My Vegetarian Experiment: The Week I Swapped Meat For Vegetables

According to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey conducted by Public Health England, “two percent of both adults and children” are reported to be vegetarians, with “19-64 year-olds” taking that figure up to 3%. Considering the size of the UK population as a whole these percentages may not seem very large, however, with experts increasingly encouraging people to change their diets, vegetarianism is on the rise.

Now as a meat eater, I never thought I would ever be a vegetarian or even try to follow a vegetarian diet. However, after reading a recent study I had a change of heart. According to Dr. Marco Springmann of Oxford university: “imbalanced diets, such as diets low in fruits and vegetables, and high in red and processed meat, are responsible for the greatest health burden globally and in most regions”. The study goes on to add that “vegetarianism could save 7.3 million people by 2050, whilst following the minimum global dietary guidelines could save 5.1 million people”.

In order to measure whether having a diet rich in meat, like mine was bad for my health, and whether removing meat from my diet completely was actually more beneficial than just following a balanced diet, last week I carried out my very own vegetarian experiment. For five days I followed a strict vegetarian diet, eating various foods that I had never tried before including Quorn bacon, falafel, and hummus.

For several years there have been numerous debates surrounding the health risks associated with eating too much meat. A study published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association in 2016 concludes that “increased intake of red meat, especially processed red meat is associated with increased all-cause mortality” with an increase in “cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality in Western cohorts”.

Keeping this in mind, throughout the week I had a series of vegetarian dinners including pasta, vegetable lasagne with peppers and courgettes, a stir-fry with several different vegetables, pizza and a plate of vegetarian antipasti. Although this experiment was extremely difficult for me a huge positive that I found was my increased intake of fruits and vegetables which I don’t usually eat in the large quantities that I have this week.

However, as you will see in my video diary that I have created of the week, as the week goes on I feel increasingly tired as each day goes on which is possibly down to the lack of vitamins such as protein, iron, and zinc which red meat is full of.

Overall, although I agree with the Chief Executive of the Vegetarian Society who states that “plant-based eating has a lot to offer” and the experiment has encouraged me to eat more fruits and vegetables than I normally would, contrary to Dr. Springmann’s study, I feel it is unnecessary to turn to a vegetarian diet in order to become healthier, when a balanced diet including meat would suffice.

Also, this would not lead to any long-term health problems. If I was feeling tired only undergoing the experiment for one week, unless I kept up with a strict regime of vitamins and vegetables I am more likely to become anaemic which is on of the most common illness among most vegetarians due to iron deficiency.

-Jade Kidd