★Becoming a Vegetarian
In my recent quest to explore the idea of becoming a vegetarian, I have run into some continual comments that I think are worth addressing.
The biggest one being….”Well AJ, if you become a vegetarian, what about the loss of quality of life in not eating meat.” Where to start?
I never knew that people derived such a high level of utility and satisfaction from eating meat. Right now I’m reading The New Becoming Vegetarian (which is excellent BTW). The book cites studies that show a significant difference in longevity (how long you will live) between vegetarians and non-vegetarians. On average this difference in 10 years!! Now, I must qualify that number by saying that part of this 10 year difference is the vegetarian lifestyle (exercising, being active, etc.) Now people who eat meat can obviously live a more vegetarian lifestyle, but even when controlling for this factor, there is still a statistically significant difference in longevity between meat eaters and non meateaters.
To me, I’d rather live an extra 5 years (as long as I’m not senile) and forego meat. Because in my current experiment with eating less meat, I’ve found things that I never would have eaten before if I was not a potential vegetarian. For example, last weekend in Austin, I ate two awesome vegetarian dishes from Bouldin Creek Cafe and Lift. So I’m getting a new satisfaction from foods that I’ve never tried before, and my quality of life has gone up by finding new dishes that are awesome. People just assume that vegetarian are going to be eating grass all day, which is not the case at all.
