Saturday, 1 February 2014

One Month Anniversary - 31 days as a vegetarian


So I've successfully done January as a vegetarian, and for a proportion of this time, vegan as well sort of by accident. So I suppose now is the time to take stock, evaluate the past month and see where this leaves me.

Was it as hard as I thought it would be?

Not, not really. It started off seeming quite limited, but as time went on, I found out which substitutes were best (Linda McCartney sausages a real winner, dehydrated soy chunks *vom*). I also got to try out some vege options at restaurants which were pleasantly surprising, as well as finding a couple of vegetarian restaurants in Birmingham. I was still able to have junk food (chips, chocolate, doughnuts) so didn't feel *too* deprived. I am very excited to go and check out 100%Vegan, a new shop thats just opened in Digbeth under the Warehouse Cafe (see earlier blogpost for a review) so hoping to try out some new items at some point.

Has it made a difference to my health?

I suppose to be able to give accurate results for this, it would have been useful to have had my cholestoral and blood pressure tested beforehand. Vegetarian diets are one of the best for reducing both of these things, but I don't have a comparison, so the jury's still out.

At times I have felt a little dizzy and lightheaded - however I have been pretty bad at taking vitamins regularly, so this is something I would have to do religiously if I choose to continue.

Weight loss? Well this was never about weight. I did start off calorie counting - mainly to check that I was getting enough calories if I wasn't eating meat. I have some of those wifi scales - so here's the graph for Jan-Feb - I started being vege on 1st Jan.


So, a small, yet definate downward line. I generally fluctuate around 55-57kg, but after some indulgence over Nov-Dec, this increased slightly so around 58kg on one day. So as a by product of this diet, it does seem that it has reduced slowly (this was with 5 meals out in 2 weeks as well). 

Do I feel any better/different?

I think I feel less bloated, but again that might just be me thinking that I should (placebo?). However I don't now feel uncomfortably full after meals. I still have to strike a balance between portion sizes though as I do find at times (generally about 6pm when I'm waiting for my second train) that I'm pretty damn hungry. 

My skin doesn't appear to have changed much - but again not sure I would see a difference in just 1 month. My boyfriend seems to have reduced his snoring, since we changed over completely to soy milk, so thats a definate bonus. I've heard other people feel very clear headed after they cut out meat/dairy but I haven't really experienced this (my head is usually a fuzzy muddle of thoughts anyway). 

Do I really miss meat?

Yes. I'd be lying if I said no. I was practically salivating at the sight of my friend's burger the other day. I can look at the meat in a supermarket and not feel an overwhelming sense of rage or disgust. However, it has become easier for sure. I think as I can become more experienced in cooking vegetables to make them tasty and experimenting with combinations I'll really start to appreciate them for their own flavours and taste, rather than seeing them as a poor substitute. There are some really great recipes I want to try out when I eventually move into my new house with oven that actually works. 

Am I going to keep this up?

Now, I can't promise anything. I don't know how sustainable this diet is long term for me, however I am definately convinced by a diet that contains significantly less meat and dairy. I'm sold on soya milk - it's awesome. I think if it did come to it in the future where I had no choice but to eat meat (say for example, on holiday or at someone's house), I might do it. I have read about the rise of the "flexitarian" - people who only eat meat about once a month, and that seems not too bad an option, if I really thought I was struggling. I think if I did move back to meat I'd stop buying supermarket meat and try to source local farm shops etc to avoid factory farming. It's hard to say. I'm going to try and continue as much as possible, but at this point I'm not going to make any promises.

However being a vegetarian so far, hasn't really been that bad. Tonight I am off to my friends house where they will cook me my own special vegetarian sausages toad in the hole (with egg free hole).