The Art of Zen Living

“Be careful about changing your beliefs, because if you do, your beliefs will change you…”

My 2 weeks as a vegetarian are drawing to a close.  Or perhaps I should say that my two week commitment to being a vegetarian is drawing to a close.  I’ve seen a big difference in how I feel, my energy level and I’ve dropped 3 pounds without meaning to.  I’m guessing that’s due to the type of “whole food” vegetarianism I’m trying being naturally low in fats.  A side benefit is that almost all of the fat I do eat now are “good” fats - the omega fats, mono fats etc. etc.

My forehead is also much flatter.  I spend a lot of time slapping it and saying things like “Oh, RIGHT - pizza has cheese on it!” or “Hmmm.  Alfredo has cream in it…”.  This isn’t a problem, it just shows that I’m very new at this whole vegetarian thing.  Today I wanted to ramble on a bit, in no real order, about how I feel about this experiment, and it’s impact on my life.

Growing up, I was never a big fan of fruits and vegetables.  I was a child of the 80’s, and TV told me very clearly that if it didn’t come in a box, have sugar as the number one ingredient and have a kid-friendly character on it, then it was no good at all.  As a result, trying all these different kinds of fruit “again for the first time”.  Mangoes, bananas, strawberries, grapes, apples (did you know there are different kinds of apples???  I’m kidding.  Sort of…), pears and melons - I could go on and on.

I’ve also tried new things with veggies - as a hint, eggplant does great with spices sprinkled on or dressing brushed on before a quick trip to the grill, but marinadin eggplant…well, that doesn’t work so well.

Two words: Fried Plantains.  I’m going to have to post a “how to” on these - they’re one of my favorites!

Tofu is really, really bland - which makes it great for carrying flavors.  Dip it in a sauce and throw it on the George Foreman, sprinkle Cajun seasoning on it and throw it in the microwave, or bake it in a sauce, it’s great stuff!

I’m about 10 days in and I can tell my body is adjusting.  I think our bodies use different bacteria in our digestive tracts depending on what we’re eating.  The gurgling and gas is something that I remember when I cut out carbs and it’s happening again now.  Should be just a few days, and my body will be “tuned up” for whatever it needs to do the vegetarian diet.

Polenta is wonderful fried, and seems to have lots of potential to be prepared other ways.

The humble oat is one of the easiest whole grains to work into your diet.  Throw a handful in with the flour when you bake bread, it does great in muffins, can be stirred into cereal or yogurt.  Oatmeal is also great if you ask me.

It was always my intention to continue being a vegetarian after the two week trial was over - my concern was if I’d be able to stand it.  I’ve been very surprised that it was an easy change to make.  Going forward, I’m going to try and limit the amount of fish that I eat, although I’m not going to say that I won’t eat it.  I’m going to be a bit less harsh on dairy - right now, I’m checking ingredients and avoiding it like I’m allergic to it.  While I should probably continue to avoid it where I can, skipping the cheddar flavor rice cakes because they have whey powder is probably not an imperative.

So there you have it.  Today’s rambling observations based on nothing more reliable than my own subjective observations.