Well, I have subscribed to Vegetarian Times for years now, I was drawn in by the recipes but I was never a vegetarian. I haven't had cows milk in years. I have always liked tofu. I have been intrigued and I leaned toward that way but always ate burgers, steak, pork and chicken. And then something happened a few weeks ago. I even joined a 21 day Vegetarian challenge but that didn't do it. I would get the daily challenge emails and I finally unsubscribed because I really didn't think I could do it. Then one Saturday afternoon I was starving and in a rush so I grabbed a frozen burger and threw it in the iron skillet. I browned both sides and I thought I had cooked it all the way through. So as I cut into the middle of the burger it squirted blood out at me. It was the strangest thing! I took a bite of the side cuz it was more cooked and I was starved. But that was it. I couldn't eat it. I couldn't even put it back into the pan. Something snapped in my brain. Was it the Vegan podcasts I had been listening to for months: Main Street Vegan or Compassionate Cook? Was it my yoga? Was it the mantra Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu before my favorite Jivamukti yoga practice? Was it looking in my dogs eyes? Was it a little bit of everything in my life the last few years pushing me toward this? What ever it is, I am grateful that something in me will not allow me to eat land animals any more. I am telling everyone I know that I am "moving" toward being vegetarian. Baby steps. I still eat farm eggs, cheese and fish. I love my Almond and coconut milks. I have even found hemp and quinoa milks. So I don't think this will be hard. It hasn't yet and its been about 2 weeks now. In a few days it will be my FIRST vegetarian Thanksgiving. I am going to make a Tofurkey!!!
Thank goodness for Amazon Prime. I was able to find Fair Trade Organic cocoa mix and vegan organic marshmallows for my sweet tooth. When I pick up my Tofurkey I think I will grab some vegan cheeses. Right now I have been doing whole wheat pasta and veggies. My most favorite meal right now is portobello mushrooms and gravy over a baked organic potato. I am not going to be a junk food vegetarian and I am not going to fall for a lot of the processed stuff out there. The 3 reasons I am doing this, in this order:
1. To be compassionate toward animals. Practicing Ahimsa
2. For health and aging reasons.
3. Safety - we can never be sure what is out there now, what is in what we buy. The animals are not even quality meat any more because of the way they are raised.
Well this is a new journey for me, and I am the queen of quitting. But for some reason I do see this becoming part of my life. I refuse to die early the way my parents did. So I have to change my eating habits to become healthier. To age gracefully. Oh I didn't mention its been 65 days since I quit drinking too. I am on the road to changing my life for the better. Now if I could just make myself LOVE to do yoga EVERY day, my life would be complete! Maybe hypnotism! hmmmmmm
