Meat Three Times Update: Entering Week 3
The good news: So far, Meat Three Times has been a smashing success. I've been keeping rigorous track of my meat consumption, and besides one day where I stretched it a little by eating meat for dinner, and then also eating meat at the cast party that followed dinner (which technically is Dinner 2, so doesn't count as another meal??? or maybe it's dessert, and I ate meat for dessert - gross??), I've been very successful. I decided quickly not to count chicken stock as a "meat" - I put a star by that meal in my calendar to keep track, but seriously. I'll probably buy some vegetable buillion soon though, just to take care of that issue.
However, as week 3 dawns bright and I have already eaten 1 meat since Sunday Breakfast (my first meal of the new week), I'm looking down the line and realizing we have a
problem: THANKSGIVING. Yes that great meaty holiday with all of its temptations is clearly visible on the horizon. One can't help but feel that for a non-strict non-vegetarian to make a fuss about meat over the Thanksgiving weekend could be construed as a little humbuggish. So what's a 3-timer to do? I think right now I'm going back and forth between making a good faith effort, basically knowing I'll fail but trying to keep the meat way down, and/or keeping good track and making up for it with a very spartan week next week. The other option - and one that I'm rejecting but that, let's face it, is tempting - is just to dive head first into the meat as soon as I get to Grandma's and then not emerge til Sunday. I trust in my fellow bloggers to hold me accountable.
Delicious no meat foods I've eaten in the past two weeks:
Egg and cheese croissant - sooooo good
More hummus and pita bread
More felafel
(Most of my foods have been very unhealthy this week due to evening commitments and a household flea problem - heavy cleaning = light cooking - so I'll submit more yummy and healthy vegetarian suggestions next time I post. But California Pizza Kitchen 5 cheese pizza with tomatoes is also good!)
The good news: So far, Meat Three Times has been a smashing success. I've been keeping rigorous track of my meat consumption, and besides one day where I stretched it a little by eating meat for dinner, and then also eating meat at the cast party that followed dinner (which technically is Dinner 2, so doesn't count as another meal??? or maybe it's dessert, and I ate meat for dessert - gross??), I've been very successful. I decided quickly not to count chicken stock as a "meat" - I put a star by that meal in my calendar to keep track, but seriously. I'll probably buy some vegetable buillion soon though, just to take care of that issue.
However, as week 3 dawns bright and I have already eaten 1 meat since Sunday Breakfast (my first meal of the new week), I'm looking down the line and realizing we have a
problem: THANKSGIVING. Yes that great meaty holiday with all of its temptations is clearly visible on the horizon. One can't help but feel that for a non-strict non-vegetarian to make a fuss about meat over the Thanksgiving weekend could be construed as a little humbuggish. So what's a 3-timer to do? I think right now I'm going back and forth between making a good faith effort, basically knowing I'll fail but trying to keep the meat way down, and/or keeping good track and making up for it with a very spartan week next week. The other option - and one that I'm rejecting but that, let's face it, is tempting - is just to dive head first into the meat as soon as I get to Grandma's and then not emerge til Sunday. I trust in my fellow bloggers to hold me accountable.Delicious no meat foods I've eaten in the past two weeks:
Egg and cheese croissant - sooooo good
More hummus and pita bread
More felafel
(Most of my foods have been very unhealthy this week due to evening commitments and a household flea problem - heavy cleaning = light cooking - so I'll submit more yummy and healthy vegetarian suggestions next time I post. But California Pizza Kitchen 5 cheese pizza with tomatoes is also good!)
I like this update!! And I love that you are tracking your meat consumption in a way more akin to a behavior analyst, not a playwrite. So that is great. We too have been changing our eating in the meat department (although some in the family have been kicking and screaming), although we have not tracked it as well as you have. I must say I made a great tofu stir fry and used tahini to give it some extra flavor. I made hummus and black bean burgers and ratatouille...yes, like the movie. It was awesome. Cabbage is something I bought and cooked for the first time this week. I also had an extremely spiritual experience with a Pomogranate. I cut it open and it was so sweet and incredible with all the fruity, fleshy seeds. Really, the creation of God is more awesome than our words can say. So instead of trying to say it, I bit into that fruit and felt it. Seriously, it was spiritual.
ReplyDeleteSo I am also preparing for a week of FOOD. And I have packed my apples and grapefruit so that I have something good to at least start with. But we must give thanks for Grace and just prepare ourselves to get back on the horse on Monday!!
Ooh, if you have a good recipe for Ratatouille, you must send it to me - I tried to make it once, but it turned out very strange, mainly I think due to the strangeness of the recipe.
ReplyDeleteGood call on the fibrous, plant-based foods to come along on vacation - I'd better pick some up too on my way out of town
I believe that picture of Tofurky is the most horrifying thing I have seen in a long while.
ReplyDeleteIt is very horrifying - that picture was of course meant to show how gross a tofurkey is, but even among the pictures that were meant to be appetizing, I never saw one that made me think, "Yeah, okay - I could eat that." Never.
ReplyDeleteYou all saw how well I did (read: didn't do) eschewing meat over the holiday - but whatever. I'm back on the horse this week. Love you, and I'm so glad we all got to be together.
I made lentil soup tonight. Very good. and very healthy. We dont have to eat Tofurkey to be healthy!!
ReplyDeleteOK, meat three times a week is really harder than it sounds!! I have been trying to do the Eat to Live diet, which is essentially vegan. But even so, I think with all my little "cheats" I am probably eating meat more than three times per week! Go figure! Of course the holidays are not helping. Someone brought meat balls in a crock pot to work on Tuesday. Try resisting that!! The smell alone just draws you toward it like the only cartoons where the hand comes out of the "smell smoke" and leads the person to the source of the smell. THat was me. I had a stomach ache the next day from eating SO much meat after being off it so long. As my boss said, it is like we are dating the diet and will really marry it after the new year!!
ReplyDelete:)
Yes, it is harder than you think at first - and those little Christmas parties everyone seems to be throwing now do NOT help!! But I do find that for me, the current way I'm doing it - accounting for my "cheats" and counting them - is working better for me than trying to go all vegetarian has in the past.
ReplyDeletelast week was TERRIBLE - I was not on track at all, diet-wise or meat-wise. But this week I'm doing super great, and my first meat meal was today. So hopefully this is a sign of good things to come.
Had lentil soup on Monday - deeee-licious. Also made Eggplant Parmesan over the weekend, which was really good but not good for me. :-/