I Tried Being a Pescatarian for a Week

I have watched a few documentaries, such as "What the Health," and read a few books that have brought to my attention that maybe eating meat isn't the healthiest option. Our entire lives we have seen meat as an essential to our diets and it even has it's own category on the food pyramid. But today, people are realizing that might not be right. We can still get protein from other foods such as plants and nuts.

Maybe plant-based diets are the healthier diets for humans. Since I am interested in living a healthier lifestyle, I thought that I should at least try cutting meat out of my diet to see if I feel a positive difference. I want to eventually try vegetarianism for a week, but since I have been eating meat my whole life, I wanted to start off slow. This lead me to wanting to try being a pescatarian for a week.

A pescatarian is someone who eats fish but no other types of meat. Instead, they eat healthy greens, fruits, fish, and other seafood. So basically a a pescatarian eats a vegetarian diet with the addition of fish and seafood.

Here is what I ate for a whole week.

Day One

• Breakfast - Maple and brown sugar oatmeal, strawberries, and coffee
• Lunch - Spinach and butter lettuce salad with 2 boiled eggs, feta cheese, and Caesar dressing
• Dinner - Tofu, quinoa, frozen carrots, asparagus, and corn tossed together with soy sauce, salt, pepper, and onion powder.
• Snacks - Sunflower seeds and a medium McDonald's fry (I know).

Day Two

• Breakfast - A bowl of honey bunches of oats cereal and coffee
• Lunch - Chicken flavored Ramen
• Dinner - Peanut butter and blueberry jelly sandwich on multigrain bread
• Snacks - Brown sugar Poptart

Day Three

• Breakfast - French toast bagel with cream cheese
• Lunch - Peanut butter and blueberry jelly sandwich on multigrain bread, Doritos
• Dinner - Black bean burger from The Corner in Ferndale, MI, french fries, mac and cheese, a mini donut, and sparkling wine

Day Four

• Breakfast - Maple and brown sugar oatmeal, red grapes, coffee
• Lunch - Leftover mac and cheese from The Corner
• Dinner - Salad, soup, and two sushi rolls from Sushi Moto
• Snacks - Spinach and artichoke dip with tortilla chips

Day Five

• Breakfast - A bowl of honey bunches of oats cereal and coffee
• Lunch - Spaghetti
• Dinner - Fajita nachos with shrimp and a margarita
• Snacks - 2 chocolate chip cookies, Coca-cola and ginger

Day Six

• Breakfast - A slice of birthday cake (I know)
• Lunch - Hash brown, egg, and cheese scramble
• Dinner - Vegetable fried rice and crab ragoons from Little Panda
• Snacks - A snicker doodle cookie

Day Seven

• Breakfast - French toast bagel with butter and cream cheese
• Lunch - Popcorn (I know)
• Dinner - Leftover vegetable fried rice and crab ragoons
• Snacks - A pb&j sandwich, a slice of pepper and cheese pizza, and wine

• For beverages, I only drank water, coffee, and tea unless stated otherwise.
• I did minimal exercise all week like walking and riding my bike.

What I Learned

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! I love eating seafood. I didn't find myself craving any other kinds of meat. The only "struggle" I really had was finding something on the menu when I went out to eat. If I could change anything about my diet this week, it would be to eat less bread and carbs and replace them with more vegetables.

The pescatarian diet can be a healthier decision that could lead to a healthier lifestyle. Although it does decrease a carbon footprint by some, it can still harm oceanic life. Knowing this now, I want to try vegetarianism for a week to see if I can try to decrease my carbon footprint a little more.