For 2018, I gave myself only one resolution: to be more DISCIPLINED in everything I did. I’m awful with sticking to meetings, appointments, finishing homework early, and I’m the queen of missing morning classes for “self care” days.

So, I decided to start as soon as the year began. At the beginning of this year, I was in Knoxville, TN visiting my boyfriend and we both decided that we wanted to try cutting out some of our problem foods. My major problem food is definitely chicken wings.

To make some quick money, I work at a Buffalo Wild Wings not too far from my school. So, let me tell you, this job is heaven and hell wrapped in one. I eat wings and fries probably 3-4 times a week. Which…was an issue.

I planned out a time as soon as I was back on campus to research meals and start budgeting. The first thing I learned about my diet change was that it was way more expensive than my regular diet. In my regular diet, the only beef I ate was the occasional burger and I ate very little pork (only bacon maybe once every few months). I ate a ton of chicken, starches, vegetables, some fruit. The only problem is, I just never ate much. I probably ate like once or twice a day depending on my stress levels.

Typically my grocery store trips run me about $60-$70. For my pescatarian diet, I usually spent about $100 each time on groceries. One of the good things about the diet is that it forces you to grocery shop because you won’t find many fast food places with a selection of seafood options and if you do… it’ll probably kill you.

I bought a lot of shrimp. I swear I had so much tilapia and Swai. The Swai was always cheaper and bigger than tilapia so I had to swap the tilapia on those hard weeks.

I made a lot of different meals though. I brought back meals I hadn’t had in awhile. I never fried my fish (I felt like that defeated the point of making healthier choices). I made shrimp fajitas, salads, shrimp scampi, tacos, burrito bowls. alfredo and the list goes on. I either baked or grilled the food every time.

A common misconception about being pescatarian is that people always think of how limiting the change is. It’s actually the opposite. When you take out your beef, turkey, pork, you have to turn to other food groups to get those supplements. Instead of focusing on the things I couldn’t eat, I started to look at all my new vegetarian and vegan options. I added Morningstar vegetarian sausage to my breakfasts. I got more creative with my salads. I even added more eggs to my everyday meals.

My job was even super helpful with my dietary decisions too (shoutout to Bdubs). They would help me substitute shrimp for chicken on a lot of my meals.

I ended my diet in March, for the most part, because I only wanted to lose a couple pounds for spring break. Which I did! I lost about 10 pounds after only changing my diet for 2 months. Mind you, I was also working out twice a week, walking everywhere, and eating much much healthier foods.

My experience in pescatarianism has given me the courage to cut out all beef and pork (FINALLY). I feel so much lighter. Without eating all those heavy meats, I don’t feel so fatigued all the time and my body just feels better in general.

I would recommend anyone cutting out beef and pork just for the personal benefits. It’s definitely changed my life for the better.