Ugh...another list!

It can be hard for someone who has decided to live a plant-based diet to accomplish such a hefty goal. The cravings for meat and dairy often cause most people to cave. When I first started to transition to this new lifestyle, a lot of you know how hard it was for me. I would go a few days without eating meat, then I'd cave and munch on a hamburger or something. Then, I'd realize how terrible I felt because of the meat that I started eating again, so I'd commit to stop once more. I was on this roller coaster for a few years and I don't even like roller coasters. It was at the beginning of December of this year that I decided that I needed to step off the coaster and start living a new life. I started to slowly wean myself off of meat.

It's been a little over a week now and I'm going strong. I can't say that it's been easy and that I haven't had any cravings, but I can say that I haven't given in. I started noticing some things a few days ago, to which I took note. In fact, I did what I do best and wrote a list. The following is a list of a few things that I've noticed since going vegetarian. Enjoy!

• Meat is everywhere and in almost everything. You don't really think about it until you don't eat it anymore. In the past week I've read nutrition labels, probed people as to what they've put in their dishes, had to make a lot of dishes myself, and noticed all of the meat that I've put in the food. We live in a society that wouldn't know what to do if we didn't have meat as the main protein in our diets.
  
• It is truly an addiction. This was one of my biggest issues. I've grown up with it in my life. It seemed to be the staple to every meal that I ate. I remember the burnt chicken, hamburgers, and steaks that my dad would cook up every night. We had turkey or roast every Sunday, spaghetti with meat sauce, pork chops, meat balls, and other meat products during the week. It's no wonder that an addiction is formed. We are almost expected to have for every meal.
  
• I have craved bacon more than I have ever craved bacon in my life. I don't even like bacon but I have wanted it so bad. The smell is intoxicating. It makes your mouth salivate. The only thing that has kept me from snitching a piece is all of the grease that drips from it. 
  
• I feel better. I'm less bloated. I'm noticing the other things that I'm eating that seem to bother me. I've noticed that I can eat dairy in small doses, but if I eat a lot of it, I have the same issues as if I ate a small hamburger. Cheese hates me, just not as much as meat.
  
• I could probably live off of peanut butter. I love it. It's a godsend. I probably have a couple of spoonfuls everyday. Yeah, I'm a monster. I also realize that I still hate mushrooms. I probably will never like them. I do however, find olives to be quite tasty.
   
• People have a misconception about seafood. I'm going to set things straight. Yes, there are some vegetarians who eat it, but that doesn't mean that it's not meat. It is just as much of a meat product as a steak. I don't eat any form of meat. That means that I don't eat fish. Fish is meat.

When I first talked about this last week, I said that I'd probably falter a little. I don't see that happening anymore. I think that it helped to slowly wean myself off of it during the month of December. The addictions that I've had in the past don't seem to be as strong as they were in the past. That being said, I'm slowly weaning my way off of dairy. I'm hoping that by the beginning of February that I'll be completely off of it. I think that'll be the hardest because mama loves her some cheese!

I know that a lot of you don't understand why I'm doing this. This is how I see it- I have a lot of digestive issues. I've tried for years to figure out what is wrong with me. I've mentioned in recent blog posts some of the discoveries that I've finally made in regards to my health. The doctors have told me that I need to eat in a way that will make me feel better. I've noticed that living a plant-based diet has been the only way in which I have felt good.  I'm feeling better. I'm feeling free. I know it seems weird to those who don't have these issues, but for me it's like a weight is being released. I'm still on a long road to feeling better. This is just one of the major steps that I've taken in order to feel better.

-Jer