Why I’m Becoming a Vegetarian in 2021

Photo by The Creative Exchange on Unsplash

I’ve been a meat-eater all of my life. I say meat-eater rather than meat-lover, because admittedly I’m not someone who craves steak or pork chops on any sort of regular basis. Still, I usually eat chicken a couple times a week, and red meat somewhat less often (three or four times per month). Although I know a few vegetarians and even vegans, I’d never really considered that very seriously for myself.

That changed a few weeks ago when I watched David Attenborough’s documentary A Life On Our Planet (if you’re interested in seeing it for yourself, the documentary is available on Netflix). Attenborough describes several steps that we need to take in order to save the planet from irreversible damage, but one of the simplest is changing our diets to be more plant-based. It wasn’t as though I’d never heard that eating meat was bad for the environment before. I had. But it’s one thing to know that something isn’t super great, and another thing to see concrete examples of the harm that you’re doing. Suddenly I couldn’t imagine not being vegetarian.

So I started doing some research. Is being vegetarian healthy? There’s debate, with some studies saying it’s actually beneficial to your health and longevity, while other studies point to the drawbacks. I’m not a nutritionist, so I won’t comment one way or the other. I will say that protein is important (obviously)…