The Semi-Veg Chronicles - Reflections

Summer draws to a close. The sun is setting sooner, children are already back in school, and even I'm getting ready to head back to a whirlwind of lovely classes and lovely people. It's time to evaluate this summer's experiment of going semi-vegetarian.

At the beginning of summer, I "practically lived on chicken and turkey", and planned to "stick with semi-vegetarianism for the time being". A meatless meal or two a week seemed like a lot of time and bother.

Cue now, three months later. My meat consumption has plummeted. I'm eating barely any meat, and there's none in my fridge right now. I mostly eat meat when I'm out and about and there's no other options, like at a friend's barbeque. I've discovered a lot of my favorite foods are actually vegetarian. It's amazing how many veg options there are out there when I started looking for them. I feel just as good as I did eating meat, and perhaps even better, since I'm definitely eating healthier and remembering to eat more vegetables and fruit. I don't just grab some chicken on bread and call it lunch (instead, I throw cranberries on lettuce mix and call it lunch!). Even when I've been busy, I've managed to eat meatless.

My lunches now feature much more in the way of salad greens and hummus than chicken sandwiches, and I honestly don't miss it much. Occasionally I get a meat craving, but I go, have a burger or a fish taco, and it's gone. It's not that bad. I may have even lost weight, since I'm eating low-fat vegetarian. I haven't checked, but my clothes are feeling looser and I'm feeling better in general.

I like this. I like it a lot. I'm definitely keeping up a semi-veg eating plan during the school year if it's feasible. With all my research and cooking this summer, I think it very well may be.

If you've been wondering if a vegetarian diet might be a good thing, I urge you to try it (as always, have a chat with your doctor first). It's not as hard as it seems. I'm finding more things that are/can be vegetarian every day.

Now, since school is starting and my posting is going to be slimmer, I'm going to remove the new "Semi-Veg Chronicles" to a random update whenever I find something yummy to eat. The other articles will be posting normally although less frequently. I think I also may move my experiments with Fred the Tomato to the "whenever I feel like it" schedule. This way, I don't have pressure to keep it up, but I don't have to wait a month to tell you about the awesome new recipe I've found.

As always, cheers and thanks for reading.

Jane