vegetarianbrian

This week was nothing like I had expected it to be. The seemingly endless time I was to spend forgoing any meat product was a daunting task that I had set before myself at the beginning of the week. However, as the week progressed I was not met with the week-long torture that I had initially expected but rather a slow easing into my new lifestyle. I was not only surprised by the sheer fact that I had even managed to accomplish this, but also my willing to do so as well. What had initially started out as a grudgingly accepted task set before me had morphed to become something that I genuinely wanted to do. The squeamish cries of protest had, by the end of the week, had transformed to willingness to change my eating habits.

Over the course of the week, I became more and more conscious about how I maintained my body in general. Not only did I actually begin to notice labels on food and avoided fast food so that I wouldn’t accidentally break my meat fast, but also began to eat healthier too. Late night snacks began to become ruled out, I began to regularly exercise more, eat more greens, and simply live a healthier life in general. Although all of these things weren’t specifically included on my list, that new-found willingness drove me to change not just my physical eating habits but also how I lived my life in general. It seemed that nobody except me took any notice of my drastic life-style change, but there was one more than I thought. My body. Over the course of this week I lost 2 pounds. When I first weighed myself the day I started this blog, it was just on a whim, but I was amazed when I returned to finally weighed my end-week self. I think that I should replace those judges on “The Biggest Loser.”

I also realized just how ingrained into our culture the concept of meat is. I remember that first day that I started this new “project” of sorts. That early, yet intense dismay I had felt demonstrates my subconscious regard for meat. What seemed so trivial at first turned out to be a great debt when the time to finally start my project had come. The daily meals that I had to forgo were surprisingly numerous and I was astounded by the sheer volume of the meat that we, as a nation, consume weekly.  This project of sorts was nothing close to the preconceived notion that I had already made before even starting on it. I had never imagined how this would inspire me to actually take charge of my eating habits and am glad that I actually could finish my week without breaking my eating rules. I hope to go on keeping good care of my body and what I feed it even after the ending of this week.

Wish me luck!

Today was the closest I came to being discovered. We had our “Brother’s Appreciation” at church today. We had Beef tacos served to us by our sisters in Christ. However, in reality it was more of a second Sister’s Appreciation since it was them that got all of the laughs while watching us play fun “games” which comprised of humiliating ourselves, such as feeding someone whipped cream while being blindfolded. Overall it was great… until the food was served.

We were all politely drinking our sodas and chatting about how we were doing when suddenly our kind MC for the night announced the coming of dinner, which they all worked very hard on. It looked amazing. The beef tacos were smelling delicious too. However, keeping with my strict eating regime I turned to my friend and offered to give him my tacos. It thankfully didn’t have to come down to that though. The appetizers were a salad with homemade raspberry dressing and some nice toasty pieces of bread, not unlike anything you’d find at a restaurant. I had just taken a rather large portion of it just before the announcement and I was thankful for it. I had anticipated the coming of meat so, in order for me not to have to blow my cover, I began to gorge myself on this salad and bread combo. By the time the tacos had come my way I was nearly full. Citing my nearly full stomach I was able to pick out the meat and have my new vegetarian taco. The rest of the night passed without incident but I can’t wait for next year when I can finally try those tacos that I missed.

The other two meals were a breeze, being at home allowed me to eat cereal and snacks, which kept me off until the nights follies. It was really surprising how easy it had become compared to the beginning of the week!

Another day has already passed. However, was not nearly as hard to resist meat as any of the other days. Wait, wait, wait, before you congratulate me you need to know that I was extremely sick. Today started out great and it seemed that things were going my way until I realized that my mild cold that I had the day before had matured into a raging fever while walking home from school. I’m sure everyone is affected by this but whenever I’m sick I lose nearly all of my appetite unless I am seriously starving.

Breakfast was a little better today because I realized that I could go with toast with a little bit of strawberry jam instead of just having cereal all the time, so that was a definite plus. Being less hungry also was a definite boost in my mood as it approached lunch.

Lunch passed without incident, same old veggie panini as always.. It was slightly sourer than usually and I remember commenting on that while I was eating it. It was nice and warm out but as it approached the last bell, I began to feel a little unwell.

I had been sitting at my desk doing my homework when I began to realize that I was steadily beginning to feel worse and worse. It was only very little by little so I paid no mind to it… that is until I realized that I was indeed, very sick. I had worn a rather thin shirt to school today so that I wouldn’t have to worry about being hot and sweaty in the sun that day. I decided to forgo dinner (since absolutely none of my appetite  remained), and go to bed early. However, being my mom, she brought me some warm stew. It was a gracious act but it had to be refused when I realized that the suspicious brown thing floating around was beef yet again. The torture is too great! Only 1 more day left! Almost there!

