In the Words of Leonardo da Vinci; "Truely man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men."
We are living in a vegetarian word, and I am vegetarian girl. Okay, so I borrowed a little from the Material Girl, but I don't think she'll have too many issues with it. Veggie life can be a wonderful, tasty thing, especially when it is shared. This is a glimpse into the life of one such veggie girl and to all the things that it does not mean one must have to go without.
Monday, December 31, 2007
New Year's Eve
In the Words of Leonardo da Vinci; "Truely man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men."
Sunday, December 30, 2007
A Night In
Here's a super easy recipe for Homemade Potato Skins (especially if you are looking for some New Year's Eve recipes).
Easy Potato Skins (easy to make vegan using olive oil or soy margarine and soy cheese)
Cooking potatoes
Butter, margarine, or seasoned olive oil
Cheese (or soy cheese)
Other optional toppings such bacon or sausage-like crumbles (ex- Morningstar or Boca), chili, sliced green onion, steamed broccoli, sautéed vegetables, etc.
* Slit or poke washed potatoes with fork or knife. Microwave (or bake) potatoes until soft (10-15 min approx depending on size, amount, etc). Quarter with knife. Scoop out excess leaving a shell and skin (approx ¼ in) and place skin-side down on baking sheet. Spoon or brush potato skin shells with melted butter or olive oil. Top with cheese and any other optional toppings. Bake at 400 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbling.
Paul Harvey: "Ever occur to you why some of us can be this concerned with animals suffering? Because government is not. Why not? Animals don't vote."
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Life is We Know It
Last night was my family's monthly game night. We get together (those of use who can) on a Friday night to play games, eat, and generally enjoy each other's company. I try to make things that I will eat as well as others in my meat-loving family. My brother made buffalo wings and my aunt fried up some cheese sticks and onion rings, but let's face it, this girl needs more than some fried vegetables. I made a quick, easy, and yummy cold veggie pizza with some
pre-packaged croissants, dill vegetable dip, and fresh vegetables. It was a nice switch from the heavy foods that surround the holiday season and the leftovers were appreciated by a shut-in friend of the family. It also made a nice leftover lunch today. (I often get more than one meal out of things I make, especially since my brother's are so picky.)
This evening for dinner I sauteed a nice big portabella mushroom with some diced onion and garlic in butter, than let it cook down with a touch of water and some balsamic vinegar (yum). I served it beside homemade mashed potatoes topped with some shredded cheese.
Easy Cold Veggie Pizza
Pre-packaged croissant dough (makes 6-8 croissants) (or other preferred dough)
Veggie dip (pre-made or other favorite), I prefer a dill dip here
Various vegetables diced, shredded, sliced, etc. (Such as shredded carrots, diced red onion, sliced mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, diced green onion, etc.)
Shredded cheese (4-8 oz depending on preferences)
* Roll out croissant dough to make one whole crust. Bake at temp indicated in package. Then let cool.
* Spoon layer of vegetable dip onto baked and cooled crust. Sprinkle and layer vegetables and cheese. Cut. Enjoy.
In the Words of Alice Walker: "Animals can communicate quite well. And they do. And generally speaking, they are ignored."
Thursday, December 27, 2007
2007 Reflections
I’ve been gathering quotes, cartoons, links, and other ideas for new blog entries. I hope you have enjoyed the glimpses into my life and look forward to hearing from you. If there is something you feel that is missing, please let me know. I always enjoy healthy conversation and hope that the New Year Rocks for everyone out there. Cheers!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Do You Know The Vegetarian Dragon?
In the Words of William Ralph Inge; "Deliberate cruelty to our defenceless and beautiful little cousins is surely one of the meanest and most detestable vices of which a human being can be guilty."
In the Words of Isaac Bashevis Singer: "There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is."
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!!!
Merry Christmas! Yes, the big day has arrived and the family has all been gathered around the tree and the table. For years, my family, has had a surf and turf Christmas dinner tradition (steak and seafood)... however, the last five years have included some adjustment for my needs. Generally, I grill a portabella mushroom or merely eat the thigns that have been served along side of my family's own traditions. This year along side the lima beans, corn, salad, homemade fries, dinner rolls, and wine I had a vegan BBQ riblet. It made me happy and was non-threatening to family seated around the dinner table who often seem rather concerned with what is on my plate or going to be on my plate. Last night we had an entertaining Christmas Eve with family, friends, lots of food, and karaoke. (My cousin has absolutely no sense of pitch or musical ability, but he sure isn't afraid to go for his all.)
