Here's a Story....

Stop reading if I've told this story before...

When I first became a vegetarian 13 years ago (still eating fish), I didn't have any of the resource that are so widely available today. So I learned a lot through my mistakes (Clam Chowder has bacon in it! What?!). At first my only concern was not eating hunks of meat, today I'm much stricter and if something has even a little chicken stock in it I wont eat it.

I decided to become a vegetarian on New Years Eve (as a resolution!) in the middle of a family ski trip to Whistler. My last meal as a red meat eater was steak. I remember vividly on the drive home we stopped at McDonalds for breakfast, and it was a big deal that I got a pancake meal instead of an Egg McMuffin.

When I was right around 14 I decided to give up chicken. I don't really remember why, but I think I was just sick of eating so much chicken. When I was little I used to get sick with terrible stomach pains, and once I gave up meat those stomach aches were a thing of the past.

For the most part my family has always been very supportive of my decision. I think that in the beginning this was because they thought it was just a phase. And I am grateful for all of the times someone made me a special dish because they knew I wasn't eating the pork loin. 

That leads me into something interesting I've found... the backlash you sometimes get when you tell people that you are cutting out animal products. You would think that you were saying their baby was ugly or something. People get defensive and sometimes angry. It is one thing to give up red meat and chicken, but cheese?! I had to try not to get defensive myself, but it's difficult not to. I'm constantly confused as to why people take it so personally what I do and don't eat. I don't think I need to come up with some grand reasoning for my choice. I guess I get it, its different and different is scary... but honestly, I'm not trying to turn you into a vegan or a vegetarian. My choices are my own, I'm just doing what feels right for my body.... do what feels right for yours and we don't have to argue!

Anyways! I had a pretty rough time with food today, I may have eaten the better half of a bag of tortilla chips while at my grandma's house. I think part of this was because I haven't really wrapped my head around what I want to eat. How much sugar am I going to cut out? So dairy is out, but what if it is in something... like lets say a cookie? :) Eggs are back in... as is fish. So now I'm going to try to protein pack my diet and see how that feels. Only two servings a fruit a day?

I also looked at labels today and found that nothing I eat has cholesterol in it.... and half of the things I eat claim to lower cholesterol... sigh...

Blended oats with pumpkin! I didn't add any sweetener... It was just decent, I missed the sweetness that bananas or fruit gives to the mix! Lots of chia seeds and walnuts with the soy yogurt and soy milk (hooray for protein!).

I'm obsessed with salsa on top of salad! It makes it so much easy to skip all that chopping!
I buy a local brand from central market that has big chunks of onion, tomato and celery!
(Also those are Vegan tofukey beer brats! So yummy and packed with protein!) 

Tomorrow is the NFL draft! I'm going to a draft party! Anything football gets me excited!