Captain’s Log, Stardate 111215: I’m in the 12th day of my veggie experiment and thus far, things are going well.
If anyone gets my reference, you’ll make my inner nerd a happy person!
I’m always reticent to talk about diet preferences on my site because they are so damn polarizing. Paleo people mock vegans and vegans will claim that the Atkins diet kills you. In the end, we’re all trying to decide what is best for our own bodies, right?
Trying vegetarianism has been swirling around in my head for awhile for multiple reasons, but it really solidified a few weeks back when I had the flu. I’d been reading some research papers and books on the topic, but Netflix became my best friend while I was laid up on the couch. During my hours of mindless viewing, I stumbled across the documentary Forks Over Knives. When combined with some stuff that I’d already read, it was a clincher: I wanted to give vegetarianism a shot.
Photos By The Husband
For me, it has nothing to do with animal rights or weight loss. Last month, I mentioned that we had been doing Meatless Mondays in our house, and this is an offshoot of that. More than anything, I question the sustainability of our country’s massive amount of meat consumption. But in addition to that, I am really starting to wonder if a meatless diet is better for longterm health. There is a lot more detail on this in The China Study {the book I linked to earlier} and the documentary, but needless to say, the research was enough to make me consider it. Specifically, I’ve been reading a lot about the correlation to animal consumption and cardiac diseases and cancer. {And no, this has absolutely nothing to do with the bacon-cancer study released by the World Health Organization.}
Am I convinced that one leads to the other? Absolutely not. But I seem to find enough information on that topic that I’d like to at least consider it as a possibility.
Lastly, I acknowledged I had a personal stigma in my head regarding vegetarianism. If you look at that Meatless Monday post, I used the phrase, “Let me be clear: I am not a vegetarian. I have never been a vegetarian and truthfully, I doubt that I will ever go down that road.” When I re-read that a month later, I realized that was shunning plant-based eating from my life without even trying it. So, it was time to give it a shot with an open mind!
Thus far, I’m 12 days into my little experiment. I haven’t eaten any animals since Halloween {which was shrimp scampi, if I remember correctly!} And while it’s too early to determine whether I feel any different, I can say that it hasn’t been as difficult as I expected. I’ve explained this before, but I’m not a *huge* meat eater. We don’t touch pig or cow in our house, and while I like chicken, I can do without it. On the other hand, seafood is my kryptonite and sushi is like heroin as far as I’m concerned!
So: what am I eating?
I wanted to keep it easy for this 30 day trial by simply eliminating meat. No pig, cow, chicken, turkey, lamb, seafood, deer, elk, etc. Dairy products are still in my diet, although I minimally eat those anyway. {Really, I occasionally eat cheese and ice cream.} I switched to almond milk years ago and the only yogurt I consume nowadays is the dairy-free kind, thanks to my crappy asthmatic lungs. I’m also eating eggs. We typically use whey protein in our house, so I’m still consuming one scoop/day of that as well.
Like most people who consider vegetarianism, I had concerns over my protein intake, so I’ve occasionally tracked my food with MyFitnessPal to see where I stand. Surprisingly, my protein consumption hasn’t dropped much lower than before. Prior to this experiment, I aimed for 100 grams per day, especially when I’m lifting heavy at CrossFit. I tracked my meals yesterday, and while lower, I still ate 85 grams of protein. I think that’s respectable?
Thus far, the trickiest part has been reintroducing foods to my diet that I don’t typically keep in the house. Longtime readers might remember that we’ve cut out the majority of processed stuff out of our house, specifically bread and pasta. But, not eating any bread at all was really limiting meal options, so I’ve reintroduced sprouted bread by Ezekiel {after reading that it’s good for you? Any thoughts on that?} I also found a fancy pasta at Sprouts that is completely made of black beans and quinoa, so it’s loaded in protein. In fact, I think it has 16 grams per serving!
Needless to say, I haven’t formed a solid opinion on any of this. Will has been out of town the past two weeks–on a media trip to country of Turkey!– but I am curious to see if this lifestyle is tougher to maintain once he is home. I have another couple weeks before I’ll seriously evaluate my thoughts on a veggie diet; stay tuned!
********************