Wish me luck!

Beef reigns king on our dinner table. Surprise, surprise it was beef yet again that presented itself on my plate yet again. It took all my willpower to push it away since I forgot my lunch money today and was literally dying of hunger. I yet again found my will and was able to demand my new vege patties, claiming that they were simply too delicious to refuse. I was met with a curious glance from my parents, but was met with no comment. The food smelled so delicious that I chocked down my vegetarian food as quickly as I could so I could quickly escape beyond its reach. It is interesting, it seems that it went from being extremely hard to just bearable only to become even more unbearable than the first time. However, I’m beginning to think that it was just the tacos being served where simply smelling amazing

What surprised me the most however, was that I began to notice the  nature of the food I was eating. From trying to place familiar names to these tastes that although weren’t foreign, but rather used in different ways. It is also beginning to push me into a direction of food that I had shunned. Although my family, being asian, enjoys soy; for me, it was always seen as a flavorless substitute for “real” food. I’m beginning to see how this wonderful crop that is found in the like of tofu and dairy-substitutes really tastes. What I had once blissfully ignored was being forced upon me simply because I wasn’t willing to take a chance at breaking my eating regime  by eating anything else in between meals. My snack niches have increasingly become more plant-oriented and as a result, dare I say, more healthy? I am beginning to really see some meaningful changes other than the most obvious, which was the no meat part. It’ll be interesting to see how this will play out.

Wish me luck!

Today was a rather interesting day, to say the least. Normally, shopping bores me to tears, especially if it’s for groceries. However, ever since I started this new way of thinking about food, I’ve been very interested about the contents of what we, as a populace, are shoving mindlessly into our mouths. Not only the ingredients, but also the nutrient information. The things I noticed where shocking. On a ration of size to amount of sugar, Yoplait had a higher sugar content than of even Gatorade, which is frequently held up as an example of irresponsible corporate sugar stuffing in their products. I also noticed that the sheer amount of meat products v. the amount of vegetarian-friendly products that fit all the criteria I’ve been adhering to was grossly unbalanced. And yet we go around complaining about the rising obesity rates in our country today. For change we really need to start at what were feeding our youth and ourselves first.

Eating nearly the same things for breakfast and lunch with little variety has become an almost natural habit now. On the other hand, dinner always provides a challenge because I’m always faced with a new challenge daily because my mother is used to serving something else daily. Today, after shoving packets of vege patties into the cart I finally had one of my first vege burgers. It was a strange flavor that I was not used to. If you didn’t know that it was a vegetable substitute, you might think that it was the original thing. However, it has a strange after taste that I can only describe as slightly…milky?  Strange, right? I guess I’ll get used to it soon.

Wish me luck!

Today wasn’t nearly as bad as I had expected. The words, NO MEAT, were running through my mind all day, reminding me of the day’s goal.

Breakfast was again the cold bowl of cereal. The sugary goodness was great tasting, and this made up for whatever it lacked in being filling, I noticed that the little corn flakes often break up into irritating bits that get stuck in your teeth. Without a vigorous teeth brushing, prepare to see little orangey yellow flakes on your teeth.

Lunch was a no-brainer. After trying the vege panini yesterday I have been able to think of nothing else. It substitutes the original turkey breast in favor of extra cheese and large slices of tomatoes which not only give it a nice tangy acidic flavor, but also recoups some of the losses incurred from taking out the meat.  Overall, I’m actually beginning to prefer this new menu change over the regular turkey paninis that I would usually get whenever I went to the Nest.

Dinner was a huge disappointment. Not because the food that my mother had prepared wasn’t food. On the contrary, it was actually very tantalizing, a nice dish of thinly sliced beef, marinated asian-style.  It was rather my inability to eat any of it. So, I went to go cook myself some ramen, which I rarely eat. The disappointment came when I looked at the ingredients as I was about to open it. To my shock (and horror), it contained such things as Beef Extract, Beef FAT, and Beef Stock! Another food now kicked onto the no-no list. I had already got the water in the pot to a nice boil and was literally about to open the bag when I realized what it was made up of. I found refuge eating those vege dumpling that I find hiding in the fridge all the time. They finally served a purpose at least.

Another day down!

Wish me luck!

Today was slightly easier to bear compared to yesterday. Still hard, but at least it didn’t get harder, right?

