Vegetarian Update: Meat Me in the Middle

In Truth About Chicken, you faithful followers learned about my turn to the vegetarian world. Well, there is good news, bad news and a lot of updates in between.

I started out struggling with the vegetarian diet. I had been a vegetarian for 8 months and another time for 4 months prior to this lifestyle change. My primary diet has been fruits, veggies, and beans for quite some time, so eliminating meat isn’t such a big deal other than the fact that it is.

My Struggles

This new lifestyle was tough at the start. You would be surprised how many meals we each eat that are built around meat. So, finding substitutes that would sufficiently fill the void of meat was difficult at first. Then I was introduced to the faux meats of the world. Whether it is meatless hamburger crumbles (aka faux hamburger) or meatless chicken nuggets, which Karol Gajda scolded me on Twitter with “@daviddamron yeah, they taste good, but it’s junk food”, I have been able to find substitutes for some of the tastiest processed meats around.

However, sometimes I just want a good hamburger and fries at a restaurant. So, I began to just eat meat at one meal a week as a treat. This went well until I visited family in Nebraska and all bets were off. Meat was eaten with almost every meal and I have no excuses for this.

My Success

Since visiting Nebraska, I have been rocking the vegetarian life hardcore and loving it. It has been all about hurdles. Once, I got the desire to include meat just for taste with every meal, I was able to focus on alternatives for a sufficient meal.

Since going vegetarian, I have lost 8 pounds or about 4% of my body weight. I now sit at 194 pounds. I have actually started re-implementing the approach I preach in SIMPLE Health & Fitness. I am unable to pinpoint a difference because of the vegetarian diet, which is no dock to it, but more of a note to the benefits of my increased physical fitness in the last month.

Where I’m At Now

Today, I am a vegetarian. I haven’t craved or cheated in 2 weeks. Plus, my overall health and fitness has improved, yet I am not sure exactly how much do to my new diet.

Weekend Vegetarian Warrior

From here, I am thinking I will stick to the vegetarian diet fairly well. I need to bring in more sources of protein, but my muscle strength is still evident so no worries just yet.

I cannot guarantee I will always be a vegetarian. This vegetarian kick was started for two primary reasons; 1) animal cruelty and 2) environmental impact. I still would like to refrain from eating ultra-processed and non-free range meats. After watching Food Inc., I can’t see myself supporting the cruel ways of much of the fast food and meatropolis corporations that do not promote a healthy and satisfied life for the animals before death. Obviously, killing an animal is killing an animal and that is still animal cruelty. However, I am a weak human being that’s willing to accept meat as long as the animal lived a good life. Hypocritical, I am sure. But that is just my choice in this situation. As for the environmental impact, if you do watch Food Inc., you will see that eating meat is just not economically sustainable.

With all that said, I will be making every effort to have a meatless diet. Does that mean that if I go to a restaurant and there aren’t a whole lot of options that I won’t eat anything? No. I will eat meat if that is all that is available. I do not want this diet to completely stress out EVERY eating scenario.

Another option I may fall back on is the Weekend Vegetarian…

I think this may end up being the most logical and rational decision for me. This option will allow me to treat myself while still significantly reducing my meat intake. Is it a cheating vegetarian lifestyle? Sure it is, but it’s better than meat at every meal.

I’m Not Perfect

Though I sometimes may claim to be, I am not perfect. I am far from it. Am I weak at times? I am just as weak as the next person. However, I am doing well at this vegetarian diet and enjoying it. Hopefully, it will continue until the day I die. If I am unsuccessful, I will know I tried. That’s all I can ask of myself and others. If you and I don’t put a full faith effort into everything we do, then we will only regret our actions.

If you have your own diet lifestyle change, please do share in the comments.

(Photo Credit)

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vegangypsie

As a vegan, I would be delighted if lots of meat-eaters became weekday vegetarians. Like he said, that would save 70% of the lives that are sacrificed to people's taste buds every day. But doing it 100% will give you a feeling of accomplishment and integrity.