Christmas traditions in my house are fairly simple... Christmas Eve includes my grandparents, random other family, friends, and whoever else we come across that will be spending the eve alone with finger food and sweets. It has slowly evolved over the years from pizza bites and bagel bites to more. Christmas morning we wake, not as early as it was when my brothers were younger, to swap presents and empty stockings. (My mother still wraps each one of us kids presents in seperate wrapping paper that matches the stuff she wrapped individually in our stockings. It comes from the years when we were little and seperate wrapping paper was so Santa's hansdwriting wasn't used.) We usually eat a late lunch (not uncommon for various people to take naps in between here depending on lateness of the Eve and earliness of the morn) with many of us still in pajama type clothing. It is a comfortable, relaxed sort of day for family. My sister even brought her dog the share the morning and mid-day with my pomeranian and my brother's boxer mix. (They all got new dog beds for Christmas.)
Hoep everyone had the merriest of holidays and got to spend enjoyable time with family, friends, and loved ones.
In the Words of Abraham Lincoln: "I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it."
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
Continuing Christmas Traditions Vegetarian Style
http://www.veganstore.com/vegan-food-items/sauces,-gravies-and-more/vegan-worcestershire-sauce/Page_1/422.html (this is an online store that i have ordered other items from)
In the Words of George Bernard Shaw: "While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth?"
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
What are your Holiday Plans?
From Berke Breathed, 'Bloom County Babylon': "Dear Lord, I've been asked, nay commanded, to thank Thee for the Christmas turkey before us... a turkey which was no doubt a lively, intelligent bird... a social being... capable of actual affection... nuzzling its young with almost human-like compassion. Anyway, it's dead and we're gonna eat it. Please give our respects to its family."
Monday, December 17, 2007
I have Not fallen Off the of the Planet
I know it seems i got lost and maybe I kind of did. The show took a lot out of me (it's over now and went very well) and now I seem to be fighting some sort of allergic reatcion to something in my everyday environment. (With my luck it will be something in our water.) I've been working on a menus right now for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for family and friends. We always have friends and family over Christmas Eve with a kind of open house with a variety of appetizers and finger foods. Christmas day they have steak and seafood... I usually experiment with mushroom options to go with the festive spread.
I've been craving black beans and rice (a favorite of mine), but kept forgeting to pick up black beans when out shopping. Finally, tonight I had everything I needed (the recipe as evolved over time and continues to do so). I love to serve it with corn chips, crsip back olives, and a sprinkling of cheese. (It is usually spicey enough to not need any extra hot sauce.) It's all part of the love to eat, love to eat, and love a little spice in life.
In the Words of Jimmy Stewart: "Animals give me more pleasure through the viewfinder of a camera than they ever did in the crosshairs of a gunsight. And after I've finished "shooting," my unharmed victims are still around for others to enjoy. I have developed a deep respect for animals. I consider them fellow living creatures with certain rights that should not be violated any more than those of humans."
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Love Those Limas
Here it is another day in my life and my world. Let’s talk about one of my favorite foods… lima beans. It is one of the vegetables that a lot of kids seem to hate or hide from… I was not one of them. Even as a kid I was fascinated by the lima bean… velvety inside with a protective skin on the outside. I used to drive my parents nuts at the dinner table by using my teeth to peel off the outside layer before eating the whole thing. As an adult I often serve lima beans with meals (like tonight I paired them beside my angel hair pasta) or put them into things (like soups). Instead of being something that I struggle to eat they are a comfort food from childhood that I have grown up with. Unfortunately, my picky brothers do not appreciate the lima bean in the same way that I do and don’t eat them when fixed (the story of many of vegetable fixed in this family). So cook them up plain, add some seasoning (garlic and pepper was tonight’s seasoning of choice), or add them to your favorite soup or stew. No matter how you like them, celebrate the lima bean and all the food love they harbor in that little package.
