Why I became a vegetarian.
I became a vegetarian before I knew anything about Sikh Dharma. I am a British born asian and come from a family of meat eaters and so, this was all I knew. Then one day I attended an Anthony Robbins course.
One of the days on the course was dedicated to Optimising Health and Anthony talked about the personal, social and environmental impact of eating meat. He challenged the delegates (including me) to cut out animal products for 10 days and see how we felt.
At the time I was an amatuer thai boxer and was concerned about losing strength and muscle however I reluctantly gave it a go.
It was awesome, as progressed through the 10 days I noticed my energy levels, mental clarity and focus had improved dramatically. Furthermore I had not lost strength but had lost body fat! I decide to continue and see how things went, that was 5 years ago!
How did this impact me socially?
Socially it was difficult at first due to the social circles I was in at the time. My fellow boxers and trainers felt it would make me weak plus when we would go out I would be the only person eating vegetarian food (for which there's not much variety in the standard restaurant). At home my family were equally unenthusiastic and had similar concerns about weakness. I didn't take peoples concerns too seriously as I’d like to think I am an independent person who is able to try things and form my own judgements. None felt I’d stick at it for too long.
What about 5 years on?
Some of my friends and family members have now also chosen to become vegetarian. I feel this was due to a combination of the increasing in research and information available on this topic, the fact that being vegetarian is now more mainstream and fashionable and due to exposure; knowing more vegetarians and socialise with them.
What made it easier?
Like any habit change, being vegetarian isn't easy but then neither is having a bath or going to school when you haven’t formed the habit. Once you make a decision to try being veg, its important to have certain pillars in place to make this more practical. For me this was a good social circle and a strong resolve. Living in London also helps as their are many cultures and faith groups which promotes vegetarian diets such as Sikhs, Hindu’s, Rastafarians, and Chinese vegans.
Reducing my animal produce intake has allowed me to connect more with other aspects of life such as spirituality, self reflection and compassion towards others. These unexpected changes allowed me to feel stronger about maintaining the vegetarian lifestyle.
What are the benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle?
A plant based lifestyle has one obvious benefit, plant based foods are lower in saturated fat. With Obesity killing 1.4 billion people worldwide today living a low fat plant based vegetarian lifestyle is a option on this merit alone.
My favorite veg
Broccoli. As its anti carcinogenic. If there was a pill that could prevent cancer, everyone would take it. We know Broccoli can do this yet how many of us eat it on a regular basis?
