentioned that I was a vegetarian for 4 years. About April of my senior year of high school I decided to go meatless as some sort of experiment. Then came college, and I continued because it was cheaper to eat vegetarian anyway. I started eating meat again when I started running heavily.
When I was veggie, I missed two things (oddly enough): bacon and bratwurst.
And no way in hell am I going to try vegan. Well, I take that back. I think if I purposefully didn’t eat dairy and other animal products, but wasn’t as picky about animal additives, I could probably do it. Most of the stuff I get that’s gluten free is actually vegan already, so that helps. I realized a couple weeks ago that I was eating mostly vegetarian and almost vegan (except my chobani and BLT salad).
Now that I can do. I’m actually probably about the same as you on this. I eat meat probably once a week? I prefer fish, but sadly I am in the heartland and not on a coast. Definitely had my share of bacon this year though (BLTs are the best).
Wow, that’s a really fascinating journey. I had no idea. As a Christian myself, I approach it a bit differently, but this makes sense to me as well!
Wow, that’s a really fascinating journey. I had no idea. As a Christian myself, I approach it a bit differently, but this makes sense to me as well!