I did the math today. I can count on two hands (barely!) how many times I've failed at the vegexperiment in the 27 days I've been dong it. I don't always eat breakfast, so instead of thinking of 3 meals a day, I decided 2.5 would pretty accurately represent what I eat. I took 27 x 2.5 and got 67.5, so I rounded up to 68. Minus the ten lapses is 58 meals as a vegetarian. That's almost exactly 85% of my meals.
Now, originally I thought I preferred vegetarian meals about 80-85% of the time anyway, so this makes me think it was lower. Not that it's been a hardship, but I've been much more deliberate than usual about avoiding meat. But, it reinforces that 85% vegetarianism is possible with little effort on my part.
Honestly, the times I've eaten meat has been mostly because of other people, whether it's to not inconvenience my housemates or someone made a dish with meat or the vegetarian options were sort of obligatory rather than something a person might actually enjoy eating. I would be just fine if I did all my cooking or if restaurants offered something worth eating. I shouldn't have to settle for a salad because it's the only thing offered.
I blog every couple of months for my job (working with child care programs), and I've considered using this point as a topic: that people who have dietary preferences or restrictions should have the benefit of being able to eat appetizing food. Is that so wrong? That people enjoy what they eat? Just because someone is vegetarian or vegan or kosher or gluten-free or peanut-free or lactose intolerant or diabetic or WHATEVER doesn't mean they should have to eat bland, boring food. Honestly, the option for that person should be appetizing enough that someone else who DOESN'T have the preference or restriction would want to eat it.
Slightly off-topic, but I promise it really isn't: my New Year's Resolution is also tied with food, but I had decided to wait to start it until the vegexperiment was over...basically, February. You see, I eat quickly. This comes from conditioning myself to eat in a short amount of time in elementary school, due to the way the school structured their lunch schedule. It didn't help that after college, I taught for a year and teachers have very little time to eat as well.
My husband eats somewhat slowly. This dichotomy has been problematic in the past. Whereas I am loading up my next fork/spoon-ful as I'm chewing and still have a partial mouthful of food when I take my next bite, inversely he takes a bite, chews it thoroughly, puts his fork/spoon down, takes a drink, talks a little bit and THEN loads up his next bite. My New Year's Resolution is to try to eat slower. I think that it will not only help the situation of me waiting ten minutes after I'm done eating for Ben to finish, but will help me eat less and get more from my food.
So, my big question at this point is: do I want to bring the vegexperiment to a close in four days or do I want to keep it going, temporarily or permanently? Well, I've thought about it, and I think I can handle both the vegexperiment and the New Year's Resolution. I think that waiting was a good idea, because it gave me time to focus on vegetarianism. But, now that I've found that it's not that difficult, initiating my New Year's Resolution alongside of it should be fine. I'll reevaluate the vegexperiment at the end of February to see what its fate will be. Perhaps I'll even have a better percentage of success with it in February. We'll see. I think I've done pretty darn good already, better than I thought I had done. :)
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
wedding and honeymoon
So, I totally failed at the wedding. There were chicken salad sandwiches that my aunt brought. Chicken salad! It taunted me. I caved. Then, we stopped and grabbed some Burger King afterward and I got a chicken sandwich. Didn't even finish it, but I still had it.
On the honeymoon, I made a decent endeavor. We were on a cruise, so I had a lot of options...except when I didn't. Every night there was a sit-down dinner. That's the only times I failed. They had vegetarian options, but two of the times I failed, I asked the server about some aspect of the dish and his response was not positive. Once he said that the dish was "not very popular" and another time he said it was a "vegetable jello." Uh, no. I'm not going to avoid meat just to eat something that tastes like crap. But, I'd say I was 85-90% successful.
Since then, I've done ok. I had chicken in my dinner last night, but it was more convenience for my housemates not to keep the chicken separate for their food. It wasn't a huge deal...I managed.
I have a week left of the vegexperiment. I have to decide if I want to extend it or call it quits at the end of the month. Food for thought. (pun intended)
On the honeymoon, I made a decent endeavor. We were on a cruise, so I had a lot of options...except when I didn't. Every night there was a sit-down dinner. That's the only times I failed. They had vegetarian options, but two of the times I failed, I asked the server about some aspect of the dish and his response was not positive. Once he said that the dish was "not very popular" and another time he said it was a "vegetable jello." Uh, no. I'm not going to avoid meat just to eat something that tastes like crap. But, I'd say I was 85-90% successful.
Since then, I've done ok. I had chicken in my dinner last night, but it was more convenience for my housemates not to keep the chicken separate for their food. It wasn't a huge deal...I managed.
I have a week left of the vegexperiment. I have to decide if I want to extend it or call it quits at the end of the month. Food for thought. (pun intended)
Friday, January 14, 2011
I'm getting married tomorrow
I'm getting married tomorrow. The dogs decided at 6am to play musical mattress and woke me up. See the previous sentence as to why I'm still awake. Anyway, I figured this gave me plenty of opportunity to blog again.
