The More You Know

Even though I have yet to master the art of regular blogging I have always tried to blog the major changes in my world, those events and decisions that most strongly impact my life and so I feel obligated to record my latest decision. I will admit that I’m a little nervous at how people will react to it because it seems to be a topic that gets people talking. I have made the decision to work towards becoming a vegetarian, well actually a part time vegetarian at least for now. I actually heard a term while watching something that totally made sense, a weekday vegetarian and so that is what I’m going to work towards.

I have always believed that knowledge is power and I have been trying to increase my knowledge of all things food related to help me along my weight loss journey. I have been reading and watching as much as I can on various topics and the more I do the more interested I get. Food, food science, farming and even just cooking it are amazing and interesting topics to me. I do take everything I hear and read with a grain of salt and try to keep a skeptical mind about the information being presented. I know everyone has a bias and a point to prove which of course slants things. All that being said the more I learn about where my meat comes from the harder it is for me to stomach which is why I have decided to start to make some changes.

The ideas of vegetarianism or even veganism are not new to me. I have friends that practice both and I have learned a lot in trying to cook for them when I have people over to the house or when I have been privileged enough to eat at theirs. I started to realize that there are a lot of great foods and flavours out there that I would never have considered…in fact I actually prefer my vegan chili to my meat chili. Shocking I know. I’m lucky enough they are also pretty patient with my random questions so it has allowed me to be curious.

Over the last year maybe a little bit more I have considered the idea of turning into a vegetarian on several different occasions but never felt I could commit to it. The perfectionist in me kept saying if you can’t do it all the way then why do it at all. I know that I love my dairy and my steak (and really my meat in general) and giving it up just didn’t seem like it was possible. Again though the more I learned the more I realized that my thinking was a little foolish. As I learned about the impact eating meat has on the environment and heard lots of people say that even small changes make a difference I realized that I could do some small changes and cut meat out of my diet on a few days. I began to really accept that I can give myself permission to make the changes and yet still hold on to some of what I love and don’t think that I’m ready to give up yet. Then I heard the term weekday vegetarian and was sold. It is someone that doesn’t eat anything with a face during the week but on the weekend if you choose to you can. It made sense to me.

So now with this new concept in my head I have set the goal to be vegetarian Monday to Friday and am beginning to work towards that goal. Since I don’t have a lot of vegetarian or vegan recipes handy I have decided for the month of April to start with at least one day a week. This will help me build my recipe repertoire and ease me into a new way of eating and thinking about food. Then starting on May 6 (yes my birthday) I will begin to do it 5 days a week. I’m really excited about this change and I know everyone will ask so here are a few of the reasons why I have made this decision.

1. Health benefits. I have been trying for years to get more vegetables into my daily food choices for all the benefits that come with that. I know that in adding more vegetables into my life it will also help with my overall weight loss goals which will have a direct impact on my overall health.

2. The animal lover in me feels horrible about the way our meat is treated before it comes to our table. I have images in my head that I can’t ignore now that I have seen them and it really has made meat lose some of its appeal.

3. Getting to be creative with food again. I love cooking and I love the fun of trying to create new foods and learn new recipes to love. Of course if nothing else this will give me more things that I can cook for my friends so I don’t always feel like I’m making the same things all the time.

4. A new challenge. I love the idea of finding a new way to challenge myself and my beliefs. I have always thought of myself as a meat and potato kind of girl but maybe it is time for that to change.

5. Lower my carbon foot print. Ok so I have often joked that I have to be extra good at home to care for the environment because of the amount of paper we go through at my job. When I started to realize how much energy goes in to creating a pound of meat I was blown away. Do I think that by me changing my diet that the world will change? No of course not but I do think that if I can do my part it helps keep my own imprint on this earth a little less.

So there you have it. Whatever it will bring my way the decision has been made. I’m not sure if it will be forever but I am willing to commit to it for now. Who knows maybe it is the step in I need to go completely vegetarian which is a possibility even if I don’t think it is totally doable yet.