It has been a exceptionally LONG time since I have added anything to this blog and what better time to do so than now? Starting tomorrow I will be challenging myself to be vegetarian until New Years Day. I have been considering this for weeks now and have decided to finally just bite the vegetarian bullet and do it. Throughout the deliberation process I have gone back and forth mainly concerned that I will forget that I am in the middle of this challenge and slip up; this has been my main concern. As far as giving up meat, I'm honestly not that bothered by it. In general I prefer produce to meat products anyhow so I don't actually believe that that will be too much of an issue. In preparation of the kickoff tomorrow I have been scouring the web in search of interesting recipes. Given my work/school/personal schedule there are a few boxes that most of the recipes have to check such as being cost effective and not too time consuming. In addition any recipe that can be made ahead of time and frozen earns extra bonus points!
I am not necessarily doing this challenge for any particular reason other than to see if I can do it and to see how I feel at the end. There is a chance that the next couple of months will go rather smoothly and in the end I will not feel as though I have missed out on anything and feel better physically. After giving up soda and caffeine for the past 4 years I now feel physically ill if I drink it; water is my beverage of choice and I am perfectly fine with that. There is always a chance that I will feel the same way after going without meat for an extended period of time and I am more than OK with that as well. As long as all nutritional levels are met, a vegetarian diet can offer a multitude of benefits and I am ready to see if I feel as though the challenge has been beneficial at the end of the year.
As time and memory allow I will be posting about my challenge from changes I see or feel to recipes that work or fail. So here's to a fresh start and an interesting journey!
