Three of my sisters are vegitarians. My sister said after a while she stop craving meats and even later it stopped even registering as food.
I tried to stop eating meat several times starting when I was 13, but my mom told me to stop because I needed all the protein to be an athlete. But living in a house laden with boca burger and such I really warmed up to meatless food.
Living in Wakefield, Massachusettes, there aren’t any real places to get good vegatarian food. But after watching this documentary…..
I strongly encourage anyone reading this to watch it.
Yes I know its long, and with the short attention spans people have today, they’ll shy away because they think their time will be better spent. But I’m serious when I say it’s changed my outlook forever.
I’m going to make a real effort to entirely change the way I eat when I move back to Santa Monica. I’m already big into eating organics, but after the olympics I’m going completely meatless. Maybe someday I can work up to being a vegan, but until then I’m only gunna buy my dairies from farmers markets.
From what I’ve seen, people in the northeast and midwest mock the vegan and vegitarian that’s so popular in California. But I think if anyone really thought about where their food came from and what was really in it - they’d think twice about looking down on people that choose not to be ignorant.
Another benefit that people today might find more appealing, is one of my closet friends in high school went from vegan to vegetarian and lost 30lbs - fast.
So yes in the interest of training I’ll continue eating meat until the day I fight in the Olympics. After that, I’m taking it as the first day of the rest of my life and changing. As for fur and leather - forget that, starting now I’m never buying any clothing products that come from animals.
Ask my roommates, I literally cried for an hour watching that documentary, and was almost hysterical during one scene, where the fur and skin was ripped off a fox. Which was still hanging there blinking, skinless, and still alive…
really. It’s time to change.
20 responses so far ↓
1 Raahul // Jul 8, 2008 at 12:42 pm
welcome to the light side! I’ve been vegetarian since I was 3. 3 months ago I tried eating meat, but can’t do it because it justs tastes bad to me. It’s all about how you make your food… vegetarian food can have a great balance, you just have to be more conscious of all the pieces.
2 » I Cried for Almost an Hour // Jul 8, 2008 at 1:05 pm
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3 kevan // Jul 11, 2008 at 1:07 am
that’s awesome, hopefully one day i won’t be the only vegan judo player that i know of. you should check out the book ‘eat to win’ by robert haas. it’s a good counterpoint to my coach always telling me i won’t be a good judo player unless i eat eggs.
4 Rick // Jul 14, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I went vegetarian and started judo at about the same time during fall 2007. I lost about 20 lbs and more importantly started feeling a lot healthier, as well as feeling better about what I eat.
Despite having been a big fan of steak and burgers, I don’t miss them at all. The only thing that annoys from time to time is losing the convenience of being able to grab a fast meal from any restaurant you can find — it sometimes takes patience and planning to find reasonable meatless options. Thai, middle eastern, and Indian restaurants are godsends.
Right before shipping out for the Olympics is definitely not the time to change anything up, though. =) Good luck!
5 Lloyd the Judoka from San Diego // Jul 16, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Vegan/vegetarian is ok, but fish is very important because of all the protein & Omega-3’s that it has. That’s what I eat mostly, as well as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans & rice, etc. I also drink whey protein shakes after a workout, I heard that soy supplements, powders or pills may have a high dose of plant-like estrogens. Which is not that good for guys & may lead to breast cancer for women.
6 Kevin // Jul 22, 2008 at 4:49 am
You don’t have to eat meat just to get protein there are plenty of sources for protein such as protein powders as well as many beans are a good source of protein and fiber.
7 Kevin Reynolds // Jul 23, 2008 at 4:25 am
Wow Ronda I was just gonna check that video out and skim through it, and I got hooked. I couldn’t stop watching it and found myself getting really mad… I bit my nails to a pulp…It def. opens your eyes
8 Lynn // Jul 27, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Glad you watched the video, even though it’s So. Frickin. HORRIFIC…. I only made it through 20 mins before deciding to give up meat. Have since read that even a semi-vegetarian diet (ex. eating dairy, eggs and some fish) can make a huge difference.
