Veggie Lyfe

I know I'm supposed to blog about this yesterday, but since today is the first day of the last lunar calendar, I think it's good to talk about it today instead! Yup, I'll finish my 366th day of becoming a vegetarian in two more days and I'm feeling accomplished by this. Because back a few years ago, I never have any thought of becoming a vegetarian but here I am now. 

Along the way, my thoughts changed, and yup. I can definitely live without meat. Looking back, I've been considering this lifestyle change since 2010. Like I did have thoughts of becoming a vegetarian at some point of my life, but not this soon. Well I kinda regretted not starting earlier. But whatever the case, I'm here now and I'm definitely not looking back. So far I haven't found any reasons to go back.

To give you a bit of history, I've been going vegetarian twice a month since 2010. Although it was pretty much an on-and-off thing. In 2013 I decided to really dedicate two days every month to go vegetarian. I continued this until 2015, when I watched Dr Greger's video on YouTube about plant based diet and decided to go Meatless Mondays (then Saturdays) from August onwards.

Everything changed in November when I watched Cowspiracy. And then Vithya sent me a link to watch Earthlings. I could still remember watching it... Hmm... Exactly a year ago! And on that night I stopped eating meat heh. Okay I still eat some meat but I decided that I'm going to turn into a vegetarian this year. Which I did, and 364 days later, I'm still one. I'm even considering to go vegan now heh. Okay not so soon, my plan is to go ovo-vegetarian next year (no dairy, consuming eggs though).

How am I feeling now you may ask? I actually feel.... Pretty normal heh. I'm not sure if I feel any major difference ever since I go meatless. The only difference is two things - One is that I never experienced any constipation and two, I feel kinda more energetic. Usually I'll feel sleepy after lunch and I would go take a 10-15 nap before continuing work. But nowadays I don't feel sleepy at all.

Oh and I also never feel bloated after every meal. Except when I'm eating lentils and petai.

Fun fact: I also didn't lose any weight. I don't know to be happy or sad with the fact that I didn't lose or gain any weight. I was 89 in 1 January and I've been in this weight till now heh. Well I did actually lose 3kg on the first month but I ate too many kue lapis during CNY and I'm back again HAHAHA. Lots of people say my stomach looks flatter though. No, it's still bulging but smaller in size I guess.

See the thing is I don't become a vegetarian for health reasons. I really do it because I just feel that if I can be alive without having the need to kill animals, why not right. I'm not gonna be a hypocrite, I still kill mosquitoes and cockroaches and other creepy crawlies. But I'm sure you get my point. And no I haven't fully stopped causing suffering to animals since I'm not a vegan yet.

And whatever I get in return, be it good health or weight loss, I take it as the good karma I gained.

Although I've been reading Dr Greger's book How Not To Die which shows the benefits (proven by studies) of a plant-based diet, and how it can reverse many diseases. So maybe it's true that plant-based is the way to go. And thus perhaps it's true that what goes around comes around. There is a price we have to pay for consuming meats.

But I'm just gonna let you be the judge, try some meatless Mondays! :D

Okay so maybe I should share with you some of the questions I get when I tell people that I'm a vegetarian. I'm gonna list them from the most frequently asked questions.

1. Where do you get your protein?! You can only get proteins from meat!

Tofu, tempe, broccoli, beans, lentils and other vegetables. No, there are proteins in plants. If not how do cows, elephants, monkeys and pandas can grow so big and muscular?

2. You only become vegetarian cause you wanna lose weight right? Are you on a diet?

No, if this is the case I would have stopped 11 months ago.

3. Do you ever feel weak and dizzy and tired?

Nope. Not sure why but this is one of the most frequently asked questions to me. I really don't think that an absence of meat can cause the above symptoms. An absence of carbohydrate will.

4. But God created animals for human's consumption.

I don't believe in creationism :)

5. You're so young, you should not become a vegetarian and enjoy life.

I am a vegetarian and I am still enjoying life :D

6. How can you not eat meat? Do you miss it?

Not sure how but I can. And surprisingly I don't miss it. I do still miss bakso though lol!

