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When I tell people about the going green thing, many people ask if I’m going vegetarian.  That really opens up the opportunity for me to tell them how this is a no sacrifice way of going green and that I am not giving up things that I love (including meat).  I also don’t think I have enough knowledge of how be vegetarian and still be healthy.  Meat is a great source of protein and I recently found out that it is the only natural way to consume B12 vitamin. People who are really into the environment talk about how meat raised for consumption is so awful for the environment.  So I thought I would do some research.

I found a very thorough article published by Environment Health Perspectives.  It is a lengthy article (25 pages), but well researched and very informative.  If you have the time, you should definitely read it.  I’ll give you the short version.  More crops in the U.S. are grown to be fed to cattle than humans.  Tons of emissions involved in transporting the crops to the cattle.  “Modern” care of animals force excessive amounts of methane gas to be emitted. Then there is all the energy and emissions in slaughtering the animals and transporting the meat to consumers. All-in-all animals raised for consumption have just as much negative impact on our environment as driving cars.

The entire article does make me want to really do something different, but I’m torn because I don’t want to give up meat.  When I think about how much meat I eat… Wow! So here is my compromise.  I have decided to take a few baby steps. 

Step 1 - Go vegetarian for breakfast and lunch.  I’ve actually been doing this for the past 3 weeks and it isn’t as hard as you might think.  My breakfasts are usually yogurt and fruit or oatmeal (pretty easy).  Lunches are a touch more challenging for me.  For the past year I’ve been trying to live with more of a WeightWatchers lifestyle, and to help me with that I usually eat SmartOnes or Lean Cuisine for lunch.  So many of the frozen foods that are geared to be healthy for you also contain meat.  While I’m at the grocery store, I’m trying to make a concerted effort to make sure I buy these “healthy” frozen meals that do not contain meat.

Step 2 – Add in more vegetarian meals for dinner.  I’m not there yet.  This is something for later on down the line, but I realize I need to start researching it now.  There are two challenges for me with this step.  The first challenge is that I have a ton of recipes that are meat based, and very few that are vegetarian (besides Italian pasta dishes).  The second challenge, and the harder part, is that dinner not only affects me, but also my husband.  So these new recipes I want to start learning also have to be food that Mike will like and feel satisfied with.  My friend Emily suggested stir-fry, which I think is a great idea and I think Mike will like it.  That is one that I will try. If you have any suggestions, I would be happy to take any tips, websites, recipes, etc.

My end goal is to work down to about 3 dinners per week that have meat.