Today many people all around the world are vegetarians. In the last few years the number of vegetarians has increased enormously. In Austria aroun
d 2% of the population lives vegetarian, and 13% of students exclude meat from their diet. I for myself have always enjoyed eating meat, therefore it was even harder for me to let go of it. In this blog entry I want to share some of my personal experiences and give some tips on how to become a vegetarian.

I’ve always eaten meat,
and I’ve always enjoyed it. However, this February I decided to change my diet rapidly. I became a vegetarian overnight.
In the last few years I always tried not to eat meat during lend, but this year I wanted to stay “Veggie”. Another reason for my sudden change was that I felt that meat was not doing any good to my health. I realized that every time I ate meat I felt a weird felling afterwards. It felt as if something constantly tried to drag me down, I felt tired and unenergetic. Therefore I came to the conclusion that living as a vegetarian (for a while) would help me regain my fitness.
The first days were the hardest, however, I stayed strong.

“What do you eat for dinner?” was one of the most common questions. But to be honest, it wasn’t that big of a deal to find vegetarian alternatives. Once the first weeks were over, I realized that I didn’t miss meat at all. I actually enjoyed my life without it. I felt way more energetic than ever before.

Concerning my diet, I mainly focused on vegetables, different grains and eggs. I know many people associate “veggie” food with tofu. However, from my point of view tofu and soy products in general are not a proper alternative. Often soy beans are grown in huge plantations somewhere in South America or Asia. The destroyed rainforest and long ways of transportation a bitter connotation. Moreover, I don’t like the taste of it.

Here are some tips and tricks on how to forget about meat.
First of all avoid eating fast food. Often the temptation is too big and you cannot resist that bacon burger anymore. Especially during the first weeks you should prepare food yourself and not buy it on the way. However, if you do want to go out to eat something, vegetarian restaurants are gaining in popularity all around the world. I live in a pretty small town, but even here in Graz we have several vegetarian restaurants. For example: Mangold, Gingko, Café Erde…

If you follow these simple tips everybody can become vegetarian.
Although I’m not a 100% vegetarian, I try to exclude meat as much as possible and I still enjoy eating and especially cooking vegetarian. In my opinion two or three meat-free days a week are indeed very beneficial to your health and your body.