7. But you're also killing plants you know. Plants have feelings too.
At least I don't have to kill an entire tomato plant to eat tomatoes. And other veggies etc. But you have to kill a chicken to eat its wings and a cow to enjoy your steak. So yes. 

You see the funniest thing that I ever encountered is this. When people ask me why I become a vegetarian, I usually say because of my religion. Which is not true. I do it 80% for the animals, 10% religious and 10% spiritual. The reason why I said this is because some people usually get very defensive when I tell them the true reasons. They will try to convince me that we have to eat meat. That being a vegetarian is "too extreme". I even have someone telling me it's against "God's Will" to be one. 

Errr.......

So yeah I stopped telling people my true reason why. Perhaps people are uncomfortable with the truth? Perhaps they are guilty? I don't know. But see when I tell you that I am a vegetarian I'm simply telling you I don't eat meat. I don't know why some people have the tendency to take it as "you have to be a vegetarian". I'm really fine with you eating meat. It's your life after all. I used to think vegetarians are crazy for giving up meat. Now that I'm one, I find some non-vegetarians even crazier than us heh.

Okay anyway, I do learn some lessons across this journey.

1. Happiness 

I learned a lot about happiness. Ever since I become a vegetarian my meals are getting simpler and simpler. Just stir fried veggies, or soups, or fried veggie fritters and so on. They taught me a lot about gratitude. I eat whatever that is on the table. I feel like I've been living like a monk. Cause I told my mum that I will just eat whatever dish that is on the table as long as it doesn't contain meat. The thought of me having food everyday is already enough to make me happy. While some people out there are starving without food for days and even months. I'm really thankful for the food on my plate.

2. Creativity

Well I learned to cook and devise my own food heh. Although some of them are failed ones. I used to make different vegetarian dishes but as the days go by I become lazier and just cook simple dishes. I made like vegetarian meatballs, lentil curry, noodles, vegan burger and mac and cheese! Also I usually mix up some other dishes to make a new dish. My favourite thing to do is to make rice bowls. Just a bowl of rice topped with vegetables and sometimes tofu. Or whatever I have on that day heh.

3. Health

One of the biggest lessons I learned is that being healthy is actually very easy, if we want to control our diet etc. You don't have to be a vegetarian to be healthy. I mean increasing your fibre intake and so on can help you a lot. Yet I see many people who would rather take pills in order to be "healthy". Like pills to lower down cholesterol, for good digestion etc. We can all skip these pills by changing our diet and nutritional intake. I did a blood test a few months back and the result was great. Everything is in normal range. My triglycerides level was low too.

Yet when I tell people that they should eat more veggies and avoid certain types of food, their response will be "Nahh I'm taking (insert drug name here) already so I should be fine". Well...

And the biggest lesson, like I said, is that I can be alive without consuming animals. That's enough.

Anyway I would like to thank my mum for cooking me so many lovely vegetarian dishes, and for trying out to cook vegetarian version of my favourite dishes (changing meat to tofu heh), despite of just me being the vegetarian of the family. To my dad for joining in the fun to cook our veggies with vegetarian seasonings and not the usual fish sauce. To my aunts who always buy vegetarian food/snacks for me when they are traveling. To my siblings and sibling-in-law (is that such a word?) for also buying and cooking so many vegetarian dishes. I feel so loved awww. And my family helper who always cook some vegetarian lunch for me mwahaha. Thank you so very much for making this journey an enjoyable one.

Last but not least, a special mention to Vithya for giving me the inspiration to turn into a vegetarian! Afer 2 years of telling you that I want to turn into one, I'm finally one now hahaha.

Alright that's all from me today. To those of you who are interested in this lifestyle change, if you can turn overnight that's really good for you. If not, you can always try meatless Mondays (or any other day actually) first! Or even do it twice a month. Remember that you should always be concrete about your decision. Don't do it because you want to lose weight. It won't last long trust me. If you have any questions whatsoever, I'll try my best to help you. If not the internet is a wonderful resource.

May all living things be happy! 

PS: Or you can watch the documentary Earthlings, Cowspiracy and Forks Over Knife