Meat Addiction

Becoming a vegetarian is harder than I thought. I had no idea how addicted to meat I was. Over the past two weeks, I have been experimenting and learning along with my daughter, however. We have started eating, and liking, unsalted nuts with dried fruit. Fresh fruit is more desirable because, well, it's not dead. We have also increased the amount of uncooked vegetables to our diet such as snap peas, tomatoes and carrots. I have managed to cut out processed snacks such as potato chips and candy. My daughter is having a more difficult time with it, but she has cut down quite a bit on the sweets and soda/slurpees that she is so fond of.

Avoiding meat has been a futile effort. Although we have managed not to eat it every day, when my husband cooks his famous steaks wrapped in bacon, neither of us can resist. And when a friend cooks a pot roast for dinner and invites you over, you eat it. It also had sweet potatoes and carrots to accompany the cow, so I didn't feel too guilty. We really have moved away from red meat for the most part and have been eating more chicken instead. Hey, baby steps!

As for weight, my daughter has lost about 2 pounds while I've managed to gain half a pound. I blame this on the delicious cake I recently had at a baptism reception and the red vines my daughter and I rewarded ourselves with at the movies last night. I'm human. It was the first time I had candy in two weeks.

As for experimentation, my daughter and I tried almond milk in lieu of our regular 2% cow milk. We did start out with organic cow milk which was delicious. My daughter didn't like the almond milk, but I can tolerate it in shakes and cereal. Our new favorite store is Sprouts which conveniently opened its doors across the street from us.

The last two weeks have been a mixture of challenges and successes. I can't complain. My daughter and I have learned a lot and we look forward to learning more as time goes on.