Two Months!!!

It's been two months now, but you could have fooled me. Time flew by - I had a birthday, a few dates, finished the summer semester at school, lined up a promotion at work, started wearing contacts, and got myself a beautiful new road bike. Things seem to be working out okay.

As for being a vegetarian, I made it past 30 days. Then went 30 more. It's funny how this started out as a challenge to myself. How 30 days seemed like a huge commitment. How I felt on day one - in over my head. Now it takes concentrated effort to put myself back in the shoes I wore two months ago. To consider going vegetarian as a challenge seems so innocently naïve and funny.

I thought my diet would have to severely change.
I thought I would have to eat a lot more food.
I thought I would have less energy.

In reality, I eat less (and have better control over my appetite), my energy is through the roof, my mind feels clear, and the only change in my diet is buying a substitute for meat. It’s not perfect by any means – social situations when you go out to eat or over to someone’s house require navigation – but it’s not difficult. Socially, people get it. I never thought about what it meant to be a vegetarian male. I get crap for it occasionally, but it’s all good natured and after getting their two cents in, those that have something to say still express respect for me and my decision. Curiosity is the most common encounter for me as I venture this new landscape. The same explanation many times over – I love meat, but I will not support the inhumane treatment of animals by consuming it – always draws respect and never an argument. One of the most rewarding things though... when you get together with a friend, weeks after telling them you became a vegetarian, and they open up and tell you how after hearing about your decision, they did some thinking, and decided to challenge themselves.

I’m sticking with it.

Today is a Special Day

And tonight calls for a celebration!

Growing up with asthma, I was never able to run more than a few blocks before having to stop and catch my breath, so when I started running over the last couple months I struggled to break even half a mile. Two weeks ago I broke a mile for the first time in my life. Four days ago I broke two miles. Today, a month after setting a personal goal to run the entire way around lovely Lake Calhoun by the end of summer, I accomplished that too (all 3.3 miles). It is impossible to describe how great I feel right now!!! Next up, training for a 10K by the end of summer ;-)

P.S. - Check out this puppy I got to play with at the beach. Adorable!

It’s officially been three weeks!

Last week I flew down to Phoenix and experienced my first vacation as a vegetarian. Everyplace we went had great menu items for me to choose from. The highlight was lunch at a charming home-turned-restaurant, seated in a lush and shady garden patio (a strangely beautiful byproduct of reckless water consumption). My mouth watered over a gourmet sandwich - eggplant, spinach, dried tomato, and cheese. I had never had eggplant before.

Discussing the trials and tribulations of being vegetarian (or lack thereof) seemed inspirational to a particular friend (one who shall remain nameless). This individual kept bringing up my vegetarianism, asking questions ripe with a curiosity only afforded to those genuinely weighing such a decision themselves. On our last day he confided his confidence in being able to make the switch, citing the duty he would be doing mother earth, his body, and countless creatures. I would like to think I helped sway him.

A particularly interesting finding in Phoenix: my choice not to drink alcohol makes people severely uncomfortable. Explaining my decision to give it up for thirty days triggered an unrelenting barrage of pressure, insults, and arguments. These were my friends, and I love them. I can deal with it. But even the fucking bartender gave me shit. He told me he would find the hottest girl in the bar and see to it that she buys me a drink. I felt like playing the Alcoholics Anonymous or religious card would have been easier, but I can’t stand on lies, only on determination. I explained that I was enjoying the Latin band and the company. They explained that I could also be enjoying it with a beer. I didn’t budge, and eventually they accepted (or gave up). The experience brought up a good question though: Is abstaining from alcohol possible without significant social change or strife? I don’t have an answer yet.

(It’s worth noting that unlike alcohol, people have been very accepting and supportive of my choice to abstain from meat.)

Day seven.

It’s been an interesting week.

I certainly feel like I am in a routine now. My friend Jai helped ramp me up on cooking the other night. We made something tasty and cheap out of potatoes, spinach, cream cheese, and some herbs. We also pulled up a PETA snuff film called “Meet Your Meat”.

I honestly don’t know if I can ever go back. How could I? I feel bad enough as is with dairy now, but how could I ever contribute in any way, shape, or form to genocide on a scale that by most measures seems much worse than the Holocaust in both prevalence, suffering, and severity?

I feel ignorant and selfish for never doing the research. For listening with a slight sense of superiority as vegetarian friends explained their choice. For not understanding. For thinking the only suffering was a quick death, shorter life, and less hospitable conditions. Little did I know. Animals writhing in pain as they are hung upside down, throats slit. Being skinned and dismembered while fully conscious (and without sedatives). Boiled alive (in the hair removal tanks). Castrated. Branded. Horns and teeth ripped out. Tails cut off. Unable to move your entire miserable and short existence. Breathing fresh air for the first and last time as you ride to the slaughterhouse. Freezing and starving to death. Rampant disease. Being force-fed and pumped full of antibiotics until you cannot stand or breathe. Beating the sick by bashing them over and over against the ground using their hind legs. Over 90% with broken bones and internal hemorrhaging. Animals unable to walk off the trucks being thrown into the meat grinders.

