Its almost weekly that I have someone asking me why I’m a vegetarian. Or worse- criticizing me because I am one and saying that meat is the best thing in the world. If you’re a vegetarian, you know what I mean. You constantly wish people would get off your back about doing something good. If you’re not a vegetarian, you don’t know half of the story of how that steak got on your plate.

But I’m going to tell you. I’m going to tell you why I chose to become a vegetarian. It all starts a couple years back when I was playing games online with my brother. He found a game called “The Super Chick Sisters”. At first it looked cute, with the little baby chick cartoon characters that looked like versions of Mario and Luigi. But then we found out what the game really meant.

The chicks were battling and going on missions to save themselves and other chickens from evil Colonel Sanders of K.F.C. I’d never heard anything bad or wrong about K.F.C until then, in fact Kentucky Fried Chicken was almost a staple in my life, since I live in Kentucky. I didn’t eat it too often, but I’d never had anything against it and it was a treat when I did get to have it.

But seeing the animations of chickens being scalded in boiling hot water and K.F.C employees pulling their beaks off, I knew I had some research to do. So I first went to the website where the game originated, www.KentuckyFriedCruelty.com. All I can say is that it was horrifying and it made me never want to eat meat again. It also made me officially hate Colonel Sanders and everything having to do with him.

Now, of course, since I don’t work at K.F.C chicken farms, I wouldn’t know if all the rumors are true about their animal abuse. But pictures on the website gave me all the proof I needed to be against K.F.C. But you’re probably thinking, “Who cares if the chickens are abused? We’re going to eat them either way.” But that’s exactly the point. Nobody cares. In my point of view, God put these animals on earth to live with us in harmony, and its insulting to abuse something that he gave to us out of his own will.

If people really cared, they would at least kill animals in a nicer way. I know that sounds bad, but if companies would stop overfeeding animals, not giving them enough space to live, and doing other terrible things, they would become better people, their meat would taste better, more people would want to buy their products, and they would be more successful.

But I’m a vegetarian because I don’t want to eat animals period. If you want to become a vegetarian, but you say that you could never give up meat because its too good, then you’re acting like an 8 year old (literally, my brother says exactly that) and you don’t really want to become a vegetarian. Heck, being one isn’t even that bad.

The pluses are, you get to taste new foods like tofu and other meat substitutes. You might just like them better than you thought you would. Also, you know that you’re doing the right thing and helping the earth. Not to mention, being a vegetarian and buying organic might just help you lose a few pounds and stay healthier every day. So take my challenge.

Here’s the plan, for one week, promise that you won’t eat meat (this doesn’t include dairy products like eggs, milk, and cheese or seafood like fish, shrimp, etc.). During that week, go to the grocery store and look for some meat substitutes that look good to you. Some of my favorites are the Morning Star products and Boca Chicken Patties (these taste AMAZING fried). Also look for some foods that you normally buy in organic- like eggs and milk.

Once the week is over (a full 7 days), see how you liked going vegetarian. Was it hard, easy, did you slip and eat meat because you were tempted? If you did, go another week. When you’ve finally completed your challenge, choose whether you want to be a vegetarian. It might be hard at first, but after a while, it comes naturally. If you can’t become a vegetarian because of health reasons, pick a week a month to give up meat. You could help save cows, chickens, pigs, and other farm animals around America.

So now you’ve heard my story about being a vegetarian. No matter how macho you are now, or more likely, how macho you think you are, going veg will make you even more macho, even though it doesn’t seem like it. So try it today. You might just find out that saving the environment, being a better person of God, and staying healthier is even better than it sounds.