Becoming a vegetarian

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It has been four months since I last ate meat and I must say that I feel pretty good about this accomplishment. The road to vegetarianism was kick-started when I visited the Sivananda ashram in the Bahamas. I was there for a week and strict rules were in place that didn’t allow for meat, fish, eggs, caffeine, alcohol and drugs to be consumed. Talk about a shock to the system since I hadn’t undertaken such a dramatic change in diet before. I was pleasantly surprised, however, that it didn’t take long for my body to adjust to the new way of consumption, rightly so since what I was putting into my body was not only nutritious and healthy, but absolutely delicious.

The buffet-style meals typically consisted of leafy vegetable salads topped with grated carrots or beets, lentil soup or salad, oven baked sweet or white potatoes, a pasta or a rice dish, warm homemade nutty bread, oatmeal and grain cereals (in the morning), cheese and fruits such as oranges, grapes and melons. I hadn’t realized that vegetarian meals could be so flavourful and by the looks of it, could be simple to prepare. That experience changed my way of thinking about vegetarianism.

Before the ashram, I was already flirting with the idea of becoming a vegetarian, mainly for health, environmental and cosmetic (I had terrible acne!) reasons, but I bought into false myths such as lack of protein, boring meals, too difficult to make, ingredients not readily available, too expensive etc. But I think the number one culprit was change – I hate change, and the thought of radically altering my way of eating and cooking was incomprehensible at the time. From that point at the ashram, however, I committed to gradually easing myself into becoming a vegetarian. Although the ashram primed me for it, I wasn’t fully prepared to give up my fish and love of seafood.

Since the change in diet, I have noticed a few remarkable things. I have more physical energy, my mind is clearer, my body is more toned and my acne has diminished significantly. One other positive result is that I've become more conscious and conscientious about what I consume - I've shied away from foods that are fried and highly processed, I'm buying more local and organic foods, and quality is more important than quantity. I've come to respect my body and the environment more through this process. These noted changes are nice incentives to continue with this new way of eating and perhaps become a vegetarian finally…ok, maybe not just yet…I love my spicy salmon rolls too much!

If you’re thinking about becoming a vegetarian, there are lots of helpful articles on the web that could get you started:

• Going vegetarian
• How to become a vegetarian, the easy way
• Pledge to be veg for 30 days!

In addition, plenty of vegetarian recipes can be found online such as VegCooking.com and VegWeb.com. There is also a myriad of well-written cookbooks available, one book in particular, The New Becoming a Vegetarian: The Essential Guide to a Healthy Veg..., had some great reviews. I just ordered this book from Amazon and I’ll write a book review of it in a future post.

One other resource to mention are the members on this site – I have a feeling that most of you are already vegetarians or vegans, since a healthy diet, particularly vegetarianism, is integral in most yoga disciplines. If you have any tips on this topic or if you would like to share your experience as a vegetarian, I would encourage you to blog about it as I'm sure it'll be beneficial to those thinking of becoming one. :)

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Comment by Belinda on July 29, 2008 at 5:36pm: How could there be slighting? You gave me an opportunity to clarify what I posted and to bring up several useful points. Knowledge of the material world given to us by the yogic rishis was and is extremely subtle (the opposite of generalized), allowing us to diagnose disease four stages ahead of it presenting symptoms that can be detected by Western science and medicine. As I have 7 years of study (each) in both Western medicine and Ayurvedic holistic medicine, my knowledge base is subtle enough (and re-inforced enough my empirical Western evidence) to draw accurate generalizations about both the material and the non-material world. I only hope that the knowledge I gave you (that you paid for) did not go to waste...

Comment by Belinda on July 28, 2008 at 7:56pm: Experience is relative, especially to previous experience. But if we only made decisions based on past experience, there would be very little change in the world. An indirect way of saying that your experience of feeling 'great' after eating meat is drawn from relative experience - that of a non-vegetarian lifestyle. The only reason anyone has a negative experience with vegetarianism is because they did not have the knowledge to pursue it in a balanced and healthy way. This comes with experience and being open to having new experiences. Honouring your body is always the top priority, but without holistic nutritional knowledge, one can't interpret and understand why their body reacts the way it does, nor can one act appropriately in response - in some cases, this is experienced as acute anxiety which, actually can result in nausea and other pronounced physiological (and digestive) reactions. A good example of how intuition is not useful, or stable, without the necessary knowledge of the material world to ground it. This is what Saraswati's energy teaches us.

Comment by Peter Stodolak on July 28, 2008 at 12:14pm: If you'll allow a slightly more moderate perspective, a couple thoughts to add.

The typical North American diet contains too much meat. Reducing my meat consumption to four or five servings a week created a noticeable change in energy.

More important than choosing meat or vegetable is quality of food, method of preparation and having a balanced meal. It's true that there are some meals that include meat that make me feel lethargic afterwards but there are others which consistently leave me feeling great. Conversely I have also experienced some vegetarian meals that have left me feeling weak and tired. It is best to pay attention to how your body reacts to certain meals and honour your body in how you eat.

Regardless of what we are consuming the body creates toxins as a byproduct of consumption and has the necesary mechanisms to eliminate these toxins (even if they are somewhat imperfect).

For the moment I enjoy the flexibility offered to me by including meat in my diet. However, I'm sure that a well planned vegetarian diet can work quite well for most people if they are compelled to make such a commitment.

Comment by Marina on July 25, 2008 at 6:30pm: belinda, you are so insightful as always...thanks :)

Comment by Belinda on July 25, 2008 at 6:19pm: Here's the info about Gardein:
http://www.gardein.com/
http://www.gardenprotein.com/

Comment by Belinda on July 25, 2008 at 6:15pm: The second biggest reason you experienced the changes you write of is because of the number one reason a vegetarian diet is ideal for yogis: it's mostly Sattvic, or produces the quality of sattva (peace) in the mind, with some Rajasic qualities, which are needed by any yogi not sitting on a mountain top isolated from the distractions and energies present in human culture. Sattvic foods are the most pure and un-processed - whole grains, fresh veggies and fruits, fruit juices, milk (organic only), ghee and honey (the last two being among the greatest builders of ojas in the body). Rajas is found in over-spiced, cured, smoked, pickled or preserved foods, meat, eggs, aged cheeses, chocolate, etc. It unsettles the mind and excites the passions, but for a yogi pure in their intentions, passion is used for the best purpose possible - doing the greatest good and embodying the Divine. The biggest reason your energy changed is because you removed meat from your diet - it actually drains energy from the body to digest it, without even considering the karma created by eating meat. This is Western science - meat requires more energy (and enzymes) to digest than you get back from it. Toxins are also created as a bi-product of digesting meat and your gut flora changes (you might notice the smell is different at the other end... now that you're more vegetarian). With all the vegan options available for getting the protein you need, why eat meat ever again? Tempeh, tofu, sprouted beans, hemp seeds (hulled - as much protein as a chicken breast in just 4 tablespoons!), Gardein (awesome stuff made here in Richmond, BC), and many more. Most fish actually has far less protein per gram than most vegan sources - I only eat it once a month, to help with iron absorption, but eventually even that won't be necessary.

Namaste

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Becoming a vegetarian

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