I wanted to explode.

To think that Michael Vick is publicly tarred and feathered while countless “hard working Americans” are lionized for the most unspeakably horrific and vile crimes ever committed against living creatures makes me beyond disgraced to be human.

The fact that my decision can save a hundred animals a year is but a small comfort compared to the billions of animals who go through such unimaginable suffering. Even on an environmental level meat is incredibly destructive. 2500 gallons of water per pound of beef, Brazilian rainforest (the lungs of the planet) burned for cattle ranches. Hell, the poor across the globe starve to death while we feed cows an incredible majority of all the grains.

Like I said, it’s been an interesting week. I learned a lot about the reasons “why” I should be a vegetarian. I also learned a lot about how people respond. Yesterday my boss laughed at me and asked if I was stupid for giving up meat after learning about my plan (keep in mind that we joke around all the time and have a very good relationship, so I was not really offended). Still, I have noticed that most people don’t get it. They think I am crazy. It puts me on the defensive and before I know it, I launch into a speech as to why they are so wrong for eating meat. I never realized how easy it is to play that stereotypical role. Most vegetarians I have known have been cool and confident with their choice. They don’t pressure meat eaters to convert, despite the stereotype. They don’t cause a stir. I never realized how much they have to hold back. How calm and collected they are. I never realized how hard it must be for them, or how easy it is to preach.

Is it day three already?

Yesterday was rough, but not as rough as the day before (Sunday). When I made my commitment I hadn’t thought about the Chicken Quesadilla and Cheesy Gordita Crunch from Taco Bell, the Turkey Tom from Jimmy John’s, and the chicken sandwiches I ate almost daily from the café at work. Factoring the loss of these dietary staples made me sweat a little :-\

Sunday afternoon I enlisted some friends to finish off the ground hamburger I purchased a few days earlier which was still fresh but now off limits. Instead I grilled myself a Grillers Prime veggie burger and a Spicy Black Bean burger (both Morning Star brand). I was a little ornery when my friends told me how much better my veggie burger was after breaking off samples at their requests. I didn’t believe them.

Yesterday was bad too. My appetite was all screwed up from some emotional stuff that happened Saturday and it didn’t exactly return full force. Breakfast was a half bowl of granola cereal and a banana. Lunch was a pasta/pizza buffet. Dinner was the best – soft shell tacos complete with fake ground beef (Morning Star brand purchased at Super Target). The tacos hit the spot. Still, I can’t help but feel an impending lack of variety on the horizon.

Today though… whoa! What a turnaround! My energy was through the roof! My appetite was slowly returning, and my mood was getting better as my nerves settled down. This time I choked down my first ever veggie sub from Jimmy John’s (I gagged part way through it – something about sliced tomatoes makes me sick to my stomach, despite my affinity for tomato sauce and salsa). For dinner, Omar came over and we made a spectacular veggie stir fry with peanut sauce, rice, tofu (which we severely destroyed), and savory garlic cheese bread. It was the first time in my entire life that I had baby corn and mushrooms. It was intimidating as all hell to eat a dish made up basically of all veggies, but it tasted fantastic and gave me quite the confidence boost.

I am finally ready

My name is Andrew. I am 23, from Minnesota, and I am becoming a vegetarian for the next 30 days.

As far back as I can remember vegetables have been absent from my diet. My mom never forced me to eat them as a kid, so my meals revolved around my appetite which had a strong penchant for meat, pasta (or carbs if you will…), sugars, and the occasional fruit. Strictly no veggies though! I had my exceptions: salsa, tomato sauce, potatoes, and the very rare Caesar salad. Even my burgers contained only the meat, cheese, and bun. I never really ate pork (although bacon was nice) and I never ate fish or seafood. I justified the gross exclusion of veggies from my diet by taking vitamins (fully aware of the inferiority of the source…)

I believe becoming a vegetarian will be the hardest thing I have ever done.

So here is my blog about it. I gave it up on Sunday for reasons I will explain another day. I also decided in the same stroke to give up Alcohol, Energy Drinks, and to start running more. Those topics may come up from time to time, but certainly will not be my primary focus (as I see those challenges being easier).

This blog will not trail on indefinitely. I am writing it for my own benefit to look back and see how my perceptions and knowledge have changed, as well as the hope that someone somewhere finds it valuable in making their own decision on meat.

So cheers to giving up meat over the next 30 days and possibly beyond! It may not be easy, but then again nothing of value ever is!

~ Andrew