MY STORY Kristina decided to go vegetarian three years ago. It was during her freshman year of college, right after she had done the research and presented the topic of becoming vegetarian to her speech class as her persuasive argument, when she suddenly realized that she had ultimately just persuaded herself to finally take the leap. She had been thinking about going veggie for years now, but was afraid of what her family would think if she decided to make the switch. However, she just could not ignore the many reasons why one should choose this lifestyle such as the negative effects the meat industry has on the environment and the horrible cruelty inflicted upon the animals. Finally, in her freshman year of college, she was determined to do it no matter what. She went pescatarian for one week and then she went full vegetarian and has not gone back ever since. At first it was difficult because she received ridicule and backlash from her family and she was not exactly sure what to order at restaurants. Regardless, Kristina eventually learned how to adjust. Even after three years, some friends and family still disapprove and make jokes and other hurtful comments about her food choices, but she does not care. With the help of her friends, she pushed through. However, not everyone has support from friends and family. It can be extremely hard for a new veggie if they do not have the resources or the help that they need which can lead to discouragement. This discouragement can lead to possible relapse to eating meat again or even giving up the diet completely. There is also a clear lack of knowledge when it comes to the diet/lifestyle from both veggies (the term which refers to vegetarians, vegans, pescatarians, and the many other types of vegetarians) and non veggies which leads to a negative stigma. Kristina wants to try and eliminate the negative stigma set on veggies and offer support for those who lack it by creating her Senior Project. 11
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