I have been mostly vegetarian for 10 years and for 2 of that I was vegan. There are LOTS of different kinds of vegetarians and I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian meaning I eat eggs and dairy. The 2 years I was vegan I ate no animal products at all. I actually loved the vegan lifestyle but it was just too hard to maintain as a mom of 3 and an athlete. I hope to get back to that once the boys are grown.

I find people are very curious about the vegetarian lifestyle so I wanted to take a minute and discuss the questions I get asked the most. Ready? Here we go!

Why did you become a vegetarian? For me it was all about my stomach. For years I’d been plagued with stomach problems and a weak immune system. I was in the middle of a very long diagnostic process to find out if I had an auto-immune disease and attended a conference with my friend, Laura, who’s been a vegetarian since birth. Seeing what she was eating (and how yummy it looked!) I decided to give it a try. Energy went up, immune system improved, and there you go. I tell people that if someone punched you in the face every time you ate meat, you would most likely give it up, even if you loved it. Meat did not make my body feel good. Not eating meat does.

So you don’t even eat chicken?

This one always cracks me up. No, no meat. No beef or pork or chicken or veal or turkey.

What DO you eat? (this was asked in a cafeteria line at a family camp in the Ozarks one year. The poor girl was truly baffled).

Um, everything else. And I’m actually not even all that healthy all the time. I eat lots of salads, sandwiches, potatoes, fruit, too many carbs . . .really you name it!

I’m always afraid to invite a vegetarian over for dinner! How do I know what to make?

Most of us are completely fine just eating whatever sides you are preparing to go with your meat dish. In fact, please don’t make a special dish just for me unless you really want to! I’m fine with a salad and a baked potato. Seriously, I am. Oh, and good wine and dessert. Because usually those are completely vegetarian;).

Does it offend you if I eat meat around you? Absolutely not! My husband and sons are all carnivores and I’m fine with that. I also make a mean Thanksgiving turkey (so I hear . . .clearly I don’t eat it;).

Isn’t it hard to train for a marathon on a no-meat diet?

It can be challenging and I do have to be careful about a few things – mainly iron and B-vitamins. Protein isn’t a issue for me as I eat eggs and dairy, but when I was vegan that was a concern as well so I would use a protein powder daily mixed into almond milk smoothies. I take an iron supplement or just make sure I eat an iron fortified cereal every day and I take a B vitamin regularly.

Bottom line: It’s a very individual eating choice but the only one that works for me. Although I didn’t originally become a vegetarian for humanitarian reasons, seeing documentaries like Food, Inc. and others has confirmed my choice and made me proud to tell people I eat mostly plants.

For more on running and being a vegetarian, check out one of my favorite websites, No Meat Athlete where you’ll find all kinds of cool recipes, advice and info.

Happy Running!