Thoughts from 9 days of eating veggies…

9 days ago, I decided that I wanted to give vegetarianism a try for a week.  I have read enough lately about the benefits of eating more locally grown food, and the importance of produce in our diet.  I work at a hospital where every one of our cardiologists is a vegetarian.  They are all proponents of the heart health benefits associated with a diet based on plants and the awful things that eating meat does to our arteries.  I also keep hearing horror stories of the meat processing plants in this area (cough cough—Chino---cough cough) in the type of meat that they allow to pass through as USDA approved food. 

So, last Wednesday, Little Chomp and I took a trip to Trader Joe’s and stocked up on everything that I thought that I could eat to make enough vegetarian meals for a week.  This meant—veggie raviolis (sooo yummy, spinach and ricotta), lots of fruit, spinach salad fixings, mushrooms, water chestnuts and onions for our yummy lettuce wraps, potatoes, the soy pizza burgers that are really good etc.  You get the picture.  I tried to take it one step at a time—eating things that I knew that I’d enjoy so that I’d actually have a shot of making it the whole week.  I didn’t want to start experimenting with food that I had never tried right off the bat and not make the goal.   

The first two days were tough.  I really didn’t think that I eat much meat usually, but all of a sudden, I felt like there was meat all around.  I usually take sandwiches for lunches when I work, and I had to come up with an alternative.  So this was tough.  But, after a few days, it has gotten much easier.  I have actually started choosing the healthier options, even when presented with my usual fare.   So, that’s pretty cool. 

All of this to say, I met my goal, and I’m proud of myself for it.  Whether I’ll continue this on from an experiment to a lifestyle is yet to be seen.  We’ll see how it goes. 

Last night, I cooked tofu for the first time at home.  It turned out horribly wrong ;) But, I’ve gotten some advice from friends and I’ll attempt it again.  I love edamame, so I should like tofu right?! :)