I failed a couple of days ago. I was trying to figure out what I could make for us for dinner, and the easiest thing to make was a boxed lasagna mix. It came with all the stuff in it, with no way to separate out the meat. Oh, well. Other than that, I've been doing really well. I love that sushi is vegetarian! I had some last night and it was sooooo good.
Back to the title of the blog: Ben and I decided *literally* five days ago what we were doing for our honeymoon. Originally, we had wanted to go to Scotland. Scotland in January, plus lack of "batter" (UK slang for money...thank google for that one) meant Scotland waits for another time. Then, we looked into cruises. There was one within reasonable driving distance that left this coming Monday. We were seriously considering it, but it was a lot of money, and I was uncomfortable spending that much on it. Granted, it included our lodging, food and entertainment for five days, but still...So then what we were going to do was a "staycation" and kind of be tourists: do things we wouldn't normally do if we had a day off. Well, our decision was to go on the cruise. The more I thought about it, and the more excited I am now that it's finalized, the more I realize it is a fabulous deal and I can live with the money we're spending.
So, why am I telling you about this? The vegexperiment is going to be tested during this cruise. Yes, they have vegetarian and pasta dishes, but I don't know what they are ahead of time, and my best option *might* be the meat dish. We'll see...they also have a sushi bar on the cruise ship, so I might be frequenting that, depending on if it's included in the cost or additional. I have a feeling it's additional, so I may not go after all. The budget for our honeymoon is essentially what we spent to go on the cruise, so there's not a lot of wiggle room for extra expenses. That means no shore excursions, but after seeing what they are (and how much), I'm pretty ok with that.
I'll update once I'm back, but for the next ten days, you won't be hearing from me. I'm still alive, just basking in the wonderfulness that is newlywed-dom. :)
I failed a couple of days ago. I was trying to figure out what I could make for us for dinner, and the easiest thing to make was a boxed lasagna mix. It came with all the stuff in it, with no way to separate out the meat. Oh, well. Other than that, I've been doing really well. I love that sushi is vegetarian! I had some last night and it was sooooo good.
Back to the title of the blog: Ben and I decided *literally* five days ago what we were doing for our honeymoon. Originally, we had wanted to go to Scotland. Scotland in January, plus lack of "batter" (UK slang for money...thank google for that one) meant Scotland waits for another time. Then, we looked into cruises. There was one within reasonable driving distance that left this coming Monday. We were seriously considering it, but it was a lot of money, and I was uncomfortable spending that much on it. Granted, it included our lodging, food and entertainment for five days, but still...So then what we were going to do was a "staycation" and kind of be tourists: do things we wouldn't normally do if we had a day off. Well, our decision was to go on the cruise. The more I thought about it, and the more excited I am now that it's finalized, the more I realize it is a fabulous deal and I can live with the money we're spending.
So, why am I telling you about this? The vegexperiment is going to be tested during this cruise. Yes, they have vegetarian and pasta dishes, but I don't know what they are ahead of time, and my best option *might* be the meat dish. We'll see...they also have a sushi bar on the cruise ship, so I might be frequenting that, depending on if it's included in the cost or additional. I have a feeling it's additional, so I may not go after all. The budget for our honeymoon is essentially what we spent to go on the cruise, so there's not a lot of wiggle room for extra expenses. That means no shore excursions, but after seeing what they are (and how much), I'm pretty ok with that.
I'll update once I'm back, but for the next ten days, you won't be hearing from me. I'm still alive, just basking in the wonderfulness that is newlywed-dom. :)
Monday, January 10, 2011
Perceptions and reality of the vegexperiment
Just in the last 10 days of the vegexperiment, I've encountered one question a lot: Why? There are varying degrees of intonation to that one word. Some are genuine curiosity, some are judgmental and it seems they don't really want to know after all, some can't fathom even the thought of going a mere day without eating meat. I guess this has intrigued me because I never noticed other people who were vegetarians getting quite the same reaction. Maybe it's because I'm only doing it for a month (so far). Maybe it's because my consideration of doing so was mostly internal for the last few months. Maybe it's because people forget that I'm doing it at all, like Ben did today when he was given a larger order of City BBQ than he intended to get and wanted to share with me (ooohhhhh, City BBQ, you taunt me).
I've noticed that avoiding meat at times is easy, since I prefer vegetarian options often. Take this past Saturday: we went to BD's Mongolian Grill for lunch. I always get a vegetarian plate there, because the only meat I'd get is chicken and it doesn't add enough to the meal to make it worthwhile. Not a problem at all. It took two rounds up at the grill, though, for them to notice it was a vegetarian plate and ask if I wanted it blocked from the rest. I'm not that picky, so it wasn't a big deal, but it gave me pause that they didn't notice the first time through.
