Vegetarian Experiment - day 12

It's hard to believe I've already completed nearly half of the days of my vegetarian experiment. Based on my progress so far, I think I will continue to consume a vegetarian diet. I will also attempt to cut out eggs and dairy as much as possible. It will be hard to cut out dairy cheese and eggs for certain recipes; I will have to find suitable substitutes.

I expect that something similar to what I have already experienced with meat will happen. I occasionally crave the taste of charred meat, but I have not given into the temptation. In fact, these cravings only occur between meals when I am starting to need a small protein boost. Given that factoid, I still do not crave meat itself. The smell of fast food restaurants is losing its appeal quite rapidly. It smells like a cloud of grease hanging in the air. I believe eggs will follow a similar fate. I do not crave eggs, but until I am better educated on the alternatives, I don't know what to use as a binder in recipes. Does flax seed work for this? I believe potato starch is also an option.

I found a tool on the SparkPeople website that is quite helpful in determining the nutrition values of a recipe. You input the ingredients and quantities that are in the recipe, specify the number of servings, and voila - you get a report with the nutrition information. It was quite useful in determining the nutritional content of the TVP burgers that I made for grilling today. You can check out the tool here. I'll give the link for the TVP burgers when I find the site again. I printed off a PDF that didn't include the URL but it should provided the clues needed to find it again. I will say that Faythe and I both enjoyed them, and they were designed not to pretend to be a meat burger.

Today was a much better balanced intake than yesterday. I didn't go way overboard with any milkshakes, but I still got too many calories all at once. Lots of great fruit and veggie options were at the party we went to, so we stuck to those. The fresh strawberries were absolutely fantastic! There was also a great assortment of salads that were delicious.

So far, as a result of dropping meat from my diet, I have dropped about 5 pounds that were otherwise stuck. It's a great feeling knowing that this transition is unlocking doors for me.

I would encourage anyone reading this to embrace trying something new, something outside of your comfort zone, for a limited time trial. Make a commitment to do something healthy that you just couldn't imagine yourself doing. Commit to doing it for 14 days. If you like it, extend it to 30 days. 30 days is about how long it takes to form a new habit. This works best if the habit is something that must be done daily. Remind yourself that if you don't like it, you can quit when your time trial is over and go back to your old habits. Set yourself up for success.

Blessings,
Charles