Spotlight: Georgia Vesma
DDAR'S Georgia Vesma talks to us about her three months as a newbie 'pescatarian'
The benefits of eating less meat are quite broad; my initial
motivations were to do with animal welfare, but I was also inspired to keep
going because of the impact of
intensive or unsustainable farming on the environment. I am also trying to
become a healthier person, so ditching the regular weekend bacon butties seemed
like a good start.
If, like me, you love food, thinking about moving to a more
conscious mode of eating can be really intimidating. If I’m honest,
pescatarianism was intended as my ‘halfway step’ to becoming an eggs-and-dairy
vegetarian and perhaps one day a full-blown vegan. That halfway step has lasted
a little longer than planned, but I see it as a great example of how you can
accommodate a small lifestyle change that will add up. When I think about how
much farmed meat my partner and I haven’t
eaten this year, I feel pretty good! We’ve made positive progress from
where we started.
I thought I’d use this blog post as a chance to share some
of my observations from my first three months without meat. These probably
apply no matter what dietary changes you are making:
- Early on, don’t worry if you lean pretty hard on the same few recipes. I’d say half my meals in the last three months have been fish-based, and probably the other half were cheese-based. Finding meals that work for you takes a bit of practice; you can’t rely quite so much on doing ‘X with veg and potatoes.’ Getting into one-pot meals like vegetarian chilli and soups can help you to stop eating the same three meals all the time, and there’s loads of good recipes online to suit any dietary need.
- Don’t beat yourself up if you slip. From a psychological perspective, if one slip-up leads to self-flagellation, you’re more likely to slip up again. Accept that there will be failures, small and large, and try your best to leave them in the past. If you find you’re slipping up more than you hoped…
- …Planning really helps. If you’re consciously restricting your diet, it will be harder to find things to stop the gap when a craving strikes, and that can put you in the danger zone. One of my earlier dives off the wagon was for a Ginsters sausage roll, which I would never have considered eating before I started restricting my meat intake. Now I bring packed lunches with snacks I know will curb protein cravings – especially nuts.
- Think international. Whether you’re still eating fish, or if you’ve cut out all animal products, you’ll find delicious and healthy meals from cuisines across the world. As a pescatarian, I now treat myself with sushi on an almost weekly basis, but if I’m planning to be completely animal-free I make fresh Thai salads with peanuts or Indian inspired curries. Many of the world’s cuisines were developed in response to a shortage of animal products or a religious aversion to them, and you can enjoy those meals just the way they’re supposed to be!
By the time I make my next blog post I hope to have
dramatically reduced my fish consumption. I’ll check in with you in a few
months and let you know how the journey is going!