Final Thoughts

After a few days of reflection about the past three weeks and how the diet went, we are ready to post my final thoughts! This was an amazing experience and we, Albert and Alberta, are glad to have tried living this lifestyle. We are going to touch upon a few different aspects of the diet and how they impacted our daily life. These aspects include how it was socially, economically, environmentally and a few other small areas as well.

Socially:

This was the hardest aspect of the diet for us. After not supporting vegetarian diet lifestyles for so long and now being on the opposite side of the spectrum, we found it personally challenging. We received many different attitudes towards the diet. Most people really could care less that we were trying the diet, and others were against it. It was difficult convincing others that this is a good diet. When eating by ourselves there was little trouble sticking with the diet, but when with others we really sensed a feeling of being out of place. When talking with friends and family, they weren't at first against the choice to be pescatarian, but weren't exactly supportive of it either. Both of us were told by family members several times that they were glad this was only temporary because they didn't want to cater to our eating habits for very long. This was frustrating feeling. Dealing with other's thoughts for three weeks was a manageable task, but it is hard to imagine dealing with the ridicule had we decided to implement this change for a long period of time. This gave us the opportunity to change our attitude and realize that many vegetarians probably feel the way we felt on a consistent day to day basis. Having now tried this pescatarian diet we be more supportive and open-minded to others dietary lifestyles.

Economically:

Before starting the diet, we would make frequent trips to publix to purchase groceries. There was not much change in how much a typical publix trip cost. Where previously money was spent on meat we were now spending it on vegetables and fish. We found that money would not be a reason to turn away from trying this diet. The price of fish compared to meat was very similar and fish was often even a little cheaper. There was however a bit of a difference when trying to switch from regular vegetables to organic vegetables. Organic is definitely more expensive. Having already learned this in class we were prepared for that finding. Slowly both of us implemented different organic foods in our shopping when the case permitted.

Environmentally:

We definitely felt more eco-friendly during the past three weeks. That is to say though because we were really trying in all aspects of our lives to be environmentally conscious. Not only did we consciously eat sustainably, but we also recycled more and tried to use our cars and scooters as little as possible. We've come to the conclusion that your diet doesn't indicate how eco-friendly you are, it is your attitude. All diets from vegetarian to pescatarian to carnivore can have negative impacts on the environment. If you are eating seafood that isn't sustainable, you are the cause of our oceans depletion of not only fish, but the coral reefs and other precious plants and animals. The soybean, a staple on most vegetarian diets is a main cause for the deforestation of the Brazilian rain forrest. Carnivorous diets as well are causing large green house emissions due to the mass transportation of meat from time it travels from the farm to your plate. These are some of the severe environmental issues that result from not making smart food choices.

Alberta's Athletic Motivations:

I was worried that adopting this diet would hinder my athletic performance. I was wrong in thinking that. I felt just fine keeping up with my rigorous workout schedule and not eating meat. Many fish types offer an abundance of proteins which are essential to your body if you workout a lot.

Overall, like previously stated, this experience proved to be very enjoyable. It really gave us an opportunity to see what it feels like to live the vegetarian lifestyle. We thought that when deciding to end the diet we would crave meat, but that is quite the opposite of what we have found. We are sure that we will incorporate meat back in my diet, but will be eating much less. We will definitely stick to eating a lot of seafood, for we both loved that aspect of the diet! In the future we both plan on incorporating at least one meatless day a week into our lives.

Please feel free to leave comments or ask any questions! Thank you for reading, and we hope you enjoyed it.

Albert and Alberta

Split Pea Soup

Not much is new in the world of being a pescatarian. I did however have an interesting run in with split pea soup yesterday and I want to share it with you.

