My friend Tabitha is Greek Orthodox and she regularly keeps from eating meat because of her religion. This holiday season, she told me that in preparation for Christmas Orthodox Greeks refrain from eating meat and dairy until Christmas. I found that really interesting and intriguing so I decided to try it out with her for a few weeks so she would have someone to do it with. The whole idea of not eating animal products was not new to me. My oldest brother, Ernesto, is vegan and whenever I visit him at Boston University and we eat out, we eat at vegan-friendly restaurants. Though it has only been a week so far, I already feel a lot healthier even though it has been hard to stay away from eating meat and even milk, cheese, and butter. This expereince has also helped me realize that a lot of products surprisingly have meat and dairy in unexpected forms.