30 Days

Paul and I eat what I consider to be a very healthy diet.  We eat a lot of vegetables, fruit and whole grains, with the occasional meat added in.  We probably eat 1 - 2 meat-based meals every week or two.  We're practically vegetarians at home.  However, when we eat out it's a different story...well, for Paul.  I'm more apt to eat vegetarian at restaurants and other food venues because I'm really uncomfortable with factory farming and the mass production of meat.  The meat we eat at home is local, humanely raised meat.  That's not to say that I never eat meat when I'm out, but it's not frequent.  Paul, on the other hand, tends to eat more meat when we're out than he does at home.

Recently, we watched a couple of documentaries that promoted the benefits of a vegetarian diet.  Paul didn't say much at first, but about two weeks ago he informed me that he was going to eat completely vegetarian for a month.  He wanted to see if it had any noticeable effect on his health, especially his digestive tract which has been bothering him the past few months.

So, last week we committed to a 100% vegetarian diet.  It's not hard for me because I spent 12 years as a vegetarian and I really prefer vegetarian foods.  But, I am noticing how much meat is served other places. I attended three end of the year parties and a potluck meeting during the past week, and most of the food at each event was meat-based.  I forgot what it was like to truly be a vegetarian.

So far, Paul is really enjoying the vegetarian diet and is noticing a difference in how his intestines feel.  I'm not sure that we'll commit to it fully after the month is over, but I think there is a possibility that we will.  I don't really like to be bound by rigid rules and labels, so I think if we do become "vegetarians" we'll still allow ourselves the flexibility to eat meat in very rare instances (e.g. when we're in Maine this summer...I refuse to go to Maine and not eat lobster).

So, we have three weeks left in our little experiment.  I'm curious to see how it turns out.