I went home for the weekend because my Grandparents were in town and I wanted to visit with them before they head back up north. My Grandpa had made split pea soup that my mom couldn't stop raving about so I decided to eat it for lunch. Until I opened the bowl containing the vibrant green tasty concoction, I was under the impression that it was vegetarian friendly. I was wrong. There were big pieces of ham in the soup. I figured that I had already decided to eat the soup so seeing as the ham pieces were large I would just pick them out. The result was amazing. It was one of the best soups I have had (behind my moms famous tomato soup of course). I felt a little bad about picking the ham out, but I figured this was acceptable. Here is when I ran into a problem. Here is how it goes:

Alberta: Grandpa, this soup is amazing!

Grandpa: Thanks honey, it is so easy to make. You could do it for your roommates.

Alberta: That is a great idea, what is in it?

Grandpa: ... list of ingredients... once you are done with your diet you can even eat the ham.

Alberta: ha ha that is true. What is in the broth, it is so creamy?

Grandpa: It calls for only water because the peas give it the creamy taste but I decided to add CHICKEN BROTH to make it even tastier.

Alberta: (big gulp, starting to feel guilty but not wanting to be offensive)... Oh great idea, well it tastes great!

End of conversation... So, after hearing that there was chicken broth in it, I felt like I had slipped up in my meatless diet. Is this the case though? I would assume chicken broth is not allowed but I am not certain on this. I should have avoided the soup in the first place when I had to pick the ham out. At least I am aware of what is going into my body and even though I consumed chicken broth, I did all in my power to make the dish pescatarian friendly. I wonder how often vegetarians eat simple things like chicken broth and don't even know about it. Had I not talked to my Grandpa about it, I certainly would have had no idea! That is interesting to me!

Hope your week is going great! Only a few days left on the diet and I am not even thinking about eating meat. This has been a great experience!

Meatless Mondays

Well for Alberta and I this title has been the truth for every day of the week. But recently I discovered that it has taken on a new meaning. I read in an article (using the "stumble on" feature online) that the Baltimore Public School District adopted a meatless Monday menu for the thousands of students in schools. On the West coast in California, each Monday has been declared "Veg Day" by the San Francisco Board Supervisors. Other cities have also joined the group. A city in Belgium decided one day out of the week would be a "Veg Day," and a city in Maryland formed an entire meat-free week taking place between April 24-30th. As the article states these resolutions 'will encourage restaurants, grocery stores, and schools to offer a greater variety of plant-based options to improve the health of... residents and visitors, and to increase the awareness of what the impact a Green Diet would be on our planet.'

In relation to our class discussions the article goes on to discuss how livestock are one of the greatest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to the great distance meat must travel from the farm to the dinner table. I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I feel pretty proud to have gone through this challenging pescitarian diet for a couple weeks. The fact that other cities are implementing plans of their own to encourage vegetarian diets made my experience that much more significant.

I'd like to take this time to inform you as to what I ate today. Once again my fraternity house offered meat, hot dogs, for lunch. I, on the other hand, had a helping portion of mac n cheese and a ceasar salad. I love ceasar dressing. For dinner I worked at the sorority house again. They were having Thanksgiving diner, complete with turkey, stuffing, green beans, and sweet potatoes. I of course abstained from the turkey and topped the meal off with pumpkin pie.

I'd by lying to say this diet has not been difficult at times. But looking at how it is becoming a global occurrence has made me come to appreciate it more. When this is all said and done, I know for a fact I will continue with a meatless Monday... or Tuesday... or one of the days.

www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4087

FISH

I absolutely love fish! Considering the pescatarian diet contains the root word "pesca" (which means fish in many languages), this form of a vegetarian diet is allowing me to eat it much more frequently than usual. I am definitely not complaining one bit. Not only can I find fresh fish daily from many local grocery stores and local markets, but it is an extremely healthy addition to our diets.

Fish are excellent sources of protein, vitamin B, vitamin D, many trace minerals and essential omega 3 fatty acids, which are seriously lacking in most individuals diets. Like fish and also included in the pescatarian diet are shrimp. Shrimp also contain much of the same nutritional value that fish do. Shrimp are also low in calories compared to the amount of protein you get from them. Some people are afraid to eat too much shrimp because of it's high cholesterol levels. If you are eating shrimp every day of the week then this is something to look in to, but if you eat one or two times a week it is nothing to be overly concerned with. It is extremely low in fat which is another reason to indulge every once and a while. It can be argued that some fish, certain species of salmon in particular contain mercury that can eventually lead to poisoning in the body. As long as you are smart about your fish choices this problem can be avoided.

