The Plant-Based Diet Myth: Why I Gave Up Being Vegetarian After 15 Years
I can clearly remember the day I became a vegetarian. I was a junior in high school and I had decided I wanted to give up meat for Lent. It wasn’t easy at first—I grew up in the South where they served chicken biscuits in the school cafeteria for breakfast, after all. What began as a 40-day challenge, however, ultimately turned into 15 meatless years.
A few months into those 15 years, my body began craving fish for the first time ever. I never liked fish at all until I stopped eating animal protein, but I listened to my body and allowed myself to be an occasional pescatarian. Years later, the thought, look, taste and smell of fish began to mysteriously repulse me. I cut it out completely and was fully meatless—even occasionally vegan—until the summer of 2023.