(I used ai to write this for me since I'm bad at writing but the question's genuine)
I’m a student currently living in another country, and I’ve been dealing with a bit of a moral conflict lately.
I joined the gym recently and realized that my protein intake has been pretty low. It’s been about 2 years since I stopped eating non-veg. Back in India, I could manage decent vegetarian/vegan protein sources affordably, but here it’s honestly difficult. Most good vegetarian protein options are either hard to find or too expensive for me to have consistently.
Now I’m stuck. On one hand, I used to genuinely enjoy eating non-veg. On the other hand, I’ve gotten used to not eating it, and it makes me feel… I guess “morally better” in some way (which I know isn’t a great mindset, and I’m trying to be honest about that).
At the same time, I can’t shake the feeling that eating meat again would mean contributing to killing an animal just for my own benefit, and that feels selfish. But then again, I also need to take care of my health and fitness.
Most people I talk to approach this purely from a scientific/nutritional perspective and just tell me to eat non-veg, but this feels deeper than that for me.
I’ve also recently started exploring Kashmiri Shaivism, so I’ve been thinking more about these kinds of ethical questions, but I don’t have enough understanding yet to guide myself.
I’m just confused about what the “right” thing to do is here, or if there even is a clear right answer.
Would really appreciate hearing different perspectives, especially from people who’ve gone through something similar.
Edit 1: I'm in Georgia (the country)