This week, the Trojournal staff has tried new diets and tracked them. The diets vary from Lactose-free diet to Sugar-free diet. We only did this for 3 days so I don’t think it will be that hard.  I will list each diet and what they eat below. I’m also tracking if someone had a cheat day. A vegetarian diet is the practice of cutting out all by-products of animal slaughter and poultry. A flexitarian diet is where a person has a semi-vegetarian diet and occasionally throws in meat or fish into their diet. Flexitarian only really eat meat or fish if there is nothing left that’s why it’s called “flexitarian” because you can overall eat whatever you want. Flexitarians just don’t like to waste food. A sugar free diet is a diet that doesn’t contain sugar but food and drinks sometimes have natural sugars in them so We’re doing a no Artificial sugar diet. Then there’s the Lactose-free Diet where you don’t eat any products containing dairy. Lastly we have the Pescatarian Diet. It is the practice of only having seafood as the source of meat. With only seafood as the main meat it is otherwise just like a vegetarian or vegan diet.

Aubrey Givens, a Junior who chose to try the “vegetarian diet” summarized her experience as follows: “I was able to push myself to try new foods that I didn’t think of to try before. I ate beans in pods and they were interesting. When you bit into them they were sweet but then they had a bitter aftertaste. I am thinking about possibly continuing being a vegetarian, I want to reduce my meat consumption. ”

Rebecca Kuhn, a Senior, chose to try out the “Flexitarian Diet.” She stated, “I think the flexitarian diet is a very good way to introduce yourself to these types of diets. I think the flexitarian diet is a better diet because you aren’t wasting as much food. I didn’t really feel guilty for eating anything because I feel like it’s accepted in this diet

Sydnee Poague, a Senior, chose to try having a “Sugar-Free Diet” and summarized her experience as follows: “I forgot about the diet, so it didn’t really last more than a day but I don’t really eat a lot of sugar so it wasn’t hard for me.

Bryanna Fowler, a Senior, is doing the “Lactose-Free Diet.” “Going dairy free was very hard for me because it is a very big part of my diet. When I had cheese on my sandwich I would forget and accidentally cheat on my diet. It was all accidental cheats though but I don’t think I could go through with it as an actual diet.

Carter Smith, a Senior, has decided to try the “Pescatarian Diet.” “Being a Pescatarian was good for me because I could still eat fish. I didn’t cheat on my diet and became more aware of the things I was eating. I look forward to trying to continue this lifestyle as it becomes more of a challenge.”

I believe this was a learning experience for all of us. As you can see most cheated even on accident because it’s easy to forget about it. They had each other, so that they could one other in-check. I’m pretty sure two of the five participants didn’t cheat, what I learned is when trying a diet it’s best to have an accountability partner. Interestingly, several of the participants plan on continuing their diet even after the experiment.