Being vegetarian has never been as important a topic as it is today. Climate change is one of the factors that lead people to rethink their eating habits, but the key factor for a definitive change is, in most cases, confronting the origin of our food and the consequences that this has on the our body. Therefore, the three main reasons for vegetarianism are health, ethics and the environment.
Firstly, there are no people who are 100% environmentally friendly, the step towards vegetarianism does not start with ?How am I going to be the most sustainable person in the world??, but rather with ?How can I improve my habits??. Such a change does not involve great stress - it is a journey that should be taken calmly. Take it easy!
As for health, there is still controversy over whether being vegetarian is good for us or not, however this mainly depends on whether people eat enough calories, as foods Plant-based foods generally have fewer calories than animal-based foods ? and how informed they are about what foods they should eat to replace meat and fish. One of the things I felt when I became vegetarian was the variety of dishes I had started to include in my daily life, instead of the typical steak with rice or pasta. Vegetable curry, stuffed eggplant, vegetable lasagna, lentil bolognese, "chili without carne", tacos, sautéed noodles, Alentejo-style seitan, Brás-style leek, vegetarian paella, among many others.
The key to a successful vegetarian diet is to have a lot of information from various books and documentaries. Most vegetarian recipe books have useful information about where to find certain nutrients to have a complete diet. The documentaries that best demonstrate the impact of vegetarianism on health are "What the Health", "Forks over knives" and "The Game Changers" that cover topics such as reversing diseases, improving athlete performance and feeling better about our bodies. Furthermore, nowadays our favorite dishes can all be ?veganized?, which is great for those who are making the transition, but don't want to stop eating what they love most.
As for animals, we all agree that suffering is not a good thing. There are several documentaries that expose the truth about what happens in slaughterhouses and the fact that this stress and poor conditions are also not beneficial for those who end up eating the meat. When we see "Earthlings" e "The Ghosts in our machine" we can think that in Portugal our animals are not treated like this, however the recent RTP report "What if we spoke?" leads us to realize the opposite. This is a topic that each of us should be aware of by confronting the footage taken in these documentaries and reports.
Regarding the environment, this is one of the reasons why vegetarianism is increasingly a ?fashionable? topic. The dairy and meat industries are among the industries with the most polluting emissions and the greatest impact on climate change. This originates from the deforestation of green areas to install industry infrastructure, the planting of soy to feed the animals, the water used to plant the soy and to hydrate the animals, for years. This subject is covered in documentaries such as "Cowspiracy" and "Seaspiracy", available on Netflix , the first focused on the meat and dairy industry and the second focused on fishing.
In addition, it is important to pay attention to both the reactions that the body has during the transition and to carry out blood tests every 6 months, in order to control the initial phase and find out if there is anything that should change in your day-to-day routine. If you have any problems with your analysis, you should consult a doctor or nutritionist to understand the root of the problem and obtain a solution. When following a complete and informed vegetarian diet, it is rare to have any problems afterwards, but at the beginning it is also normal to make mistakes, because it is a type of diet that we are not used to.
In conclusion, vegetarianism is something that we should all consider and at the same time maintain the necessary precautions. Nowadays, vegetarian and vegan options in the supermarket are increasingly extensive and doctors are also less skeptical about the benefits of this type of diet, advising less and less the consumption of foods of animal origin.
Pitch: My name is Rita Pacheco, I'm 19 years old and I'm a management student at ISEG. Sustainability has been a topic of interest to me for several years and I joined Forall Family in March 2020 with the goal of creating an impact on the community and the world. A year later, in March 2021 I became Team Leader.
Author: Rita Pacheco
Reviewed by: André Castro
About the Author:
My name is Rita Pacheco, I'm 19 years old and I'm a Management student at ISEG. Sustainability has been a topic of interest to me for several years and I joined Forall Family in March 2020 with the goal of creating an impact on the community and the world. A year later, in March 2021 I became Team Leader.
