Welcome!

Do you love food? Do you like food that makes you feel good? Then you've come to the right place! Here you will find my adventures in vegetarianism with pictures and recipes for you to try in your own kitchen. Enjoy!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

The Road to Vegetarianism

Back in September after a trip to MN for my sister-in-laws wedding, I ate meat for the last time.  It was a Juicy Lucy (2 hamburger patties stuffed with scalding cheddar cheese) from Matt's Bar and Grilled.  Now don't get me wrong, it was uh-mazing but something had changed.  I realized my stomach hurt and and I felt, well... gross.  From that moment, I decided to quit meat. Cold Turkey.


Now my friends know me.  They know how ridiculous I am with things.  I quit smoking years ago and to this day, I won't even take so much as a puff.  I feel like that one puff will erase all the years I've stacked up without smoking.  It's kind of like an addict staying sober in my eyes.  So, when I decided to "quit" meat, I took the same mentality.  Wanna know something weird?  I have dreams that I eat meat or smoke and I wake up in a panic.  It's safe to say that I'm nuts.


My road towards vegetarianism has been a long one.  I'm a huge animal lover and break down and sob if I see a dead animal on the side of the road.  I can't watch any Sarah McLachlan commericals, and my husband is really great at quickly changing the channel as soon as that song comes on.  As a child, I took care of and rehabilitated wild animals (my father was our city's Animal Control Officer).  So, when it came to eating meat, I basically just ignored the fact of where it came from.  I tried to tell myself that they animals led a great life until they were slaughtered and I even glorified the slaughtering process by telling myself that it happened quickly and with little pain.  I knew that what I was telling myself was a complete lie, but how could a little Ohio girl live without meat??


Well she can, and she does.  I began to educate myself on a vegetarian lifestyle.  I bought the book The Kind Life by Alicia Silverstone and began reading.  I learned things about the manufacturing process that made me sick.  I learned what the raising of livestock was doing to our world.  I learned that I could live a long and healthy life.  I learned that I could take control of my health issues. And so it began...


Cooking had always been my hobby.  To me, there's nothing better then coming home from a long day of work, pouring a glass of wine, putting Pandora on, and chopping, and sauteing, and smelling, and eating.  I LOVE it!  So this new way of eating was going to be easy for me.  All I needed was some ideas to get me started.  I started reading blogs and looking on Amazon for good cookbooks.  I came across a blog called The Happy Herbivore and was enticed.  The author of the website, Lindsay Nixon, also has 2 cookbooks out and I ordered them both.  Now this website and the cookbooks are all Vegan but I was up for the challenge.  Cheese however, ugh.  I do LOVE my cheese.  Disclaimer:  I am not completely Vegan.  Although many of the things I eat are.  More on this topic later...


I have been going strong for over 5 months now.  I was seriously annoyed when my veggie pizza I ordered during the beginning of the journey contained many pieces of ham, but I spit them out.  And I was not happy when my veggie breakfast burrito was hiding chewy pieces of bacon.  But I persevered :)  I'm just glad I'm not allergic to it!  


At the end of the day, many GREAT things have happened:


I have kept off the weight I lost for my wedding- WITHOUT working out 5 days a week for 2 hours at a time!  HOLLA!  C'mon- I lost 16 lbs. and have only gained back about 3lbs.  #Winning!


I have more energy than I ever have before.  This is good considering that I am teaching Kindergarten this year and those little munchkins are exhausting!


My tummy troubles are almost non-existent, and I now use the restroom regularly if you catch my drift...


My skin shines, my hair and nails are strong.


My seriously meat loving husband enjoys the food I make.  He's dropped some weight too!


Oh, and my clothes fit :)


I think that's enough background to get me started.  Oh, and I hope that I didn't bore you too much and that you're still awake :)  


Goodnight Friends! 

1 comment:

  1. Go Lindsay! great start. I've been your fan through all of the facebook photos...and you and nicole have me thinking seriously about all this. You rock. Love, Nicki- van dailey

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