Friday, December 19, 2008

Vegetarian Musings

I have been a Vegetarian for a year! A fellow veggiesaurus (yes, I just referenced Jurassic Park) told me that the first year is the hardest, or was it six months. I don't remember, but anyway apparently the hard part is over. Not that it has ever been all that hard.

When I started out on this endeavor I didn't give any thought as to how long I planned on living this lifestyle, I was just concerned about having enough self control to not backslide. I still don't know how permanent this is, I'd certainly like it to be permanent, but who knows, maybe I'll decide to have kids and when I'm pregnant I'll crave meat. That would be horrible! It happened to a friend-of-a-friend, she couldn't stop eating McDonald's, and they are the worst.

Here are some cool things about being a vegetarian:
  • Spend less money on groceries
  • Spend less money at restaurants because things like pasta primavera are always cheaper than steak, or even chicken.
  • Spend less time deciding what to order at restaurants. I'm notoriouse in my family for taking forever to make up my mind about what to order. Now I'm always the first one done because as soon as I see the words, beef, chicken, steak, lamb, goat, shrimp, crab, turkey, etc. I move on to the next thing, or better yet when the menu is organized by protien I can skip entire sections! I get excited about the strangest things, i'm weird, I know, my mother-in-law tells me all the time.
  • Eat less fat, especially saturated
  • Eat less calories overall
  • Eat less soidum & other things that are bad for you
  • Tends to make you eat more fruits, veggies, whole grains & other things that ARE good for you, partially because you have to read the labels on EVERYTHING. For instance: cambell's minestrone soup is made with chicken broth and its not all that good for you because like most canned soups it's high in sodium, like 960mg! That's almost half the amount of salt you should eat each day!
  • I lost a few pounds, yay!
  • Less cholesterol
  • I get to feel good about myself when I read articles or hear stories/news reports about how bad mass farming is for the environment, and how wastefull it is. So humble of me, isin't it?
Sorry about getting preachy in there about some stuff, but I want to encourage you all to think about what and how much goes into your body. You don't have to become a vegetarian, just take care of yourself.