There is a growing problem with purchasing and consuming large amounts of fish. This has nothing to do with the nutritional value of the fish and more to do with how we are fishing and the consequences it can cause. Many of the fish we eat we are over-fishing. This means that we are catching too many fish; we are fishing so much that the fish cannot sustain their population. That particular fish will eventually get fewer and fewer until finally there are no more to catch. You are probably thinking "why is this a problem?" Many times, fishermen that are fishing for a specific species of fish will catch a large number of by catch--other types of fish, shrimp and sea creatures--that they have no use for. These fish end up dying and are unused. It has been calculated that the overfishing of the blue fin tuna has the potential to wipe out the fish forever in the next three years. The blue fin tuna is not the only fish looking to suffer this fate.

If we try to fish and consume fish at a sustainable level (taking out only the amount that still allows the fish to survive and flourish) we can help to reverse the trend of killing out certain fish. Over the past two weeks this has made me really think about what type of fish I am eating, where it was caught and if it is acceptable to be eating them. There are a number of excellent websites that can help explain where your fish comes from. These guides let you know which fish are struggling to stay in existence and which fish are acceptable to eat (even in large amounts). The two links that I have provided at the end of this post I have been using when I go to the supermarket. I have been getting my fish mainly from Wards and Publix but there is a fish market out by my parents house that is wonderful! I spoke with one of the employees at the fish market and really gained a better understanding of eating sustainable fish (I also got a few great recipes too that I will try to post)! This employee was the individual that first brought to my attention the problem with our fishing industry.

Bottom line: Be picky in the fish you eat. If you have read this, you now know the growing problem of overfishing and are no longer oblivious to its consequences (it's okay, I was oblivious to this just a short time ago). Please take the time to look at the links posted; they will lead you to make better fish choices and help save our ocean!

http://www.blueocean.org/seafood

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx

This last link is an article about the blue fin tuna

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE53D00320090414

Albert's thoughts

Albert here. It's the eleventh day of our pescitarian diet experience. As you might already know, my primary source of food relies on a food plan. I did not mention however that this life source was that from Greek organizations. I say this in plural due to a job as a kitchen crew member at a sorority house. This mostly limited supply is in some ways good and in some ways bad, but there is a very distinct experience at each house.

Daily lunches at the the fraternity typically consists of some variety of meat (chicken or red meat more than fish) and a side such as fries. There is always a salad bar with an array of condiments. Shortly after beginning this diet I was continuously asked, "why all the salads?" After explaining my case, their reaction was slightly less than encouraging. I might be further continuing a stereotype by saying that most of the guys see a vegetarian diet as being "girly" and not even aware of it being from an environmental standpoint. Not a single brother in the fraternity is a vegetarian, probably the main reason every meal consists of meat.

Dinner at the sorority house is an entirely different story. Out of a hundred and sixty girls my guess is that about ten to fifteen live by a vegetarian diet. Being so, there is always the option of a vegetarian substitute to the main meal accommodating for the need. This unbalance in gender ratio some how didn't surprise me. Perhaps I facilitate the theory that women are typically seen as more close to a nature, or to having some link with the environment. Still, since beginning this experience I have become aware that this lifestyle is not very popular.