Check out these lima links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lima_bean
http://www.foodreference.com/html/flimabeans.html
From the mind and mouth of George Bernard Shaw: "A mind of the calibre of mine cannot derive its nutriment from cows."
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Love in Non-Vegetarian World
I didn’t really get the inspiration to actually cook today. (Leftovers and frozen pizza.) I was in writing mode and stuff in the creative mode working hard on a manuscript. I’ve been contemplating a few things regarding being single and vegetarian in a non-vegetarian world. I haven’t really met anyone to even think about serious, however the idea does bring up some thoughts regarding this lifestyle that I have chosen and in many ways has chosen me. I’ve had the discussion multiple times with my family where they have asked things about potential children I might one day have. I plan on raising any children I may one day have vegetarian and I have never hidden that fact, but I also don’t want to discriminate against a potential love of my life just because they eat meat. Let’s be honest if I only dated vegetarians I would lead a very lonely life. How does love and relationships factor into finding common ground? I know in my heart and spirit that living without consuming flesh is the best way for me and for a lot of people, but not everyone believes that way. I know so few vegetarians and vegans around me it makes me wonder how others deal with things like dating, love, relationships, and meat.
In the Words of Robert Louis Stevenson: "Nothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, yet we make the same impression on Buddhists and vegetarians, for we feed on babies, though not our own."
Monday, December 3, 2007
Recipe Evolution
In the Words of Leo Tolstoy: '"Thou shalt not kill" does not apply to murder of one's own kind only, but to all living beings; and this Commandment was inscribed in the human breast long before it was proclaimed from Sinai.'
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Non-Forbidden Fruit
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Kepping It Real
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Happy Veggie Day (every day is veggie day)
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Hello Again.
Eating on The Run
It's tech week for my show and therefore means that Ill be spending a great deal mroe time at the theater. I was there until about midnight helping paint and random set stuff (I needed a break from looking at costumes) and will be there every night through opening weekend. It also means a lot more meals there or on the run. When I got there tonight the pizza they ordered arrived shortly after I did. I was offered food, but I'm trying to limit my pizza consumption for the most part this week, plus I was pretty sure there was meat on everything. The whole meat thing came up later when asked about Thanskgiving and if I got any turkey. As the mini discussion evolved on if turkey is meat or fowl on came the almost expected comment, "I bet you're no fun on a date." They always think they are funny and they generally always thing they are being original. (There are, of course, multiple variations of this aged joke.)
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thanksgiving Lull and Leftovers Jump Start the Christmas Season
It’s the day after Thanksgiving and all through the house not a person is cooking, not even a roast. Leftovers abound from yesterday’s feast. Stuffing and gravy, crackers and cheese. It’s that time of year where much of America is enjoying the leftover lull of the day after Thanksgiving and filling the stores for the biggest shopping day of the year. No cooking is going on in my house today, by anyone. There are plenty of things left to reheat or just enjoy straight from the fridge.
Of course now that Thanksgiving is behind us the Christmas season starts into full swing. (I am so glad I wasn’t anywhere near a store today to deal with the crowds and people. It was enough just to see the clips of people shopping at 5am this morning trying to scope out the best deals.) Christmas decorations will start to be pulled this week and I have started menu planning for our Christmas Eve Gathering as well as Christmas dinner . We always have friends and family over Christmas Eve for an Open House type deal with an appetizer type spread. It’s nice to just sit back and spend time with each other the night before the big day. My grandparents come over, a friend sating back to elementary school and her husband and kids, as well as other assorted family and friends. Bring on the Christmas season. (Just keep me away from the crowded malls with screaming kids and determined bargain hunters.)
Here’s to hoping the season is grand. Cheers!
Check me out here: http://www.VegSpace.com/greenapple
Thursday, November 22, 2007
A Vegetarian Thanksgiving, Just Like Everyone Else’s…. Well Almost
It’s Thanksgiving Day. A day of food, family, football games, parades, and leftovers. I got most of my food done last night (mushroom dressing [recipe below] and ranch cheese balls). The chopping, the sautéing, the mixing were all done then this morning and I did not have to get out of bed as early. (Yay for sleeping in… at least a little bit.) Then today I just had to bake the stuffing with everything else that was in the oven and make the mushroom/onion gravy once we got to the firehouse kitchen where this year’s family Thanksgiving meal was. I would much rather get things done ahead and stick in the refrigerator the night before.
