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.

From Meatetarian to Vegetarian

I've decided to document a journey from being a meat-eater to having more of a raw food diet. I was inspired by an article sent by my friend, Dan Pesta. The article is titled "Stop Making Cancer" and it instantly caught my attention due to my passion for health and wellness. In addition, it reminded me of my blog entry "Cure for Cancer".

In this article, it describes how disease is manufactured by what what we expose our bodies to, such as what we eat, chemicals, lack of exercise and supplements. It also contained a link to an interesting video that talks about how humans were never meant to consume meat.

The video lead me to another video "Raw for 30 Days" which is a movie trailer of a study done with 7 insulin-dependent diabetics who were put on a diet of raw fruits and vegetables for 30 days. The results were astounding!

All this has helped to inspire me to introduce more organic fruits, nuts and vegetables into my diet and reduce the amount of processed foods (including meat) that I consume. I will document here what I am doing/eating, how I am feeling and how it is changing my appearance (skin, weight, etc.). As of this writing, I weigh 160 pounds. I am hoping that this new lifestyle will help me to reduce the weight and help me to feel healthier.

Stay tuned!