370 Days Meatless June 2, 2019

Wow, well that went by rather quickly. 370 days of no meat!!! Whoda thunk it!!! Honestly, couple of years ago I wouldn't have thunk it. 🤣🤣🤣 But here I am a year and five days in without having consumed any beef, chicken, goat, lamb or pork. To be honest, it was actually quite easy to do, especially for those of you who know me, I was quite the carnivore. Now that's not to say that certain aromas don't trigger that pavlovian response (looking at you bacon 👀👀🥓🥓). They absolutely do. But I've been able to resist breaking my Meatless vow. Other aspects about having no meat are a bit more difficult. Allow me to elaborate.

One thing was that while I found myself to not feel as bloated and weighed down as I did when consuming meat, I found that I was always tired and rundown. I attributed that to not getting enough protein and iron in my diet. Aside from ramping up eating foods such as legumes, nuts and greens like spinach and kale I found that I had to supplement my diet with Iron and B-12 pills. I found that once I did so, I felt more like myself again and not as rundown.

Variety is also an issue. I've found myself experimenting with a number of fish that I hadn't tried before. Though I have to say no matter how I've tried to make salmon, it just doesn't work for my palate. If it's in a sushi roll it's fine, but baked, broiled or fried it doesn't work for me. So I've kept to white fish such as Tilapia, Swai, Catfish, Haddock and Flounder. I have to admit that I'm liking fish more and more.

In terms of veggie patties, I've experimented with a number of them but to be honest, most of them are so full of processed ingredients that most of them are not worth it. I find that the Wholesome Pantry line of veggie patties sold at Shop Rite work the best for me. They are very short on processing agents which make them a better choice. I've also paired them as best as I could with whole grain breads and sandwich flatbreads to minimize the amount of starches going into my body.

Speaking of starches, pasta is a big part of my diet that I've tried to limit to at least two times a week. I also use the whole wheat or vegetable pasta varieties that are easily found. In terms of rice, I also try to limit the amount of rice that I eat. I've also started experimented with Couscous and will soon be trying out Quinoa.

For snacking, I try to keep that to a minimum by eating fruits like bananas, apples and grapes. This gets a little harder while at the bar. But while in that arena, I try to curb the urge to eat by drinking lots of water and having some protein/Kind snack bars and nuts.

I've also leaned on modern technology by using a number of apps and devices. I keep track of my caloric intake by using the MyFitnessPal App by Under Armour and the Fooducate app to check on the quality of store bought items based on its ingredients. I also bought a fancy schmancy scale to measure a whole bunch of metrics and keep track of them with the Feelfit app. Anything helps, right?

No one said it would be easy but going a year of no meat hasn't been as hard as I thought that it might be when I decided to do so a year ago. The expected weight loss isn't there but after figuring what works and what doesn't, I expect to find myself in a better place a year from now. Here's to another year to self improvement.

Until Then Keep Stepping
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