The Vegexperiment Challenge

Today starts a new month. I ended January with about an 87% success rate with the vegexperiment. I actually tried my very first veggie burger yesterday for lunch. It was good! I'm not kidding. Believe me, I wouldn't eat something solely because it was vegetarian.

I've been thinking a lot about how other people (friends, coworkers, family, strangers) have responded to me doing the vegexperiment, which I elaborated more on in my blog on January 10. One person's response really stuck out to me. The person said that she didn't think she could do vegetarianism because she didn't like many vegetables. She specifically mentioned not being able to choke down brussel sprouts, cabbage and cooked spinach.

Let me make something very clear: I hate brussel sprouts, cabbage and cooked spinach, too! I also hate (with a passion) peas and onions. I strongly dislike peppers, avocados and some varieties of beans. Just because you don't like vegetables, doesn't mean you can't be a vegetarian! I love some vegetables (and some vegetable-like-fruits and legumes) such as tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, snow peas, bean spouts, corn, green beans, edamame, zucchini, asparagus, artichokes and cooked carrots, among others. I just choose to eat the vegetables I like, in addition to other vegetarian-friendly foods.

So, with the beginning of the new month, I have a challenge for you, should you choose to accept it. You don't even have to do anything you wouldn't normally do, just be more aware of what you're doing.
Over the next week, try to keep track of your meals and what you eat.
Are there any meals that you had that could be considered vegetarian, or was meat included in every meal you ate?
Could meat be removed from the dishes it was in and not make much of a difference?
Reflect on your own dietary choices and just how easy or hard it would be to give vegetarianism a try.

I'm not saying you have to try vegetarianism after that week, but I wonder if you'll be surprised at what you find. Maybe you'll find that you eat meat a lot more than you thought, maybe you'll find that it's exactly as you expected, or maybe you'll find that vegetarianism wouldn't be too bad, but you still want your steak. All of those results are ok! :) I'll check back in next week and hopefully people (or at least one person) will be willing to share their reflection.