This experiment happened in early October 2008. I wanted to see, how I will feel after 3 months of vegetarian food only. Absolutely no meat (not even the fish) and no animal based milk. Just fruits and vegetables. I’ve been eating meat all my life and I decided to try and endure 3 months without it. Also I totally banned all alcohol from my life, even candies which contains alcohol.
This was not just about not eating meat. I was putting myself to test. Will I be able to stick to my plan and not eat single bite of meat? Will I have enough willpower? Will I feel better or worse?
I’ve been reading about healthy diets and almost every single time vegetarian diet was mentioned. How much good you can do to your body and mind by not eating meat or anything else coming from animals. It was everywhere I looked, all around me, all the time. I realized I have to give it a try. How bad can it be?
First days
Next morning I told my girlfriend I was starting with vegetarian diet and of course she was thrilled about it. She sounded very supportive and even said she would join me. This was on 28th of October I think and the goal was to live on vegetarian diet until new year 2009.
Beginning was a bit hard on me, being used to eat meat and I was feeling lack of energy. Also my temper was on roller coaster ride. I would get angry one moment and totally relaxed next one. My sleep was shallow and getting up in the morning was really tough. I was easily late to work. I didn’t see much improvement in being on vegetarian diet. I felt worse then before I started the diet.
It gets better
This lasted for about 2 weeks. Then things started to turn around. I would feel better, I laughed more and I started to get more and more things done. All this without being so tired. Getting up in the morning was getting easier by the day and sometimes I woke up before alarm buzz went off. I had more and more energy and I started exercising almost on a daily basis.
In the third month of my vegetarian diet experiment things really started to change. I didn’t feel the need to eat meat at all, in fact I felt disgusted by the smell of it. I could easily feel the difference between animal milk and milk made from soy beans. Even in small portions, animal milk felt like drinking something rotten.
New year
After almost three months on strict vegetarian diet, I sat down and think about how I feel, what are the good things I found during this diet and what I am missing. Surprisingly, I didn’t miss meat at all. I could go on with vegetarian diet without feeling I am missing something. I felt really good.
Then I started thinking, if being 3 months on vege diet and feeling better then ever before, I should be feeling worse if I start eating as I was before the diet. This got me in an awkward position. I wanted to try and see if my thinking was right but didn’t want to break the good and healthy feeling I had. Also, I didn’t want to break this record of mine.
Due to Christmas and new year’s time and with lots-of-meat tradition we got here, I started eating meat again. Little pieces at time and observing myself very carefully. With time I started eating more and more meat and even drink cow’s milk. Results were obvious. I started to feel more depressed, gain some weight, felt tired and have lost most of my previously gained energy.
What did I learn from this experiment?
In just one month I am in the same situation I was before I started with the diet. It took me 3 months to get where I was feeling good, have lots of energy, exercising daily and being most productive in my life. It took me less then one month to get where I was before, maybe even further down due to emotional ups and downs.
I can say this was very educative time in my life and I learned a lot about human body and the way it works. I can’t say I’m sorry that I’ve done this as I am not. I experienced how it’s like to live on healthy diet and not to worry when someone mention mad cow’s disease. It was a great feeling knowing I’m not going to be affected by it.
From what I’ve felt trough the diet, what I’ve read about it and what I know about today food industry, I can peacefully say I’m starting with vegetarian food only again. It has brought me only good things and I want to experience more of it. I know it will be worth it as I’ve already tasted some of it.
