Yesterday was Day 4 and we are hanging tough. I’m actually enjoying this, but Joe B is starting to miss meat products. He keeps talking about the bacon and egg sandwiches and double cheeseburgers he plans to eat on Sunday.
I found out that instead of 7 days of vegetarian eating, it’s only 6 days. So we have today and tomorrow to go, then Sunday we are free to resume our omnivore ways.
My husband is reporting some mild stomach upset during the past 4 days. His explanation was, “Too many plants. Too much xylem and phloem.” That made me laugh. I want to give a shout out to my 7-8th grade science teacher Mr. Bertram and my high school science teacher Mr. Flak because I actually could recall what xylem and phloem were after more than 30 years and I was able to get the joke right away. That’s some good teaching right there.
I feel lighter after Day 4. Not lighter as in I think I’ve lost weight, but lighter as in all the vegetables, fruits and grains don’t feel as heavy settling in after a meal. This really hasn’t been that difficult for me, which has my husband worried because he’s afraid I will try to turn our family into vegetarians. Fear not, because again, I come from hunter-gatherer people….not just gatherers.
I’m surprised at the timing life has…yesterday my 11-year old came home after play practice and said “Mom, I want to be off chicken for at least a month. Maybe longer. I’m ok with meat like venison or bison, I just don’t want to eat any chicken.” She had watched a film at school about factory farm chickens and how they are treated as they are raised and processed for meat to be sold. It bothered her enough that she doesn’t want to eat anymore chicken or eggs. She said she’s not quite ready to see how feed lot cows are treated. I’m glad her school showed something like that, to help students understand where the majority of the domesticated meat in our diets come from. I think it will give me an opportunity to find a local farm that raises chickens, so I can take my girls for a visit and they can see what a local, sustainable part of our food system looks like. I’m hoping that if she decides to consume chicken and eggs in the future, that she will understand the need to find a local source for these things, and why I want to encourage my family to cut back on meat a little. It all starts with one person changing their view….lol.
Yesterday for breakfast I had a poached egg plus 1 egg white, on toast made from homemade honey whole wheat bread with organic butter, plus a whole orange and my black coffee. I had an avocado to put on the toast instead of butter, but I wasn’t feeling it yesterday. For lunch I made a big salad with romaine lettuce, celery, cucumber, diced apple, and I made my own vinaigrette dressing out of white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, honey, and some salt & pepper. I also tried something called a Root Vegetable Pot Pie from The Merc and it was the best vegetarian thing I’ve tried so far. It was just like a chicken pot pie but from what I could see, it just had potato, onion and mushrooms in it. For dinner I made vegetarian lasagna from a recipe I found online. It was amazing!!! I was so anxious to eat it that I didn’t even bother to plate it with my salad and make it look pretty, I just took a snap of the pan after I cut some pieces out of it. Joe B liked it and said he didn’t even notice the lack of beef….and if you knew my husband you would know that this a quite a remarkable thing for him to say.
Today we have plenty of leftovers from Wednesday’s pizza and the lasagna last night, and my big bowl of salad, I just need to make some more dressing. And I still have some black bean quinoa salad to take to work. All in all, our vegetarian week is going well!