Stay Vegetarian

...before I had my first craving for meat.

It happened when the dentist put me on a liquid/soft diet. Suddenly, things like hot dogs and hamburger meat seemed sooo much more appealing than tofu and veggies. Thoughts of chicken noodle soup and clam chowder made me salivate like never before; it was only after reminding myself of the reasons WHY I went vegetarian that I was able to steer away from that department, but I did so begrudgingly.

Weeks later, I’m still craving meat. It doesn’t help that I happen to cook meat really well (HB is carnivore – no veggies for him!) and the sight of something like porkchops (which I never really ate before) ended up with me watching him enjoying every bite with jealous eyes.

It doesn’t help that one of my long-time vegetarian friends just went back to including meat in her diet. It made me seriously reconsider!

Maybe this list will help…

1. More foods to choose from
2. Easier to include protein in my diet
3. It tastes fantastic!
4. I stay full longer

1. I’ll have to watch my fat content more carefully
2. Meat makes me lethargic
3. It sits in the stomach for hours… Fermenting. Gross.
4. I can’t pig out as much

1. I get this “clean” feeling from not eating meat
2. I’m more energetic
3. I can pig out on veggies!
4. Getting 5 servings of veggies a day is a piece of cake
5. Watching fat content isn’t a problem
6. Fiber is never a problem

1. It can be inconvenient: restaurants and travel into meat-and-potato areas can be a hassle
2. I have to constantly be aware of what I’m eating
3. I have to be extra conscientious over protein. It gets annoying.

Meat’s been looking a little better than normal to me lately. Strange.

I almost bit into a piece of fried chicken last night until I stopped myself and said “what are you doing?!”

I guess it doesn’t help that I’m a great cook when it comes to meat dishes (I cook for my fiance on a daily basis). Maybe I just need to learn how to make GREAT vegetarian dishes.

Hmph.

I think I need more protein alternatives.

Currently my intake of fish and protein shakes fulfill my daily requirement, but I’m not sure what to do on days I don’t include seafood in my diet. I’m not crazy about beans, can only consume nuts occasionally, and would rather eat tofu only about once a week, so I can only depend on protein shakes really – but that gives me only 18g/day… And I workout every day so imagine my dilemma.

I also tried some vanilla soy milk the other day… Blech. Maybe I need to change brands.

Maybe I need to add some cheese to my diet? Eggs would probably be good but… not exactly appetizing.

I’ll have to do some research (suggestions welcome)

Break out the Veuve, for I maintained a vegetarian lifestyle for at least three months! (I can barely remember yesterday, so for me to remember exactly when I became a vegetarian is as much of a haze as Amy Winehouse on a daily basis)

Even though I carried this lifestyle for more than ¼ of a year – it sounds so good when I put it that way – this was an important decision I ping ponged about for about a year. While sparing old Bessy the cow and helping out Mother Earth is good and all, I had to know that I was going veg for ME, and even more importantly, how to go about it! These two aspects, I believe, are keys to implementing vegetarianism as a permanent lifestyle.

Edit: Aug 14 ‘08: Looking back on my calendar, I’ve actually lived the Veg lifestyle for more than four months – not three. Hurrah!