9 Beeny! // Jul 27, 2008 at 4:49 pm
awww spiffy im so proud of you
10 A.T. // Jul 28, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Congrats, I understand the desire of going meatless due to shock, I’m not a vegetarian and I intake my protein from animal products, however I respect the decision of other individuals to modify their diets regardless of their reason.
I haven’t really check the video you linked, but I’ve seen some of them, I got to admit that some of the images are horrible, and it makes you think, however, I come from a family of “Llaneros” (the venezuelan equivalent to a cowboy), so no chance of getting shock with the images (since I’ve seen worse [even though I don’t approve of the methods]), and no chance of modifying my diet (since I really love my animal products), but more power to you, here’s a site with some info on vegan fitness
http://www.veganfitness.net/forum/index.php?sid=090a7871e84cc8f4ea4aa4436b5a039c
Good luck to you, and congrats in your decision to not intake animal products (more for me ;o) )
11 Warren Smadbeck // Aug 9, 2008 at 12:29 am
Thanks Rhonda. I was aware of a lot of it but not to that extent. I’ve been less and less interested in red meat over the last few years, but now I see it is so much more. Good luck to you.
12 Craig // Aug 12, 2008 at 4:50 am
typical one-sided propaganda film. Vegetarians are simply Kingdomists that give special status to the animal kingdom and ignore the rights of other Earthlings: plants, fungi, bacteria. Eating plants and fungi without any thought to them being ripped from the ground. Ripping them to pieces, roasting them alive, etc. Using antibiotics to for wholesale slaughter of bacteria that have just as much rights as Earthlings to live as the humans they inhabit. These Earthlings are slaughtered by unsympathetic Vegetarians simply because they don’t have big eyes like human babies.
13 s(b.) // Aug 13, 2008 at 10:58 am
If I hadn’t read the part about skin being ripped off a fox, I would’ve started to watch it. I would never eat a fox, and that’s horrifying/ disgusting. Yay for you for making aware food choices. Thanks for the vegan fitness boards link. Someone I love will find those very helpful.
Congratulations on everything. You are an inspiration.
14 Michele // Aug 14, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Carl Lewis was a vegetarian (and still is) when he won all his medals. Other athletes who are/were vegetarians are Edwin Moses, Surya Bonaly, andPaavno Nurmi (probably the greatest track and field athlete of all time). Lots of good sources out there for getting your protein as a vegetarian. PS congrats on your medal!!!
15 Kelly // Aug 15, 2008 at 8:46 am
That is so cool!I’ve been vegan for years since I love animals so much. The way they are treated in this world is horrific.
16 dan // Aug 28, 2008 at 2:02 am
Just wanted to point out to Craig that his sarcastic reply is a typical one, and obviously ignores the fact that fungi, unlike animals, lack a central nervous system and therefore cannot feel pain or fear, and thus are not accorded consideration within a moral system.
Congrats on your decision. It is a good one.
17 Kirsten // Aug 28, 2008 at 6:58 pm
“But I think if anyone really thought about where their food came from and what was really in it - they’d think twice about looking down on people that choose not to be ignorant.”
Nice to see someone who says things better than I do. I posted a similar statement on the judoforum, and here’s the reply I got! “Everyone above the age of 5 knows that meat comes from animals…. ” I did not answer it and stopped reading the thread because I didn’t think it was worth it. But maybe I should.
I think most people just tolerate my vegan-ness! They may try to be semi-nice about it, but I think they all think I’m strange and weird!
18 chun lee // Sep 1, 2008 at 5:07 am
Welcome to the world of compassion & love.
19 Silas // Sep 2, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Carl Lewis, Eder Jofre and many other vegetarians won medals.
Welcome to veganism!
20 Luciana // Sep 4, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Its so nice to see a lot of people aware of vegetarianism…this is growing all over the word and makes me very happy because it has the power to change a lot of things…good luck for you Ronda and thanks for sharing this life change.
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