Thanksgiving in my family, like pretty much everything else, is a noisy, active, busy day. We always have lots of food, lots, of people, and lots of leftovers to take home. You’re probably wondering about the whole vegetarian feasting with a meat eating family thing. First off, even with extended family present I am the only vegetarian. Most people don’t say anything anymore because it just is the way it is and the way it has been for a while. (For many of the in-laws the only way they remember it.) Second, I never go hungry and have just as much opportunity to fill my plate and overeat with the rest of them. While they feasted on their meat dishes and more traditional stuffing (as well as their traditional oyster dressing), I stuffed myself with mushroom dressing and homemade mashed potatoes smothered in mushroom gravy. The cupboard were full of different kinds of dressings, vegetables like homegrown corn (we get it in the summer then freeze it our self) and green beans, salad, rolls, a few casseroles (some I eat, others I avoid), relish trays of cheese and pickles, and lots of dessert choices from pies and cakes to puddings and bars. (I come from a family with sweet teeth, although somehow I am not one of them.) We ate, took the time to catch up with each other, chased the overwhelming number of small children that were running around, played games, and everyone took home leftovers.
My Fabulous Mushroom Dressing
One bag breadcrumbs (14-16oz bag approx or other preferred)
About one onion cut (and put through food chopper)
About 4 stalks of celery (chopped than put through chopper)
Package of mushrooms (I put most of them through chopper, then thinly slice rest)
Oil (to sauté vegetables… I also use a little water to sauté with to help cut amount oil used)
½ c. butter, margarine, or soy butter substitute
2 green onions chopped
2-3 c preferred liquid (I use a vegetable broth or you could use any combo water, broth, etc)
Sautee all vegetables except green onions. Mix bread crumbs, all vegetables (sautéed and not) in large bowl. Add warm liquid and melted butter or margarine. Mix well incorporating all the ingredients well). I took a masher with a wide bottom and mashed and mixed a little at the end. Put in baking dish. Bake at 350 until done.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Just A Couple More Days Before Thanksgiving
I got the grocery things needed for Thanksgiving and started discussions about the food for Christmas Eve (we always have a Christmas Eve thing with finger food and lots of people). We have definitely entered that busy season of family, food, and holiday cheer. For me, it means meal planning not just for myself and others like me but helping prepare food that will appease both vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. Oh, the excitement that is upon is.
Hope ya’all are staying healthy, happy, and warm.
As a pre-holiday extra check out this link for more vegetarian information, recipes, and commentary: http://talkingvegetables.tripod.com/
Anther Day in Paradise
It's after midnight and is the start of a busy week. I'm getting ready to go into technical rehearsals with the show and prepping for the Thanskgiving food that I am taking to the large family gathering on Thursday. (So far I am taking my homemade stuffing, gravy, and an appetizer... and probably lima beans because i love love love them.)
In the words of Harvey Diamond: "You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car."
In the words of George Bernard Shaw: "Think of the fierce energy concentrated in an acorn! You bury it in the ground, and it explodes into an oak! Bury a sheep, and nothing happens but decay."
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Just a Video
Thanksgiving Thoughts. (I spent much of my day at the theater with set and costume stuff.)
From Henry David Thoreau: "One farmer says to me, "You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make the bones with;" and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying himself with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle."