I also tried Hot Head Burritos for the first time today as vegetarian. I thought it'd be similar to my missing the meat in Chipotle, since they're somewhat similar. Surprisingly, I enjoyed Hot Head more as vegetarian than I did with their pork, which is what I usually get there.
I've also noticed that avoiding meat at times is not so easy. I'm not talking about City BBQ, either. Today for lunch I had a frozen meal that I bought before I started the vegexperiment. It was one of my favorites--lemon herb chicken with green beans and tomatoes. I usually pick out the chicken anyway, so I figured it wouldn't be much different. I didn't realize how many teenie tiny pieces of chicken are hidden in that darn thing. I kept coming across them as I brought the fork toward my mouth. While I'm not going to beat myself up if I eat meat during the vegexperiment, I didn't want to give in for this instance. So, I diligently picked through and extracted six pea-size pieces of chicken, pieces I would have just eaten before, even though I was already throwing out the large pieces.
It's just interesting the things I notice now that I didn't really before.
I've noticed that avoiding meat at times is easy, since I prefer vegetarian options often. Take this past Saturday: we went to BD's Mongolian Grill for lunch. I always get a vegetarian plate there, because the only meat I'd get is chicken and it doesn't add enough to the meal to make it worthwhile. Not a problem at all. It took two rounds up at the grill, though, for them to notice it was a vegetarian plate and ask if I wanted it blocked from the rest. I'm not that picky, so it wasn't a big deal, but it gave me pause that they didn't notice the first time through.
I also tried Hot Head Burritos for the first time today as vegetarian. I thought it'd be similar to my missing the meat in Chipotle, since they're somewhat similar. Surprisingly, I enjoyed Hot Head more as vegetarian than I did with their pork, which is what I usually get there.
I've also noticed that avoiding meat at times is not so easy. I'm not talking about City BBQ, either. Today for lunch I had a frozen meal that I bought before I started the vegexperiment. It was one of my favorites--lemon herb chicken with green beans and tomatoes. I usually pick out the chicken anyway, so I figured it wouldn't be much different. I didn't realize how many teenie tiny pieces of chicken are hidden in that darn thing. I kept coming across them as I brought the fork toward my mouth. While I'm not going to beat myself up if I eat meat during the vegexperiment, I didn't want to give in for this instance. So, I diligently picked through and extracted six pea-size pieces of chicken, pieces I would have just eaten before, even though I was already throwing out the large pieces.
It's just interesting the things I notice now that I didn't really before.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Starting the Vegexperiment
So, I've been considering for a while becoming a vegetarian. I don't eat meat very often to begin with and I wondered if I would miss it all that much. I'm Catholic, and one of the things during Lent (the 40 days before Easter) is not eating meat on Fridays. I never saw the big deal. I've said prior to trying this that about 85% of the time, I prefer the vegetarian option when given a choice. It will just mean figuring out alternatives for the other 15% now.
January seemed as good a time as any to give it a shot. I'm on day 6 and only failed once. Though, I think my grandmother's ham should be an exception. It's amazing!
To clarify, I'm not going 100% all in. I'm not avoiding chicken broth or beef broth or food with meat prepared in it. I'm just not eating the meat.
Since starting this, I've had a veggie omlette, lots of pasta (I LOOOOVE pasta), grilled cheese sandwiches and eggs for my protein. I even tried Chipotle without meat. I usually got barbacoa, and since I wasn't going to have that, I added beans (which I sometimes get, but not always), cheese and corn salsa.
I'll update occasionally about how I'm doing. I anticipate failing more often, but I'm trying not to.
At the very least, I believe I have always been, and may revert back to if January isn't successful, a "flexitarian." The term means a person who avoids, but occasionally eats, meat. Ok, so maybe I wasn't a flexitarian before because I didn't avoid meat. But, I think it'd be an easy transition should I decide to do so.
January seemed as good a time as any to give it a shot. I'm on day 6 and only failed once. Though, I think my grandmother's ham should be an exception. It's amazing!
To clarify, I'm not going 100% all in. I'm not avoiding chicken broth or beef broth or food with meat prepared in it. I'm just not eating the meat.
Since starting this, I've had a veggie omlette, lots of pasta (I LOOOOVE pasta), grilled cheese sandwiches and eggs for my protein. I even tried Chipotle without meat. I usually got barbacoa, and since I wasn't going to have that, I added beans (which I sometimes get, but not always), cheese and corn salsa.
I'll update occasionally about how I'm doing. I anticipate failing more often, but I'm trying not to.
At the very least, I believe I have always been, and may revert back to if January isn't successful, a "flexitarian." The term means a person who avoids, but occasionally eats, meat. Ok, so maybe I wasn't a flexitarian before because I didn't avoid meat. But, I think it'd be an easy transition should I decide to do so.
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