Vegetarian 5

Greetings! This past week I embarked upon 5 days of no meat from Monday to Friday. Overall, it was a great experience. It was interesting to go grocery shopping this week - I saw the store with entirely new eyes. I needed to make sure I stayed away from all meat products, when usually I just pick up anything I want/need. It was so exciting to try something new! I almost bought everything vegetarian in the Harris Teeter because I was so excited! I realized that there are a lot of food options for vegetarians, which is comforting. While talking to a friend, he helped me realize that just because you are a vegetarian, it does not mean that you eat healthily. We talked about how carbohydrates and cheese can dominate a diet. I also learned that the B12 vitamin is the only vitamin in meat that you can't get from other food, so a supplement is needed if I want to do this long-term. Some of the food items I tried were: Morning Star Maple Flavored Sausage, Stouffer's Vegetarian Lasagna, and one of my favorite recipes - Cheesy Lentils, Spinach, and Rice Casserole. I definitely enjoyed all of the food, though the "sausage" took some getting used to. I made a pizza with vegetarian pepperoni slices. It was decent but I probably won't make that a staple. The foods I liked best were the items that weren't imitating meat. I didn't crave meat until the moment of truth--the Wash U WU WILD happy hour with free wings. I am proud to say that I resisted the urge! Go me!!

This is something I have secretly thought about trying before but never had the guts to do. I'm glad I finally gave it a chance! I think in the future I would like to intentionally arrange for a couple of weeks or meals without meat. As far as results go, for one, I passed the challenge! For two, one day out of the week I definitely felt more awake and energized, but that could have been a result of the extra hour of sleep. I think for more definitive results I would need to give up meat for longer than five days....maybe a challenge for the near future!!!