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Vegetarianism is Not a Punishment
I’ve been going through recipe ideas for Thanksgiving. In my family everyone brings and almost everyone can cook very well. I first learned to cook from watching my mother, my grandmother, and my aunt; often needing a stool to help stir something or watch. Most measurements were by hand or coffee cup and everything was to taste. Now I pour over meal ideas a cross between the traditional German-influenced cooking of my family and the adventure of a meatless cuisine. I contemplate what new things I can expose my family to without too many complaints. They aren’t always as adventurous with food as I am, but I am continuing to work on them.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Pasta Salad and Thanksgiving Humor for the Vegetarian
So, I'm still not feeling great and what I really want to to just feel better or for someone to baby me a little. That's not going to happen. I made some seasoned crackers (the kind where you use veggie oil and seasoning at crackers than bake for 15-20 minutes) and homemade pasta salad. I don't have a recipe for pasta salad. I have certain things I like in it and often use, but in the end it comes down to whatever I find in the cupboards and refrigerator. Today's combination is sun-dried tomatoes (sliced into smaller pieces), black olives, some sliced mushrooms (left from last night's pasta), almond slivers, some cheese bits (you could use none or use soy cheese crumbled, shredded, chunked, whatever), a blasamic vinegrette that I like, and a touch of prepared pesto (I've gotten in the habit of using just a bit to add a little bit of something else to the mix) all mixed with the pasta. You can really use just about anything you have on hand and that you enjoy together. My mom usually uses colorful peppers (I'm not a big fan of them raw) and diced tomato (I prefer the taste and texture of the sun-dried or semi-dried). Currently, it is sitting in the refrigerator letting everything kind of crisp and marinate together.
For Thanksgiving this year, as with most years, my family is planning a big shin-dig with everyone getting together. We have certain traditions that seem to appear every year from pretty much the same people. Especially after going vegetarian it became important for me to make sure there were foods that I would and could eat without giving up some of my holiday favorites. I always make homemade mushroom stuffing, vegetarian gravy of some type, some type of vegetable that has not been corrupted, and often some appetizer type thing (my stuffed mushrooms are always a big hit with vegetarians and meat-eaters alike). Hope all your plans for the season are fabulous.
Here's a little something to make you smile and maybe think too.
From Albert Einstein, physicist: "Nothing will increase chances of survival for life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
Thursday, November 15, 2007
"Where's the Meat?"
It doesn’t really matter why I became a vegetarian. It’s my life and my body. I wanted to be better and for me this worked. I shouldn’t have to explain myself. I’m open to reasonable discussions and honest curiosity, but not hysterical rants about the evils of vegetables and my supposed responsibility to serve them meat. Sometimes it would be nice to have a real ally; someone who actually understood. I never expected it to be completely easy, but I had hoped that after this long the attacks from family would have ceased. I may not like it, but I have never once attacked them or yelled at them for their continuing to hunt. (It helps that their aim is so bad they can barely hit the broad side of a barn.) I wonder sometimes how important it would be to marry a vegetarian like me, then things like this happen again and I almost don’t want to risk the idea of a long-term relationship with a meat-eater.
Let me leave with a quote that just seems fitting.
From Scott Adams (The writer of Dilbert): “You think I’m one of those wise-ass California vegetarians who is going to tell that eating a few strips of bacon is bad for your health. I’m not. I say it’s a free country and you should be able to kill yourself at any rate you choose, as long as your cold dead body is not blocking my driveway.”
No Chicken Soup, Please
http://www.familyresource.com/blog/category/health/cold-and-flu-remedies/
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Eating Out
When I first made the decision it was very difficult on my various members of my family. Surprising me the most at the time was the fact that my grandparents were the most supportive as it would seem to challenge their years of life the most. (“Whatever it takes as long as you are better.”) There were often times at restaurants when my mother seemed to have to apologize to wait staff that I was one of “them.” It always seemed in that tone… you know the one… the one apologizing for something that their kid or parent or someone has done. Then one afternoon I got a burger that was supposed to be veggie and wasn’t…. I never chew, just biting into the now strange substance was enough to make be almost vomit on the table. After nearly two years of hearing my mother utter phrases like, “I’m sure now your body has healed enough that you could start adding meat back…” she was suddenly ready to go up to bat for her vegetarian daughter. I was floored as she called over the waitress that fateful afternoon and calmly explained and asked to see the manager regarding the kitchen mistake. It seemed in that moment realization finally had come to her that this was not a passing phase and I wasn’t just “going to get over it.”
In a rather short amount of time my mother went from apologizing to wait staff to explaining and to making sure that they knew so that there was no misunderstanding. (Who needs a veg shirt when your mom is ready to tell the world?) She even told the sample lady at the grocery how long I had been a vegetarian when shopping for produce one day. Eating out is no longer her making excuses for the “freaky eater” at the table, but informing the staff that its not just I don’t what that ham on my salad or sandwich, but that I REALLY don’t want anything to do with it. (She even has called the pizza place to ask them twenty questions about what is in what and complain that an order was messed up and that her daughter is vegetarian and can not eat whatever the mess up usually is.)
