Challenging your food habits is akin to questioning your culture or deeply-rooted beliefs.
Maybe your mom has stated your whole life that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”. Or when hearing about vegetarians your father always comments: “we were born omnivores, we are meant to eat meat.” Possibly you were raised in an pig farming area and you can’t conceive of a day without ham at breakfast, eggs baked in lard, paté on bread for lunch and porkchops for dinner. And what about proteins? Humans need proteins, hence we must eat meat! And vitamin B12 and other essential amino-acids, we can only get that by eating animal flesh, right?
As a (former) Frenchman I am very aware of all of the above. Far from me the idea to insult your heritage or your culture. The only thing I wish for you is: for the sake of your health, keep an open mind. Take a moment to reconsider your convictions and habits.
And, by the way, I am by no means a fundamentalist or extreme activist. During a dinner about a year ago I was served a succulent-looking piece of meat. I didn’t refuse to eat it and ask to throw it in the bin. I was polite to my host and ate my plate. We also eat fish once in a while. I won’t deny we are open to a few exceptions to strictly plant-based. My rule of thumb is to follow the Blue Zone food guidelines: 95% plant-based.
Circling back to the points mentioned above about your hypothetical mom and dad: I challenge each of those statements!
There is no such thing as the most important meal of the day. As long as your food intake is balanced don’t worry about the traditional breakfast-lunch-dinner construct. There is a nice rule that helps you maintain a stable insulin level: “breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper.” On the other hand, recent research by Harvard on intermittent fasting suggests that this habit (which is one of mine) is “a sustainable, and effective approach for weight loss, as well as for diabetes prevention.” The bottom-line: you don’t have to eat breakfast early in the morning.
What about humans being omnivores? Well, think about it: has evolution make your dentition look like a lion’s or is more more like a cow’s? 
The answer: evolution has better prepared our body to eat and digest plants than animal flesh. Be honest with yourself: yes, you the umami taste of meat. But do you really feel well when digesting it? And what about a salad with legumes?
“We need proteins hence we need animal flesh”, that myth has been busted multiple times by now. What is true is that you need to eat more plant-based foodstuff in terms of weight to get the same amount of proteins as in meat or fish. So what? You get to eat more 😍. More lentils, chickpeas, beans, tofu, black or red rice… And if you want to eat vegetarian but not vegan: more dairy, cheese and eggs.
Studies after studies demonstrate that “plant-based diets offer all the necessary protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals for optimal health, and are often higher in fiber and phytonutrients.” Depending on whether you eat fish or meat once in a while you may need to throw in a B12 tablet once in a while. That story is funny by the way: it is most likely that the animals you eat also get B12 added to their food.
Not yet convinced that plant-based is the way to go? That’s OK, I’ll be back 😉
In the meantime, please leave your comments or questions below!