On meat eating. My experience with vegetarianism. Impact on health. Thread.

1. I'm not against meat eating within limits. Would never preach vegetarianism to Eskimos, Lapps or Chukchis. But recreational meat eating in advanced societies is a crime.

2. I was born and raised in a meat eating family. Became 100% vegetarian in my 20s. My mother said she'll starve herself to death if I didn't start eating meat again. I replied, go ahead. Of course she was bluffing. My father was happy - more for him.

3. I was mainly influenced by The Autobiography of a Yogi by Swami Paramahansa Yogananda. It's an amazing book. The day I finished it, I became a vegetarian. Cold turkey. It wasn't hard at all. I didn't miss it at all. There are so many other wonderful pleasures in this world.

4. Immediate impact was I stopped getting chills and viral flu. Earlier, I would get the flu twice a year - just before winter and just after. Plus, colds, cough 2-3 times a year. After vegetarian, maybe once or twice in 10 years. Of course, I used to keep fit by lifting weights.

5. After moving to NZ, I became an omnivore in stages due to the overwhelming preponderance of meat here. I worked 6 months in a supermarket where after working in a freezer for several hours the body kind of craved for hot chips and meat.

6. Thankfully, NZ meat lacks flavour and the food is totally bland. So I got sick of it very soon. So it was only very rarely, perhaps once a month or once in three months that I would eat meat. By meat I mean chicken and fish. No other. Never beef or lamb. Pork a few times.

7. A key impact on my body was that a few months after I gave up meat, my hair became brown and thinner. That freaked the hell out of me as I thought next I'd go grey, then bald as there is baldness on my mother's side. But I didn't regress. I stuck with it.

8. After 8 months, to my relief my hair became shiny black once again. Didn't want to go bald in my 20s as I was dating an ex Miss Kolkata those days. Although she assured me she didn't care for my hair at all. Liar!

9. For the last few years, cravings have become zero. Best decision was to have whey and plant based protein shakes after workout. Since I get natural clean protein, body doesn't crave meat at all. Now if I even walk past a KFC I get nauseous and minor headache due to the smell.

10. My initial decision to become vegetarian was due to ethical and spiritual issues. But I pursued the vegetarian lifestyle for both ethical and health reasons.

Ends