4 Weeks of Meatlessness!

Day 29

I have made it a whole 4 weeks without meat!

I have lost 7 lbs. and am down to 205 lbs.

I have received many supportive comments on my Facebook page and in my Facebook inbox.

Many positive e-mails have appeared in my Yahoo account too!

And this blog has had over 700 visits since I started it on 11/02/09!

Spread the word if you know someone who wants to give up meat or has already done away with it.

If I can do it, anyone can!

Talk to you soon.
meatlessman@yahoo.com

Link to me!

Days 26-28

Some people have asked if they can link to this blog on their respective sites or blogs. It’s alright by me as long as you let me know first. That way, I can add a link to your site on my blog.

I believe I can post links on here. Yes? I’ll find out soon.

Talk to you soon.
meatlessman@yahoo.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

Days 24 and 25

Many people asked how I was planning to go meatless this Thanksgiving. Easy.

I avoided turkey, gravy and the stuffing which was made with sausage.




Before the meal I munched on cheese, corn chips and other appetizers my family put out.


For the meal I was able to have mashed potatoes, squash, turnip, rolls and even cranberry sauce.




Did I miss the turkey, stuffing and gravy? You bet I did! That’s why I decided to start my meatless year in early November so I could get the two major turkey holidays out of the way within the first few months. Next year I may not go back to eating beef or pork but I don’t see the harm with turkey on the holidays.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and I’ll talk to you soon.
meatlessman@yahoo.com

Three Weeks of Meatlessness!

Days 22 and 23

I have made it past the three week mark for going meatless. In that time I have consumed no beef, pork, poultry, fish, seafood or eggs (not counting eggs baked into things and such).

212 lbs was my weight starting out the month and now I am down to 206 lbs! That’s six pounds lost in three weeks!

My energy levels seem to be good as well. I never seem to have too much or too little energy.

Digestion is good too. :)

By the way, the site counter for this blog passed the 500 mark today for site visits. Not bad I guess for a blog that's only been up a little over three weeks.

Talk to you soon.

Pheasant Death Row

Days 20 and 21

This weekend my brother brought me along to his sportsman club to feed the pheasants that they keep to shoot for sport there.

The pen that held them had netting on the top so they couldn't fly away and all of the birds were wearing frontward blinders so if they got aggressive with another member of their population their eyes wouldn't be pecked out.

When I was in the holding pen the birds were making their squawking sounds and would occasionally flutter around in the air in terror. I felt a bit sorry for them but it also felt a bit like Hitchcock’s The Birds.

In their attempts to escape, a few would get stuck in the top netting. One bird looked like it had just hung itself it had been trapped in the binding so long. My brother got him free so no worries there.

For the most part, the pheasants are treated humanely, until a few of their number get removed and released into the air for club members to shoot at. Being a hunter is something I could never feel comfortable with but I won’t harp on the people who are. I’ve eaten meat for most of my life and cattle are treated far worse in slaughter houses then the pheasants are at the club.

At least at the club they have the possibility of escape if they dodge the shotgun pellets.

After my meatless year is up I may go back to poultry but pheasant is just too dry a bird for me.

Talk to you soon.

Clean off Your Plate!

Days 18 and 19

When I was a wee lad the policy at my house was that you couldn’t leave the table unless you finished everything on your plate. Needless to say, this led to many long hours at the dining room table by myself and turned me into an expert food smuggler.

I was a picky eater as a kid and wouldn’t finish what was on my plate because I either didn’t like it or I was too full. It instilled a lifelong sense of guilt in me if I didn’t consume everything served to me at mealtime. Looking at my eating habits recently has led me to believe this is actually an unhealthy eating habit.

When full you don’t have to eat the rest. Stop when you feel full and you won’t overeat. It’s just that simple. Wrap up what you have left over and save it for another meal. Or better yet, don’t take more than what you think you can eat in one sitting and think carefully when you decide how much of a portion to take.

Eating out? Ask for a doggie bag. I love doggie bags—especially if I am currently living someplace that tends to have people begging on the streets. On more than one occasion I’ve been asked for money by homeless people when coming from eating out. If I have a doggie bag with me in this situation it is theirs. They are usually very grateful and really, if you have more than enough and they have none then the logical thing is to give them your leftover slice of pizza instead of nothing at all.