In turn, the lack of vegetarians in the world leads to a lack of eating locally grown food or even organically grown food for that matter. Over the weekend I saw an article in the newspaper discussing one groups contribution to the situation. A local plot of land purchased by a church has been converted into a working organic farm. The workers are homeless men and women who grow vegetables to feed over six hundred other malnourished homeless. Stories like this spark hope in me, for it is good to know others are concerned about becoming a well rounded and eco-conscious society. If more people will not be open-minded to a vegetarian lifestyle then institutions such as this are necessary.

http://jacksonville.com/new/metro/2010-04-02/story/trinity-rescue-mission-farm-supply-organic-produce-jacksonville

Looking further into social stigmas

I mentioned in my last post that the diet was going great besides taking a little bit of grief from family and friends. I wanted to look deeper into the social aspect of being a pescatarian/vegetarian. While many vegetarians have given up meat due to some sort of food intolerance and problems with digestion, or for environmental reasons, I have chosen to try it as a personal challenge. Listed below are a few of the comments I have had regarding this decision. You may be having the same reactions as these so I figured I would post them.

Friend: I saw your facebook post about trying a pescatarian diet. What are you some tree-hugger now?

Friend 2: Since it's only a school project, you don't have to really follow it right? Who cares if you slip up a few times?

Friend 3: That diet is a bad idea Alberta, are you trying to lose weight? Vegetarians are overly environmentally conscious, it is so annoying.

These are just a few examples of comments I have heard regarding my decision to try being a pescatarian. Although a few people seemed all right with this choice, not once did I get a comment like "wow Alberta, what a great idea... I can't wait to see how it goes." Even my parents were skeptical about me trying it. They seemed supportive at first, but when the time came for dinner and meat was the choice they were frustrated having to accommodate me. Especially considering I am usually the one most excited about eating a steak dinner!

First off, I am sticking to this diet and not allowing any slip-ups. I am only doing this for a short period of time and I really want to give it my all. Secondly after seeing the reactions such as referring to me as a "tree-hugger" and being "annoying" it only frustrates me to the ignorance some people display. It really gave me a deeper appreciation of people that live this lifestyle. I hope that I never acted negatively towards someone because of the food they consume. It is amazing the stereotypes that come with a diet!

Review

As I embark into the second week of trying the pescitarian diet, I can't help but think back to how I got here. The first few days were a bit of a struggle in resisting meat when my meal plan constantly surrounded me with it. I slowly learned how to avoid the temptations by only eating at meal time instead of snacking throughout the day. Later in the week I had in a way surprised myself by being more at ease with the diet. After sharing with Alberta our Easter weekend stories, it seemed that we both had similar experiences.

Nothing much happened Saturday, as I stuck with cereal for breakfast and some leftover fish for lunch. For dinner my mom didn't feel like cooking so Pizza Hut was on the menu. While my dad and brother joked at my misfortune for not being able to eat meat they seemed to be rather fine with the idea. They ordered the supreme while my mom and I shared a Greek pizza. Sunday on the other hand posed a bit of a threat, but I'm glad to say crisis averted and no meat was consumed.

On Easter my cousins and grandparents always come over, each bringing a different plate of food to share. After church we sat down for a late brunch including ham, peas, green beans, twice backed potatoes, a salad, and bread rolls... the ham obviously being the main attraction. It was a cornucopia of smells and flavors that I fully engaged in, trying all of which minus the ham of course.

In a way, I almost felt like a burden on my family in some cases. For instance when it comes to pizza, both of my parents generally go with the supreme. I can't recall many times when they ordered anything besides that. For those who live by a vegetarian diet, instances such as this must occur frequently.

On the drive home, while flipping through the radio, something on NPR grabbed my attention (shocking because I don't ever listen to that station). A man being interviewed was a vegetarian, and he was discussing his travels overseas and the difficulty of maintaining his diet while on his trip. On his expedition he encountered cultures that ate bugs and insects, amongst other crawling creatures they deemed "meat." Sharing meals with families, he came to the self understanding that it would be impolite to dispel the food and their sources of meat offered to him. His vegetarian ways, on a larger scale, did not mean he had to abstain from eating meat when he was a guest in someones home.

When accustomed to living away from home for a long time may sometimes make one feel like a guest in your own house, I in no way took this advice. Despite not being back all the time, college is not my true home, and I can still obey my dietary structure even back with my family. Traveling would be a different story, as for the man on the radio for example. His tale made me realize that it is not always what you eat that determines your eco-consciousness, but it is your attitude to the matter.