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.