Talk to you soon.

Oh $#*%! I Had Cake!

Days 16 and 17

Tonight I had some yummy birthday cake at my youngest niece’s birthday party.

Mmmmm….cake.

Are you saying, “Jason, I thought you were supposed to be eating healthier?”

Yeah, I know it’s not the healthiest thing one could eat but it wasn’t a cake of meat. Just because one is eating healthier doesn’t mean that they can’t indulge in a celebratory treat once in a while. Just keep it in moderation folks and don’t go pigging out on it every day.

Happy Birthday Sophie!

Talk to you soon.

2 Weeks of Meatlessness!

Day 15

I have now gone fourteen straight days without meat and I still feel great!

A big thank you goes out to the loyal readers and friends who have lent me their moral support in this endeavor! As of this writing this blog has had over 350 visits in just over two weeks!

If you have some feedback or useful tips that you want to share please post it in the comment section so people who don’t know me in real life or through Facebook can see what you have to say too. After all, one of the goals of this blog is to share what we know about eating healthier with others. Let’s let the people who just stumble upon this site through links and random searches share in any useful information we may uncover together.

And here is the official A Man Finally Eats his Veggies: A Meatless Year e-mail address: Meatlessman@yahoo.com in case you want to send me an e-mail.

Talk to you soon.

I Dream of Meat

Day 14

For me, there are a few signs that a new diet is working.

Weight loss – I was 212 lbs. when I started going meatless on November 2nd.

Now I am down to 207 lbs.

Another sign is that I have a steadier stream of energy. I continue to feel great with the exceptions of a few blips on the radar here and there. Otherwise, I feel much better than when I was eating meat.

Better digestion. That one speaks for itself.

The last sign of a new diet working may only apply to me. It’s a strange one:

I dream of the foods I’m avoiding.

You heard that right. Meats are invading my dreams! They have been kicked off of my meal plate so they are trying to sneak into my psyche!

Last night I dreamt I had to eat at McDonald's so I ordered a salad. On top of the salad greens were strips of bacon! Under the salad was a fine layer of chilled, pre-cooked ground beef. It was firmly coating the bottom of my wooden salad bowl (since when does McDonald’s have true dinnerware?!) and was an unavoidable presence.

Waking before I could put any beef or pork in my mouth, I was relieved that it was only a nightmare.

The same thing happened to me when I first did the Atkins Diet years ago. Around that time I dreamt I robbed a donut stand at an airport! Yeah, I know, weird and random.

And yes, I have done the Atkins Diet in the past. It does take off pounds quickly but they come right back if you go off of the diet plan. Not worth it for that and a few other reasons.

Talk to you soon.

Three Meals a Day

Days 11 - 13

I was feeling drained Thursday morning but felt better as the day went on. I think this was because I only had two meals the day before. Makes sense when one thinks about it—less fuel, therefore less fire.

Skipping meals can be way too easy to do in our busy adult world. I bet that’s why quick fixes like Pop Tarts, McDonald’s breakfast burritos and other unhealthy options are a frequently favored solution. That’s not as healthy as eating an apple and some cereal with milk.

According to my nutritionist, our metabolisms are like a furnace that always needs fuel to burn. If we skip a meal our systems don’t operate the most efficiently that they could and we suffer for it. This can also lead to being starved and maybe eating too much at our next meal.

To combat this one could prepare their meals beforehand. Have time the night before? Pack away a lunch for the next day or get all the ingredients ready for breakfast the next morning.

Some dieticians even say instead of eating just three meals a day you should include some healthy in between meal snacks. Some almonds or a piece of fruit at 2 in the afternoon can help you pick up your pace and help tide you over until dinnertime.

Talk to you soon.

Happy Veterans Day

Day 10

Felling okay today. It’s Veterans Day so I’m not as active. That’s one reason I am not feeling high energy. I believe being active or at least engaging in an activity that uses our brain in an active manner helps the blood flow.

And of course I slept in on this holiday. Clouds also obscure the sun where I am so serotonin levels are a bit down.

Not feeling energized but not feeling drained. That’s an okay place to be especially for a middle-of-the-week holiday.

Being Veterans Day it makes me wonder what they serve our soldiers, especially in wartime, to keep them at the top of their game.

