A Carnivore’s Attempt to Eat Vegetarian

January 24, 2012, By Michael O. Varhola 2 comments

Michael O. Varhola

I like meat. If you were to ask me what my favorite meal is, chances are I would say it was a nicely marbled ribeye steak cooked on a grill, seared on the outside and rare in the middle. And, beyond what I enjoy eating, having hypoglycemia means I need to maintain a decent protein level to keep from getting shaky, headachy, and sickish, and eating meat is one of the easiest ways to make sure I'm getting enough protein.

These considerations notwithstanding, a year ago I decided to try eating at least one vegetarian dinner or two vegetarian lunches a week (and, of the eleven New Year's resolutions I made, it is one of the few I actually did a pretty good job with in 2011).

To a vegetarian, of course, this regimen is not going to sound like a big deal, but to many of us meat-lovers it most assuredly requires a sacrifice. There are, however, a number of reasons related to health, economics and sustainability that influenced my decision to make this lifestyle change.

• Meat is expensive! At a time when many people are tightening their belts—freelance writers always being on the cutting edge of this trend—trimming your meat consumption can help you spend less on groceries each week.
• Vegetables and other vegetarian fare tend to be much lower in cholesterol than meat. Speaking from experience, keeping one's cholesterol levels in check through diet is preferable to having to go on medication in middle age, and this is one way to help do it.
• Vegetarian cuisine tends to be much lower in calories than meat. This is not a particular consideration to me, but in an era when a disproportionate number of Americans suffer from being overweight or obese, cutting out meat from a couple of meals a week could make a difference in your waistline.
• Land used for the grazing of beef cattle could be used to grow a far greater amount of crops with the same nutritional benefits. In developing nations, such as Brazil, critical areas like rain forests are being destroyed to make room for grazing lands, a trend that has broad environmental implications.
• The meat industry produces high levels of greenhouses gases and contributes disproportionately to global warming. If you don't believe in global warming, of course, then you are free to ignore the meat industry's impact on it.