A Change in Diet

I have had a like-hate relationship with meat for a while. I have long been picky about what meat I eat and I always have a "discard pile" on my plate for meat that looks questionable. When we have meat in the fridge, it usually grosses me out to think of having to prepare it.

I was watching the documentary Forks Over Knives last week and then we went to the movies last night and the movie showed a dead pig. I've toyed with the idea of being a vegetarian here and there, but when the choice to eat meat came up, I always ate it. Something about that dead pig in the movie clicked the "vegetarian button" in my head.

Last night after the movie, we went out to eat and I ate a meatless dinner. This morning we got breakfast sandwiches from Bruegger (yes, we eat out too much) and I didn't get meat on mine.

So I think I have started Day 1 of being a veg. For lunch, I had half of a whole wheat pita with falafel and carrots on the side. And it was delish.

My best friend, Erin, and her husband have been vegetarians for over a year now and she described being a veg as so much less stressful. I have to say, I get what she's saying. I devote a lot of time and energy to worrying over the meat I am eating- if it is questionable, if it looks okay, etc.

Erin told me about the website Daily Garnish for finding veg recipes. I spent some time on the website today planning meals for this week. And I have to say, I found some really yummy looking things that I am looking forward to making!

Now, I tend to get excited about things prematurely and then end up abandoning them (á la the Detroit half-marathon) but I'm hoping this sticks.

Also, I have to say, Gil is totally on board (not that he's becoming a veg) but he has okayed me trying vegetarian recipes for us for dinner & he's okay with me not making meat. We really didn't tend to eat a lot of meat anyways- we mostly ate it when we went out to eat.

I'm also cutting out or at least cutting way down on cheese consumption. I like cheese and mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil is pretty much my favorite flavor combo ever, but I pretty much get a stomachache every time I eat cheese. When we get pizza, we always ask them to go light on the cheese. We don't drink milk from cows anymore either, we always buy almond milk (which is great).

So wish me luck on my new journey as a vegetarian...let's hope it lasts for more than a day!