Stop calling me a Vegetarian.

Please stop calling me a vegetarian and don’t say “whatever.” It is rude and you obviously don’t care or understand healthy living. We need a new term or phrase to capture the trend happening in this country and starting across the globe.

I am not a vegetarian and I am not a vegan even though most people say that about me. While both sound appealing to me, neither one is accurate. I eat a plant-based diet. This means I occasionally have steak, chicken, eggs or fish. Occasionally means about once a week on average. I regularly eat dairy products such as butter and cheese, but also limit those to a minimum. A lot of people I know do the same. This is very healthy and probably the most realistic for most people. There are times when you cannot avoid meat, eggs or dairy without offending the host, especially when in company of other cultures.

So why do I choose a plant based diet? Three reasons.

1 - We don't need nearly as much protein as it had been previously believed. Not even bodybuilders. Here is my reasoning. If an infant gets only 3 -5% protein in a breast milk diet (the perfect meal), and this is the stage where we grow at the fastest rate and therefore need the most protein of any time in our life, why would we need 20-40% as adults?

2 – Meat is nasty. I didn’t always think this way. I ate meat at every single meal and even my snacks were beef jerky. The more you learn about the meat, poultry, and fish industry, the less appealing it is to eat it. Watch some PETA videos. Or read this brilliant article by the New York Times or watch this video. If that is not enough, make a dish of beef gravy and then put it in the fridge to chill. The next day there will be a disgusting, artery clogging, thick gelatinous layer of fat. This is what causes blocked arteries leading to heart attacks and also a reason for premature death.

3 - It is a personal belief choice, a philosophical choice, and even a spiritual choice. I don't believe that it is right that we take an animal's life for our own selfish and egotistical reasons. We don't need meat to live healthy, in fact we should NOT have it often to live healthy. So why raise hundreds of thousands of animals each year to send to the slaughterhouses? Why over-fish our oceans to the point of extinction for many species? And lastly, is it really in the spirit of God or the Universe (or whoever is your higher power) to take another life be it a person or animal when it is not necessary?

So what to call the plant based diet?
Healthy American diet?
Healthy plant based diet?
The Spiritual diet?
The Right diet?

Hmmm.... any ideas? Comment below and let me know what you’re thinking.