Blogocentric Formulations

Temporary Vegetarianism

So I'm about six days into a two week trial run as a vegetarian. My wife and I watched a documentary last weekend about how Americans have too much processed food, animal protein, and animal byproducts in their diet... and how reducing consumption of those foods in favor of a whole food plant-based diet can dramatically decrease blood pressure and cholesterol, as well as increase energy and the flavor of foods. Since my doctor recently told me I have to work on lowering my cholesterol anyway, I figured why not give this a try.

I'm not going to lie; it's been really, really tough. I just don't like that many fruits and vegetables to begin with, so I'm having a much more difficult time sticking to the diet than my wife. I dearly love meat and dairy and I didn't think I could cut out both cold turkey, so I decided I would try a vegetarian diet rather than going full vegan... or full "whole food plant-based," whatever the term for that is. My goal is to reduce the amount of dairy I consume and make vegan options as often as possible.

In the past week, here's what I've learned from the diet:

Almond milk (vanilla, sweetened) is an acceptable substitute for regular milk. It tastes almost the same and doesn't have the texture I dislike about soymilk, or the cardboard aftertaste I dislike about unsweetened almond milk.

My wife has being doing all the cooking this week (she's a saint), and I fully admit there are vegetarian recipes out there that are actually pretty tasty. Will I be a lifelong, no-exceptions vegetarian or vegan? Probably not. But I think I could definitely cut a significant portion of meat and dairy out of my diet by not having it with every meal. A vegetarian meal (or two) each day isn't such a bad thing.

Fake meat is stupid. Whether we're talking about tofurkey (turkey lunch meat made out of tofu), soy burgers, or seitan (meat substitute made from gluten, usually wheat), it does not taste the same as regular meat, no matter how much hardcore vegetarians/vegans claim it does (and how would they know??? ). If you want to eat meat, eat meat. If you want to be a vegetarian, be a vegetarian. But being a vegetarian and eating fake "meat" is just depressing. It's a less flavorful, constant reminder of what you used to enjoy eating.

I don't feel any appreciable difference in my taste buds or my energy level. If anything, I have lower energy because I'm hungry all the time. There's a pro and con to this; as someone who could afford to lose some weight, I'm not snacking when I'm bored because my only snack options are things I don't particularly enjoy (fruits and veggies). On the downside, it feels strange to eat regular meals and never feel full or satisfied.

The biggest upside to the diet, though, is that I definitely haven't felt that "gross" feeling that comes from eating too much meat, dairy, or processed foods. With an unrestricted diet, I would sometimes have meals where I overindulged or generally had that "Oh, I shouldn't have eaten all that" feeling that takes a couple hours to subside while my meal digests. That hasn't happened at all in the last week; I feel the exact same before and after every meal. None of that "wait 30 minutes after you eat" stuff... I feel like I could hit the gym five minutes after clearing my plate and not feel any ill effects.

Another downside is my temptation to eat processed foods. Since I've cut out meat, which is something that I really enjoy eating, I find myself much more tempted by processed foods. Chips, candy, and other snack foods are so much more tempting to me now (and I admit to giving into those temptations a few times this week), and I honestly wonder about the benefits of a diet that, at least for me personally, trades one "bad" food (meat) for something that's just as bad (processed foods that are technically vegetarian), if not worse for me.

The biggest downside is that I honestly don't enjoy food as much. I'm someone who truly thinks that food should be appreciated and savored and enjoyed... not just shoveled into your body to fuel and sustain it. And with this diet, meal time is definitely leaning toward the latter. I'm eating when I have hunger pangs that I need to satisfy. I'm eating when I need something in my stomach. But the things that go in my stomach aren't very appetizing to me. I've tried to be a good sport and - all due credit to my wife and her cooking - nothing has tasted bad this week. But it's hard get myself excited for a salad, or a veggie burrito, or a bean casserole. It's entirely possible that I just need to give it time to figure out the stuff I do like and build a menu around that... but with this first foray into vegetarianism, every item on the menu sounds pretty unappetizing at first blush because all I can think about is adding some sliced flank steak or shredded chicken on top of it.

Overall, this has been an interesting experiment, and I'm going to try it for another week to see how it is after the initial shock is over. I'm not entirely convinced that it's going to stick or that I'm going to be able to cut meat and dairy entirely out of my diet. But if there's one takeaway from this experience, it's been that there are definitely ways to cut down on the meat and dairy in my diet. I don't need meat and cheese or milk with every meal, and there's no question that it's healthier for us and a better ecological choice to reduce or cut those things out of our diet.

We watched a second documentary over the weekend about several New Yorkers who decide to become vegan for six weeks and measure the results. While the documentary itself seemed more like an anti-meat/dairy argument than a pro-vegan argument, the one thing I noticed is that at the end of the trial, while there was one who became a vegan and one who completely reverted, the others admitted to being "mostly vegetarian" or "mostly vegan." And that appealed to me for a couple of reasons. First, I think it's absurd to assume that any kind of diet is an all-or-nothing thing in the absence of any kind of health or moral reasons for the restriction. And second, I hate the idea of labels because I think they encourage guilt for going outside their specific guidelines. If you call yourself a vegetarian and someone walks in on you stuffing your face with a cheeseburger, there's an inherent sense of guilt/shame that you're somehow failing, like a reformed alcoholic or smoker who, in a moment of weakness, takes a drink or lights up a cigarette again. And unless you object to eating meat/dairy on a moral basis, why should you feel bad about eating a cheeseburger? I think it's more akin to an athlete than an alcoholic; you're disciplined and have a strict regimen most of the time... but there's no reason to feel bad because you want a day off every once in a while.

We'll see what happens after another week, but my inclination after the past few days is that I could definitely make an effort to consume less meat and dairy. I can have vegetarian meals on a daily basis and it won't kill me. I can swap out a few staples with healthier alternatives (like milk for almond milk) But I'm not going to feel bad about myself for wanting to order a steak or enjoy an ice cream cone every once in a while. Assuming nothing radical changes in the next week, I think I can safely call myself "mostly vegetarian." Or at least (and probably more likely), "partly vegetarian."