A typical family trip to meet somewhere to eat often includes Grandma calling and making sure that where-ever we go has something that I can eat. (She does seem to have a thing for buffets.) Followed by at least two people asking me while we are looking at the menus if there is something I can eat and making sure that I will not go hungry. (This is often where one of my “sensitive” brothers asks me if I want some labeled “meat-lovers” or how raw I like my steak.) We order drinks. (And somewhere there is a lemon in water discussion.) Then we order and at least someone (no including myself) makes sure that whoever is taking our order is aware that there is a vegetarian in their midst. In the end it is kind of sweet and well-meaning. I know not every person who ever takes our order cares why I ordered what I did, but in many ways it means that my nutty family has finally found a sense of normalcy and acceptance in the fact that I do not eat meat and have no intentions of ever doing so again.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
A Dream
Sometimes, I feel like that... that I live in a world surrounded by meat and so often struggle to avoid it. Commercials boats images of steaks and chicken. Right now there the airwaves and print media seem bombarded with images of roasted turkey. Sometimes, I really miss that sense of normalcy. Instead I make special requests whenever I am out to dinner with family or friends. I have few vegetarian friends around me, but most are not people I see or associate with everyday. Generally, my friends respect and accept the differences in my eating habits, but often I just wish that i didn't not feel like an island of vegetables floating in a sea of raw meat. Five years and some things seem much easier, but other things are definitely not.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Trying Something New with Old Fav's
Sunday, November 11, 2007
An introduction of sorts
Five years ago I found myself at the threshold of vegetarianism. At first the idea seemed a bit scary; I am after all from a long line of Ohio hunters and farmers. Life here often seems centered around football games, deer season, and shared meals for holidays, picnics, or just because. Thanksgiving is a marked a huge turkey and sighting guns in and the prep for deer season. Christmas Day is marked with steak and shrimp. Burgers, hotdogs, and chicken BBQ seem the obvious choice in summer-fare. Then at nineteen, I got sick. What I ate often caused pain, but the pain came from not eating as well. I tried the route the doctors laid before me, but was unsettled with the idea of spending a life on medication. I tried herbs and initial diet changes, but I often felt as though I had hit the glass ceiling. I could see where I wanted to go, I could almost touch, but somehow it stayed out of reach. I wanted to be better and I wanted my life back. I had researched from the beginning, constantly reading and talking to others. It kept coming up… vegetarian. At first it seemed extreme and far-fetched. While, I myself had never hunted, I had to taught to handle one at a young age and it was somewhat expected that one day I would join my cousins, uncles, brothers, Grandpa, and Father in the woods one day. Hunting and farming was a tradition after all. We had been brought up with a respect for the animals whose lives were taken whether from a farm, water, or woods. Nothing was taken that was not going to be used. Game was often shared with family or friends who either did not hunt or did not get anything. It was all I had ever known. But I wasn’t getting any better. And I had to try something. So I made the original goal of one month. Thirty days to let my body adjust (think detox almost) and see if it made any real difference. I woke up one morning and knew that was the day. Without looking back I armed myself with determination and willpower that would get me through the first days. I had figured after the thirty days I would then decide if it would make any different and if it was something I would stick to. By the end of two weeks I knew there was no going back. Five years later, here I am. I got my health back without drugs and potentially dangerous side-effects and I have lasted far longer than most predictions.
For me, I don’t think much about the things I gave up. I may have gave up the sense of my family’s normalcy, but I also gave up the pain. I also gained a sense of awareness about what I put into my body and about the world as a whole. Slowly my family as adapted to the reality that vegetarianism for me is not merely a phase that I will “grow out of.” They accept the veg-friendly food at picnics, cook outs, and even Holiday dinner tables. Most of them have stopped picking about when I will just “go back to normal” and eat meat. The adjustment from omnivore to vegetarian has not be nearly as difficult for me as it has been on various members of my family. Sometimes, I still feel as though it would have been a easier if it had been a road I had not taken alone, but I am almost everyday glad that it is a road I have taken.