December 4th was the last time I had meat. I wasn't planning to become a vegetarian starting on the 5th; it just sort of happened. And I have to say that 3 weeks later, I don't really miss meat all that much-but I do miss the convenience of it.
On the surface, it would appear this is all because of a boy. It wouldn't be the first time I did something because of a boy and it probably won't be the last. If it wasn't for the boy next door (well, two doors down but close enough), I wouldn't be a baseball fan. If it wasn't for James, well, there's a lot of things I could say here.
My new friend, who I am now just going to refer to as Guy Pal, is a vegetarian by culture and I think religion. He decided to try being a vegan for a week to impress a girl. So I said that it would be easier for me to be vegetarian than it would for him to be a vegan. And naturally I had to prove it. So here it is three weeks later and he's off the vegan train (Yea! Because that was going to make going out to eat with him a royal pain) and I'm still going strong on the veggie wagon.
That's the cute, short version. The truth is I have said I could probably easily be a vegetarian on and off for most of my adult life. I'm not a big meat eater as it is so I knew this is was a challenge I could easily do for a week. I also knew I had plenty of will power. I decided one day I drank too much pop and need to stop. On January 4th, that day will have been 13 years ago. So seven days is nothing.
I have also known for quite some time that I needed to change my eating habits as I was eating a lot of fast food and processed crap and really never felt good. It's hard to keep the mental spirits up when the body feels so run down all the time. But I just couldn't bring myself to care. I don't have James anymore so why bother? Even the realization that life is good again wasn't enough to motivate me to even try to eat healthier. But I can't turn down a good challenge (translation: I have to prove I'm right all the time) so I jumped at this one. It was a boy that gave me the motivation but I'm not doing it for him-I'm doing it for me. (Don't tell him that. Part of the reason we get along so well is we both think the world revolves around us-or at least it should).
After the first week, I decided to keep going. It takes more than a week for your system to adjust and that was a rough week for me as it was. Prior to deciding to do this, I had gone to the doctor for a sinus infection and the antibiotic they gave me made me incredibly sick-to the point I had to stop taking it after three doses because even taking it as prescribed (after a meal and with milk), I could not keep anything down. I sat at my desk at work crying one afternoon because I took a bite of some macaroni and cheese and almost threw it right back up. At that point, I was starving and just wanted something to eat. So for the first several days of that first week, my stomach wasn't really accepting food. Now that it's been three weeks, I am noticing a difference in how I feel. I definitely have more energy-even with being sick this entire time. I have also noticed with all the Christmas goodies I have been eating the last couple of days I am feeling more sluggish again and had a nice Greek-ish salad (had to use black and green olives instead of Kalamata) for dinner tonight because I just wanted something healthy. (I could go for a nice, juicy apple right about now).
I certainly am nowhere near calling myself a vegetarian and don't know that I will stick with it for the rest of my life. But I am definitely going to give it a bit longer.
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