Quattordici

Sometimes I get annoyed when people ask,

"Are you on a diet? Why are you eating so little?"

No, I'm not on a diet. I'm just eating in moderation. Eating little in comparison to you?
Somehow, the word "diet" is attached to the notion of eating little to starve yourself to lose weight.  There are better ways to lose weight than starvation.  But that's just how I feel about it.

I understand that a lot of people eat according to their whims and fancy, and perhaps seeing someone eat less or opt for healthier options may look a little out of the ordinary.  Get used to it.

I also have beef (no pun intended) with people who put down vegetarians or vegans.  To each his own, live and let live.  Especially if you are a meat-eater and suddenly start to go without, it requires so much self-control to refrain from eating meat.  I would know, I was a vegetarian for about 2-3 months back in college.  It required a lot of will power as well as creativity to see what can I substitute my meat with so that I can get sufficient protein.  One thing for sure, going veg sure makes you hungry fast.  No animal protein to keep you full for a long time, you see.  So you have to eat often to sustain a good energy level to keep going. Coming back to KL and living with the parents, I found it hard to go on being vegetarian as they habitually eat meat at home, and I'm too lazy to cook vegetarian meals for myself all the time.  Haha. Lazy bum. So as you can see, it's not like I gave in to temptation.  Now, I only eat seafood, chicken and occasionally, lamb, with a side of plenty vegetables.

The biggest highlight of going vegetarian, for me, is that clean peaceful feeling you get, knowing that you haven't consumed any poultry.  A certain lightness in your stomach.  I've never been vegan as I cannot live without eggs. If there's one thing I will not give up, it's eggs. And dairy products.

I wish there were more vegetarian options.  Especially in UM's campus. Okay, maybe outside too. Not just the typical Indian banana leaf, veggie burger and sad salad.  There's more to it than that.  More vegetarian stalls, shops, etc. please.  If you can prepare food and make sure it's halal and all that, you can sure as hell make vegetarian food available.

Just a Sunday rant.