Do they eat super healthy?
Is their chow tasty?
Is it like school cafeteria food? Prison food?
Is it better than those above food line variants or worse?

I hope it’s something healthy and balanced that uses quality ingredients. Our soldiers deserve it whether one thinks war is just or not. Happy Veterans Day.

Talk to you soon.

Is it Wrong to Eat Meat?

Day 9

Just over a week and I am still meatless and feeling good. I thank all the readers for their supportive comments on Facebook and in the blog itself.

Of course there are also the friends and people that are teasing and tempting me with meat products. They describe their steak dinners to me or promise to serve me succulent prime rib once my meatless year ends. They aren’t being malicious they just are having a little bit of fun while expressing that they love meat.

That’s great because I love meat too! I feel better physically not having it but I have nothing against the taste of it or the people that eat it. I’m not doing it to make a political point either. While I do think there are more humane ways the beef and poultry industries could treat their livestock, I don’t think the killing and consumption of animals is necessarily evil.

I have been told, “We have incisors for a reason” and there is such a thing as a food chain. Yeah, I can buy into all that.

I’m just doing this to see how it improves my health folks. So far so good.

In short, I believe carnivores and vegetarians have good reasons for choosing what they eat. A individual has the right to choose what they put on their plate.

However, trying something different once in a while never hurts. Just a thought.

Talk to you soon.

Made it though my first fully meatless week!

Days 7 and 8

It has been a full week since I have started going meatless.

How do I feel?

I have more energy throughout the day even when I go to bed at night.

Sometimes I am so busy I only get 6 hours of sleep and I still feel rested. (I do try to get 7-8 hours when possible.)

I do not feel starved or ravenous between meals.

When I do eat meals I feel satisfied but never stuffed.

My digestion is better. I’m more regular too.

I even lost 2 pounds!

Yeah, this feels great.

Years of feeling tired and all it took was cutting out meat, cutting down profusely on desserts and junk food and just eating balanced meals that include vegetables.

Also, I want to thank the readers who have been following throughout the first week for their support and feedback. It is greatly appreciated.

Keep checking out this space for more updates on my progress and tell your friends to stop on by—especially if they are considering trying to eat healthier.

One week down, fifty-one to go.

Talk to you soon.

Day 6

Today I was having a morning cup of coffee and my 8-year old niece suggested I flavor it with M&M's.

I had put in some 2% milk and a spoonful of blackstrap unsulphured molasses (my veggie friend, Audra, tells me it is a great source of iron, calcium and potassium) and of course I wasn't going to put in M&M's.

It did get me thinking though. No wonder we are one of the most obese nations in the world. We are brought up with candy as a constant presence in our lives!

Think about it for a second.

On Halloween we are told it is tradition to dress up in a costume and come back with a sack full of candy.

For Christmas (if one celebrates it) candy fills our stockings.

For Easter (again if you celebrate it) we get a basketful of sweets!

If we are good while grocery shopping Mom and Dad may just approve of you getting candy at the check out.

And, particularly during the holidays you can't go to most offices and not encounter a bowl of holiday themed candy sitting on the reception desk just waiting to be picked over!

I have never known a child to turn down free candy. Most even spend their allowance on some. Most adults I know also just cannot walk by a candy bowl without snagging a piece to munch on.

We have so much candy shoved in our faces, it's almost like we're programmed to take it, especially when it is free.

Candy is good once in a while but not if you consume a pile of it all at once. We adult humans all have brains. We can resist overconsumption of sweets if we just stop and think. That's all it can take.

Ask yourself if it is really necessary to eat this empty calorie confection?

If I am truly hungry are there healthier alternatives around?

Why do you have to eat it all now? It will still be available tomorrow.

My niece did end up plopping a piece of Bubble Yum into my coffee. I took it out and made her chew it.

Hope you like the taste of blackstrap unsulphured molasses. Brat.

Days 3-5

I'm back. I would have posted last night but I've been having some computer problems.

Here is another thing people have brought up to me about being veggie; balancing your food groups and avoiding junk.

One of the Rebeccas I know informs me that she knows some meatless people that consume a great deal of junk food. She thinks it's just as bad as including meat in your diet and I would have to agree.

