Vegetarianism and the Struggles

As a part of our philosophy class we had a challenge: Be a Yogic Vegetarian for a week (No meat, no eggs). Journaling Each Day and at the End of the Week. This challenge was not only difficult, but was something I had tried doing before. It was hard because I didn't have the option of having chicken or turkey, which is the only meat I eat. I don’t eat eggs, beef, pork, or any type of seafood (I am allergic to seafood and shellfish) but I do eat a lot of chicken and turkey products. A few years ago I went full vegetarian for about a year and a half and that was extremely difficult and I was always tired and hungry even though I was taking iron and protein supplements. The worse were the cravings I kept having, I never really liked beef, but I kept craving hotdogs and bacon something fierce not to mention my love for chicken and turkey. Being a vegetarian was difficult because had to learn an entirely different way of cooking as well as eating. I need to educate myself on making sure I got enough iron, protein, and other essential nutrients in my diet. Through my vegetarian conquest I met other vegetarians who helped me learn how to eat, how to cook delicious vegetarian meals, and how to stay balanced. Although we were vegetarians we had very different reasons for why we became vegetarian. Some of my friends had chosen to be vegetarians because they don't believe in killing animals for food, others wanted to live a healthier lifestyle, I just didn't like the taste of beef or pork (with the exception of bacon and hotdogs)and I definitely did not like lamb, but I did love chicken and turkey (these were the hardest to give up). My parents had a hard time understanding why I wanted to do this because they are huge meat eaters and didn't like the fact that they had to make some accommodations for my new lifestyle. I found it the most difficult during the holidays because I couldn't have turkey on Thanksgiving or even the bacon and pancake breakfast we would make Christmas morning. Finally after a year and a half of being a full vegetarian I decided that I could live without eating beef, pork, lamb, and seafood (since I am allergic to seafood anyways) but I could not live without chicken and turkey with the occasional side of bacon (I don't consider bacon pork). So to this day I only eat chicken and turkey products, I don't eat eggs, beef, pork, or any other meats, this is why the challenge to go back to full vegetarianism was somewhat difficult, but at the same time it was something I had already done. Towards the end of the challenge I started getting pretty sick and I have a feeling it was because my immune system was weaker due to the fact I was always tired and didn't have the proper balance of proteins in my system.