Many people are surprised to hear that I'm a vegetarian. "But you look so...healthy". Yes. I know. It's amazing that as 34 year old black male that I can actually look like a man. I admit. I go to the gym basically every day to sculpt my body. I live in Los Angeles after all. The center for narcissistic vegetarians. And guess what, most of us look pretty good. So, how is it that I can look so healthy as a vegetarian? It's my diet. I don't subscribe to the notion that most Meat Eaters think about us herbivores. I like that.
I'm a 34 year, black man whose parents are from the West Indies. What on Earth am I thinking being a vegetarian? I'm missing out on so much good food that my mother makes that it's almost a crime. I remember the look on her face when I first came home from school for Thanksgiving break as a newly minted vegetarian. It all started off as a game for me actually. My friend Dina and I were house sitting and she said, "You want to try being vegetarians for the week?" And that's how it started. I felt so good and energized and clean. Dina stopped after three days. The call of the meat just couldn't be quelled in her truly Italian sensibilities. Her mom is a fantastic cook as well, so I didn't really blame her that much. I was a freshman at Penn State University when my mother had a heart attack and had to have a triple bypass. I think that was the wake up call for me. She was so young. In her 40's. And I don't know if any of you know West Indian woman, but they are a strong bunch. My mother being the strongest. To see her go through that was a shock to the system. I changed my lifestyle. And it was a lifestyle change. I was a total mess in the beginning. This was 1995. There weren't very many choices for vegetarians. I'm not going to lie. I was hungry. I was so hungry and I was a mess. I didn't know what I was doing. I knew why I wanted to do it. Health. Living a long healthy life. That was the goal. As long as I kept that in my head I was OK. But then that Thanksgiving came along. Why, oh why I thought going back into that house, during the Meat Eaters most notorius day of gluttony, was beyond me. Holidays in my house are a very special time. My family, like a lot of American families, is a mixture of cultures. This is an adopted holiday for my parents. They have the rudimentary ideas. Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and stuffing being the mainstays. This being a West Indian family they also had lots of sides. But all the sides had to have some kind of meat in them. It's a prerequisite. Spinach...with ham. Okra...with ham. Greens...with ham. Kale...with ham. String beans...you guessed it...with ham. As I sit down at the dining room table my mother turns to me and says, "I don't have anything here for you to eat. You should have told me before you came that you weren't eating meat anymore." My oldest sister goes into a mania. "What do you mean you're not eating meat anymore? What's wrong with you?" I didn't want to ruin Thanksgiving by saying that I didn't want what happened to Mom to happen to me. I didn't want to ruin Thanksgiving by saying that the way that my family was eating was killing us all. I didn't want to ruin Thanksgiving. So I said nothing. My sister didn't respond to this very well. She stood up and put the Turkey to my left and put the Ham to my right. "You want to come into this house and say your not eating Meat? Try to resist it now." 15 years later I can say I have no urge to return to being a Meat Eater.
There are vegetarians of differing sizes, ages, races, all walks of life. There are also different types of vegetarians. Pescaterian, Flexiterian, Lacto-Ovo Vegetarians, Vegan, Raw Vegan, and Macrobiotic are the levels. Forgive me if I left one out. It doesn't matter. I'm only going to focus on Pescaterian and Lacto-ovo vegetarian. I may occasionally give some Vegan recipes, but only on occasion. The purpose of this blog is to show you how to be a healthy vegetarian in a not so healthy economy. That is one thing I hear all the time. "I thought about being a vegetarian, but it is so expensive." Have you seen the price of meat? Not only the physical price, but the environmental price on our planet. Forgive me, I just watched "King Corn" and I'm about to watch "Food, INC" so I'm up on a soap box about that issue.
The purpose of this blog is to provide healthy and inexpensive vegetarian options for you. I will provide recipes, restaurant reviews and workout tips for all of you interested in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I look forward to opening up to all of you. If you have any tips whatsoever feel free to email me at Michael@thefrugalvegetarian.com.
Stay healthy,
Michael
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