This morning was a groggy rush to get ready for school. It being Monday, I had accidentally overslept and had to run around the house frantically around the house in order to not miss the bell. In my mad rush I had no time to wait for my morning eggs and toast and just wolfed down a bowl of cereal. Since my mother knew that I didn’t have time, she didn’t bother getting out the eggs, which is a blessing since I really don’t think I could have handled the smell while I was that disoriented.

Despite my early morning victory, I nearly fell off the boat at lunch. Like I mentioned above, my breakfast wasn’t great this morning and as a result I was absolutely famished when math let out for lunch. In order to skip those ridiculous lines I just went to the Nest (which is basically a small student-run, café-style restaurant that is the pride of the student body). In keeping with tradition and habit I was nearly about to order a TURKEY Panini which would have gone strictly against the eating regime for the week. However, I luckily realized my mistake and just switched my order at the register.  Phew, that was a close call.

Dinner was another little day full of meat. More steak. It was fine though, I just went with some leftover udon salad from yesterday. After yesterday I realized that it becomes very much easier to ignore the food at hand when filling the spare time by talking. That’s why I was the most talkative person today at the dinner table. Even that, however, couldn’t completely distract me. I’m thinking of dropping some subtle hints that I’m all into the supposed new vege-patty rave at school. As I see it, at least it beats having salad for the rest of the week.

Overall, today was the same if not slightly better than yesterday. They say whenever you’re doing something hard the third day’s the worst.

Wish me luck!

I’ve realized that since most people are not vegetarian, those who are, are forced to sit back and watch their friends and family devour meat right under their noses. This is one of the, in my opinion, major hindrances that modern vegetarians. As a result, I have decided not to tell anyone about new change in diet/lifestyle and see how hard it really is.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The naïve me of this morning did not anticipate just how tempting meat can be. Within minutes of waking up and deciding to start my new eating regime I was faced with a tempting platter. Just like a toy that becomes more desirable after being pointed out specifically and banned, the scrambled eggs that my mom prepared for me this morning smelled immeasurably more tantalizing than normal. So much so that it should be illegal to tempt anybody with such smells. However, I steeled my mind and opted for a cold bowl of Frosted Flakes instead.

Lunch on the other hand was not nearly as hard. The combo pizza served at church was rather easy to avoid since a cheese option was being offered as well. With the coke to wash it all down I’m sure no one would have noticed the difference. After braving both breakfast and lunch, I was feeling rather proud of myself. However, in reality, the hardest challenge was yet to come.

I was in the “eye of the hurricane,” the calm and easy ride in between the two most difficult challenges. Conquering my desire for meaty substances helped me build up the confidence that came crashing down at dinner time. It was steak. My father and my little brother had both expressed a desire for steak and my mother happily obliged by buying nearly 3.5 pounds of the stuff. Little did they know of the torture they were putting me through. In order to stop any unnecessary temptation I stuffed myself with crackers and other little snacks before they started grilling. However, I was met with strange glances when I refused what was once one of my favorite foods and opted for udon salad instead. I would have to say it was one very long meal for me. I sat there having to stare at my family members slowly cutting their steak while chatting over our day. Even with a rather full belly it was torture. Luckily, I somehow made it through.

I willed myself to stay strong and I’m determined to last out this week.

Wish me luck!

What is VegetarianBrian? My blog of me being a vegetarian for a week of course! This is all just a little scheme that my teacher assigned us in order for us to really reassess our views on the world. To really get a grip on all the things that we’ve seen others do, or have that, in the past, we’ve been unable to try, whether it be from a lack of guts, or rather, our favorite excuse, time.

So why vegetarianism? Personally, whenever I watched a documentary or a read a news article detailing the cruel lives that farm animals faced in a majority of the farms across the world, it troubled me. However, it never drove me to renouncing my love for the stuff. Like the vast majority of the population I learned to not think about where and how the food i was eating came from, not unlike eating at McDonalds. Furthermore, I truly didn’t know if I could even do it, never eating ANY meat whatsoever, but now I finally found the guts and motivation to try it for a week. Can I really shun all meat and meat products? Wish me luck!

Here is my EXTREMELY long and detailed list for this coming week:

1. Don’t eat meat or any meat products.

Simple right? But what is a “meat product?” There are many different definitions for a “meat product” and as a result there are many forms of vegetarianism. But for me, I’m going with a more strict interpretations that covers a more larger group of foods.

Meat Product: Any meat (such as Beef, Pork, Mutton, and Eggs), fish (Tuna, Mackerel, Salmon).For this experiment, dairy products are not included, so a glass of milk won’t violate the pact.

Here we go!