NAME: Ny’Tia Patrice
AGE: 25
OCCUPATION: Digital Sales Coordinator
LOCATION: St Louis, MO
WEBSITE: Who Gave You the Mic? (in its beginning stages)

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN VEGETARIAN? AND WHAT INSPIRED YOUR JOURNEY?

I have been a vegetarian for nearly 11 years now. Actually I began my vegetarian journey as a bet between my brother and I during a family vacation. It was suppose to last for 3 days but I enjoyed the lifestyle so much that I stay with it.

HAS VEGETARIAN ENHANCED YOUR HEALTH? WHY OR WHY NOT?

Being a vegetarian has help so much with my health. I found out I hypoglycemic months before I became a vegetarian. I had a bad episode and continue to have them for several months. Once I made the decision to become a vegetarian and balanced my food intake, I did not have the awful side effect that come along with the condition.

I feel that my skin, hair, nail, and inner health are at 100% all of the time.

IN RETROSPECT, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MEAT? OR DO YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ON AMERICA’S MEAT INDUSTRY?

I feel the country’s meat industry is out of line on how they conduct their methods of killing the animals. It simply revolting!

If you like to eat meat, by all means, you have the right to but you should know the harm you are causing your body and the horrible act that has occurred for you to have that burger or fried chicken.

WAS THERE A COMMUNITY OF BLACK WOMEN THAT HELPED YOU ALONG YOUR MEATLESS JOURNEY? AND IF NOT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO CHANGE THIS FOR OTHERS?

My mother was once a vegetarian and she was/is a huge help with my vegetarian journey. I know it was a lot of work to make 2 separate meals every night for the family but she always did it and constantly encourage me when I was younger.

She still encourage me and has made comments on going back but I don’t think my dad will allow his deep freeze to be filled with tofu instead of chicken and his occasional steak. 🙂

DO YOU HAVE ANY ONE OR TWO TIPS ON TRANSITIONING INTO VEGETARIANISM?

  • Take it slow: you do not have to go cold turkey. Allow yourself time to get use to this lifestyle.
  • If you are a foodie look up restaurants’ menu beforehand. It is not fun to make a reservation at some hot new eatery only to order some overprice salad. Ask the waiter before you order anything if they have vegetarian/ vegan entrees. This will save you and the restaurant a lot of grief.

Are you a vegan, vegetarian, or pescatarian? Email shane@frugivoremag.com if you’d like to be featured in the Black Vegetarian Series. Check back every Tuesday and Friday for a new profile! Click to read past profiles here.

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5 Comments

  1. It’s almost as if the writer of this article doesn’t know that vegan and vegetarian are not the same thing.

    • @Ko:

      Or that pescetarians are not vegetarians, just like bovintarians or sustarians or gallutarians are not vegetarians because they eat either cows, pigs or chicken. How come people always think that eating fish makes you ‘vegetarian’?

      Vegetarian means not eating parts of dead animals..and fish do not grow on trees.

      I came here with high hopes and got badly dissapointed.

  2. H i@Ko & @Robin,

    What seems to be the issue?

    • @Ny’Tia Patrice:

      Hy there,

      the problem is that they write vegan in the title, but than use vegetarian in the article..so it isn´t clarified if they talk about vegetarian or vegan, mix it up or don´t know for sure what vegan means.

      Especially because they also write further down “Write us if you are a vegetarian/vegan/pescetarian for our black vegetarian series”

      No, pescetarian is not vegetarian, so why would they feature a pescetarian in future/past articles in a serie about black vegetarians?

      It would have also been nice if they had added thoughts about the dairy/egg industry and such…

      • @robin: I understand where you are coming from but that is how frugivore set up the questions. You can look at the young ladies features before mine and see the same questions. My feature is referring to the vegetarian life style so that can be clear. I believe they wanted to show all sides of these lifestyles by incorporating each one somehow. Therefore each person tells their story about their journey to encourage health living.

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