I can relate to your struggle and I know you will make it. I have been vegetarian over 9 years. When I went vegetarian It was pretty easy for me, after making the initial decision, I ate chicken a total of 1 more time. I ate fish for 6 months afterward, once a month, when visiting my family. My mother knew salmon was my favorite, and that she would get protein into me that way. Parents worry. But I learned to say no to that as well. But vegan was a struggle, because cheese is addictive and vegan is much more socially awkward. My advice to you is to tell people that you "are vegetarian" rather than saying "I'm trying to be vegetarian". When I made it public that I WAS a vegan and not just TRYING to be one was the turning point to making it happen, even though it was sort of a lie for a couple of months. Rather than living a lie I honored my public commitment eventually.
vegangypsie

also: "veganomicon" is an amazing cookbook that I highly recommend to vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, and omnivores.
Visnja Zeljeznjak

david, you're doing well! just hang on. welcome to the great world of meat-free deliciousness that is food.

"weak" is just a word. i am weak at things that come naturally to you, like getting out of my apartment and "run some". i'm not even at the running part. i'm still struggling with the walking part.

let me tell you how veganism is helping me become better at everything else I do. I have been 100% vegan for the last 6 years. not one single slip-up, like "i could have just one ice cream, just this one time". nope, never happens to me. and being vegan is the only part of my life where I am successful 100%, all the time - the only "hard" thing i know i do so well, and others struggle with. when i want to improve myself in other areas, i ask myself: how come i can pull veganism off, and not this or that? what makes me successful here, and not there?

my goal is to come up with a universal model of my own long-lasting success (being 100% vegan) and apply it to everything i do, that actually matters. for the time being, let me tell you that it for me, it seems a strong emotional anchor is doing the trick. if i ever thought of eating animal products, a picture with a strong emotional response would come up, and it would instantly stop me from eating meat. this works for me, this is a model of me - everybody else is different, and everybody else can come up with their own workable models. creating a model is, however, hard work. i'm working on that :-)

do post updates on vegetarianism, whatever they may be. i would love to hear about it.
Dave Thielen

Keep at it! You're making good progress so far.

I'm not vegetarian but my fiancee is, so I eat a pretty meat-lite diet. On average I'd say I'm vegetarian at least 3-4 days a week. Don't usually cook meat myself, so I only eat it if we're at some sort of family gathering or some times when dining out.

I know you have experience with being a vegetarian, but two sources you may want to check out are this Stone Soup post about tips for being vegetarian, and the blog No Meat Athlete (which I'll bet you already read):

http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2...
http://www.nomeatathlete.com/

Don't be too hard on yourself about being "weak". You're doing great!
Justin Dupre

I'm glad you are doing well with this vegetarian diet and enjoying it! Bill is right, you should play around with it. I'm pretty sure you can do this. I believe in you!
Bill Gerlach

Stick with it. My wife and I went full-time vegetarian almost a year ago. Even with three young kids, we are finding we can do it. There are a ton of resources for learning new recipes to keep things interesting (e.g., Vegetarian Times). That's really the key: 24/7 beans gets boring. If you can mix it up (kind of like training, no?) you're likely to stick with it. Good luck.
The Gunslinger

I commend your efforts. You're doing a lot better than I could.

I have several vegetarian friends, so I've had a glimpse of the lifestyle. I've eaten at vegetarian/vegan restaurants, I've had faux meats and tofu, I've seen just about every PETA propaganda video you can think of, but meat is here to stay in my life. I like it enough that it doesn't weigh on my conscience.

As far as sustainability goes, I try to get mine at the Farmer's Market. But I go back into the red when it comes to restaurants. I think I could be the type of vegetarian that still eats fish; not sure if there is a name for it. I can't remember whose blog I read, but they had an interesting post in regards to cruelty. He referred to the fact that plants were still living things, and that no one knew if they really had the capacity to feel pain or not. They have enough feeling to grow toward the sunlight. Also, remember that every time you kill a spider/ant/mouse in your home, you are essentially a hypocrite. Not you specifically, Dave, but anyone that gives their reason for vegetarianism as animal cruelty. It may be ridiculously nitpicky, but it's true.

Good luck in your new lifestyle; I will at least try to be more aware of where my meat is coming from.
Brett

I think every little bit makes a difference. Faux meats almost make it worse at the start by emphasizing where the meat "should" be in the meal.

I do think it is kind of odd that the guy who started TreeHugger isn't a vegetarian though.

Vegetarian Update: Meat Me in the Middle

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