I'm not against sweets. It's okay to treat yourself to ice cream or cake once in a while but it shouldn't be something you have everyday.

Giving up meat for better health means not just thinking about giving up beef, pork, poultry, seafood or whatever; it means looking at the foods that remain in your diet after you have made the change.

Ask your doctor or a nutritionist what you should be eating and how much are the daily servings of each. Make sure you are getting your proper allotment of dairy, grain, fruits and vegetables.

Giving up meat alone won't guarantee a healthy diet. Look at everything you eat.

Talk to you soon.

Day 2

Today will just be a brief update. I had complete balanced meals for dinner last night as well as for breakfast, lunch and dinner today. They were all meatless and consisted of items such as apples, bananas, Greek yogurt, whole grain bread, peanut butter and other healthy items that I will discuss in depth in further entries.

How do I feel? Well, very good for it only being 24 hours since I made the switch. The meals are satisfying but do not make me feel overstuffed and better yet—they don’t make me lethargic after I eat them!

Talk to you all later!

Welcome!

Day 1

Hello, my name is Jason C. and I would like to start off this blog by revealing to you, the reader, of a special talent I had when I was no more than five. I could make vegetables disappear and was quite accomplished at it.

Whether it was my parents’ dining room table, my grandparents’ kitchen table after school or even at school itself my veggies would be gone. Yes, if it was on my plate and it was green they would vanish before reaching the dishwasher.

But I didn’t eat them.

So where did they go?

In reality, they were not banished to some mystical otherworld. Instead they quietly migrated to any number of places; under my grandmother’s couch, behind my parents’ radiator or just plain into the trash when nobody was looking. If I didn’t want to eat it I would find a way to sneak it off my plate.

In retrospect, I should have been more thorough than this. Days, weeks, even months later one of my parents or grandparents would find the food I refused to chew, swallow and digest in the above hiding places. It got to a point where they were very watchful of me and my dinner plate. Often I would spend long nights at the dinner table trying to figure out how to escape my mealtime jail because those green beans were not going to pass my lips. No way. (Eventually, we got a dog so my escapes from the table were quickly obtained again with the help of my furry accomplice, Doyle.)

Naturally, as I got older and I had more say in what I ate, I gravitated more towards the foods I loved. Meats, cheeses, desserts and breads were favored while I shied away from salads and layering any veggies onto my sandwiches.

Yes, there are some veggies I did learn to like, potatoes, yams, corn, peas spinach but I still don’t eat them in the quantities I should. Sure, fruits are tasty but in my teens I much preferred to guzzle down a glass of orange juice rather than take the time to eat the fruit in its whole form where it has more natural fiber.

Preferring cow to carrot has caught up to me.

I am 5’ 9” and weigh 212 lbs when ideally I should be around 165 lbs.

I am not as energetic as I used to be and my lethargy has had a dour impact on the way I live my life.

Something has to change and nobody else can make the change for me.

This man in his early thirties needs to boldly declare:

Starting today, November 2nd 2009 I am going meatless for a year!
No beef, no pork, no poultry, no seafood and no whole eggs.

If you know me personally you are probably almost beside your keyboard laughing.
“He’s gonna give up steak?”
“What is he going to do on the holidays?”
“How will he get his protein?”

Do I know all the answers of how to go meatless? Of course not! That's why I am going through this 365-day trial and also why I asked some vegetarian friends of mine how their experiences were when they went meatless. They gave me some great advice on how to make the switch (or in some of their cases, how to reduce the meat intake.) So, thank you Audra, Chris, Joe, Melinda, Mike and both Rebeccas for relating their experience with their chosen ways of eating. I will share more of what they told me in upcoming blog entries.

If you have any helpful advice, please post it in the comments section. If you have any questions about going without meat maybe we can find the answer together. That's why I'm blogging about it!

It is not a dirty laundry blog, i.e. a gossip blog about all the quirky people and situations in my life. If it has to do with food and the food I’m eating it goes in here. If my Auntie Em passes away it will not be blabbed about in great detail here. However, what they serve after the funeral and what I consume might be written about.

Come back later in the week and I will tell you some more about making the switch. Who knows? Maybe you are also a meat eater who wants to go veggie. Maybe we can make the switch together.

Even if it’s only for a year.

Talk to you all soon.

- Jason C.