A few weeks ago when I asked yall what you wanted to read about, Ministry life won. BUT quite a few of you guys who voted ministry life messaged me asking me to do both. The difference in voting between the two topics was really close. Whenever I post about my pescatarian lifestyle I always get asked questions what, why and how I eat like that, so I figured I would answer those questions.

If you haven’t read my Q & A: Ministry Life post you can click here to read up on it.

WHAT

A pescatarian is a person who does not eat meat or any animal products except fish(seafood). In my case, I also eat eggs. I normally just tell people I’m vegan but I eat seafood and eggs. It’s less confusing that way.

WHY

This lifestyle is not by choice. I wish I didn’t have to worry if the cake has dairy in it or if a restaurant has seafood options. But I have to, for the sake of my health, because in November of 2017 I found out I have gallstones.

The gallbladder is what breaks down fat and calcium in your food. I eat really clean and healthy so I was very confused as to how I got them. Long story short I consumed a lot more calcium than I should have while I was pregnant and when you’re pregnant there is a higher risk of getting kidney stones and/or gallstones. It was the perfect storm for my gallbladder.

When I got diagnosed I decided to change my already clean and healthy eating lifestyle. My gallbladder is really sensitive because of the gallstones so I wanted to cater to it while we figured how we were going to get them out.

HOW

The highest amount of fat and calcium I had in my diet came from animal-based foods. I originally started off taking out red meat and dairy. I wasn’t too strict with the dairy, I would eat food that had dairy in it (like soups, pastries, drinks etc.) I just wouldn’t eat cheese, yogurt, sour cream and stuff like that. I ate like that for a month or two but I was still experiencing a lot of pain, so I decided to take out dairy completely from my diet to see if that would help. It helped a lot! But after a couple of months, the pain came back. I was so tired of having the pain I decided to take out the chicken and everything animal related. Taking these out of my diet was a game changer! I haven’t had pain since!

A pescatarian lifestyle takes getting used to. The hardest part was finding new “cleaner” sources of protein, fat, and calcium and incorporating them into my diet. There are so many substitutions for dairy and meat out there that I don’t feel like I’m missing out too much. When I go out to eat I just ask for no cheese or substitute the meat for beans or seafood. It’s not as hard as you may think.

One of the easiest fast food places to eat is Taco Bell. Hard to believe but it’s true. I can have a majority of what’s on the menu. I just substitute the meat with beans and the cheese or sour cream with guacamole. Most places are willing to manipulate the meal for you if you just ask.

Now that I have been eating like this for almost a year and a half I don’t get tempted to eat dairy or meat if I’m around it anymore. I’ve learned to cope with it. I am moving forward looking at options to get the gallstones removed but until then I’ll be living the pescatarian lifestyle.