I love the health benefits of being a vegetarian

Kali shares mostly plant-based recipes on her IG account. As a vegetarian of 11 years, she told Meatless Movement she sometimes struggle with iron deficiency, but soon found out Spinach and Kale to be good sources.

Please tell us more about yourself

I grew up in the city – downtown Chicago, IL. I got tired of the cold and relocated to central Texas four years ago.

I’ve always loved animals. I spent a lot of time as a child going to zoos. I volunteered at animal shelters as a teen. It became kind of trendy in my late teens to adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet. I tried to go vegetarian a few times unsuccessfully before I finally made the plunge.

What I object to is the method of harvesting the millions of tons of meat we consume each year
vegetarian by kali

I’ve been a vegetarian for almost 12 years now. The reactions I get when telling new people are interesting, particularly where I currently live in Texas. A lot of people don’t understand the point. I had someone tell me once that, “animals would eat us too if they could”. I don’t disagree – the top of the food chain eating animals lower on the food chain is how nature has always been.

What I object to is the method of harvesting the millions of tons of meat we consume each year: the factory farming of chickens, cows, and pigs is particularly disgusting. Sometimes I consider breaking tradition by eating a chicken nugget or two, but then I get this mental image of adolescent chickens going down a conveyor belt, meeting their end at the end.

I find that most restaurants have some kind of vegetarian option nowadays, aside from the obvious places that revolve around meat such as steakhouses and barbeque places. I’m a big fan of Indian and Thai food, and there are a ton of vegan and vegetarian options at most places. One time I ordered Mapo Tofu and was surprised to find chunks of beef, though. You have to read the menu very carefully.

Just pick up an Impossible Whopper instead
vegetarian by kali

I have perfect cholesterol – my doctor even said I had levels of *good* cholesterol (that’s not quantifying, there is a specific type of *good* cholesterol). I pretty much have no health problems. I don’t know if this is just related to my being a vegetarian or the fact that I drink a lot of water, but people consistently think I’m a lot younger than my physical age.

How do you encourage someone to be a vegetarian?

I would tell them how great it is for the environment to even go a day or two a week without eating meat. The levels of methane gas released by factory farming cows are a good reason to abstain from red meat. There are a lot of good meat substitutes out now – just pick up an Impossible Whopper instead of a regular Whopper. You can’t even tell the difference.

I’ve been trying to make healthier food choices lately by focusing on getting those five servings of vegetables a day they told us we needed when we were kids. I’ve noticed that my thinking has been clearer since I started focusing on healthy eating.

It’s not just good for your body, but for your mind.
vegetarian by kali

I’ve been really enjoying making Meditteranean-style yogurt-based dishes lately, such as Turkish poached eggs

I make these curry noodles in my Instant Pot a few times a month:

Recipe: https://www.averiecooks.com/instant-pot-thai-curry-noodles/

These vegan chocolate chip cookies are AMAZING:

I made my first all-vegan Thanksgiving two years ago.

My sister is a longtime vegan and we decided to vegan-ize a lot of classic foods. We made a seitan roast, mashed potatoes, a chocolate silk pie with silken tofu, and some vegan mac n cheese. It was so tasty. Even at blended omnivore and herbivore Thanksgivings, we can usually get meat eaters to agree that vegan and vegetarian options are very appetizing.