I'm becoming a pescatarian
Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2020 1:59 pm
So I've been vegan for four months and I've decided to be a pescatarian and introduce fish to my diet a couple of times of a week. The reason I went vegan in the first place was for health reasons- I not a peta or animal-rights person. I support people hunting and eating meat. The only ethical qualms I have with eating animal products is environmental. But I have a lot of bad environmental things I engage in and can't avoid.
And for the most part, being vegan has been pretty easy. I haven't craved meat, or eggs or any of that. I've lost 20 pounds while not really trying to diet. I'm not hungry all the time. It's been great. But half my family went vegetarian when I went vegan, and as of next week they are giving that up and going back to eating all sorts of animal products.
Which has created a dilemma for me. So when we're not preparing vegan-friendly meals for the family most nights, that means I have to eat separate from them. Which is fine. If I have time to meal prep, I can prepare lunches and dinners in advance-- and in fact this is what I plan to do when they go back to eating meat.
The problem arises when you need the "quick meal." The "oh crap. We're missing something and can't have that for dinner, so I need to just go to the store and get something to make for myself real quick." If I was just vegan, I think that would be manageable. But when you're vegan and celiac and can't eat wheat- it's incredibly limiting. I can't go just get a rice bowl or a noodle bowl. I can't eat a veggie sandwich or even anything with bread. It's become a real problem for me.
So as I was looking over some of my options for what I was going to eat over the next couple of weeks, I realized, "Huh. This would be a lot easier if I could eat fish." And it's like a lightbulb went on. If I'm in a pinch, I can pick up some salmon or whitefish and broil it real quick for an easy hearty meal. And I realized that it's still relatively healthy, especially if I eat it with some quick-sauted veggies or rice. But then I realized that being able to eat tuna makes our camping meals a lot easier (I was essentially eating PB&J for every lunch when we camped). It's just that it offers me much more options without really sacrificing the health benefits that I wanted to get out of being vegan in the first place.
And for the most part, being vegan has been pretty easy. I haven't craved meat, or eggs or any of that. I've lost 20 pounds while not really trying to diet. I'm not hungry all the time. It's been great. But half my family went vegetarian when I went vegan, and as of next week they are giving that up and going back to eating all sorts of animal products.
Which has created a dilemma for me. So when we're not preparing vegan-friendly meals for the family most nights, that means I have to eat separate from them. Which is fine. If I have time to meal prep, I can prepare lunches and dinners in advance-- and in fact this is what I plan to do when they go back to eating meat.
The problem arises when you need the "quick meal." The "oh crap. We're missing something and can't have that for dinner, so I need to just go to the store and get something to make for myself real quick." If I was just vegan, I think that would be manageable. But when you're vegan and celiac and can't eat wheat- it's incredibly limiting. I can't go just get a rice bowl or a noodle bowl. I can't eat a veggie sandwich or even anything with bread. It's become a real problem for me.
So as I was looking over some of my options for what I was going to eat over the next couple of weeks, I realized, "Huh. This would be a lot easier if I could eat fish." And it's like a lightbulb went on. If I'm in a pinch, I can pick up some salmon or whitefish and broil it real quick for an easy hearty meal. And I realized that it's still relatively healthy, especially if I eat it with some quick-sauted veggies or rice. But then I realized that being able to eat tuna makes our camping meals a lot easier (I was essentially eating PB&J for every lunch when we camped). It's just that it offers me much more options without really sacrificing the health benefits that I wanted to get out of being vegan in the first place.