Tofu

     I'm normally very against the food item we call tofu. The thought of it and the concept just makes me sick. However, with this new vegetarian diet, it's hard to find things out at restaurants. So today when my lady decided to take me out for dinner, I had to scour the menu for something. Ramen is one of our personal favorites, and this place only had one kind without meat. It did have tofu. I swallowed hard and figured I'd give it a shot.

     I'm still no fan of it at all, but I was at least able to eat it, and it wasn't the worst thing in the world. The rest of the ramen had some spice to it, but it was still fairly good. So now because of it, I'm willing to give tofu a bit more of a chance. I still won't be eating it regularly but I'm making progress on expanding my food choices.

I broke

Whelp, I knew it was only a matter of time, I had been doing very good. 4 days and counting without meat at all. I won't call today a step back. Again, I am only doing this for myself.

Anyway, today was a long work day, on my feet all 8 hours and no break. While we were not busy, but a break just wasn't an option. So at the end of the day there was a hot food order than came in. The people never showed up to pick it up, so at the end of the night I got to take it home. It was an order of chicken tenders. It was food, I was hungry, I have no regrets. I'll eat better tomorrow.

Another personal goal for tomorrow is to try and drink more water. I know I don't do it enough, so I'm going to aim for maybe 5 glasses. We'll see how that goes.

Week One Update

     So I've been on this for almost a week now. It hasn't been to hard yet, but I do miss the convenience of a burger. I haven't been on the straight and narrow. So yes, I've had some meat throughout this time. Again, I'm doing this for me, no one else. I don't see it as cheating. My goal is to become healthier and to feel better.

     I've also started a journal for this. Basically I have to keep track of everything I eat or drink. It will help I think more further down the line. I'm also trying to eat something every 2-3 hours. It was part of a diabetic diet my mother was on years ago. Eating small portions and snacks all day to keep yourself full. So far that's been helping keep my blood sugar steady. That's a plus.

     This upcoming week, I am switching my focus more towards prior mentioned diet. I also plan to add more water to my life in forms other than coffee. I also want to start sharing some more recipes with you all.

   

Why I'm doing this

     Why I’m transitioning to vegetarianism.

     I honestly don’t need a reason at all to do anything, I would just like to be honest and share it with you all. Also I want to see how far I have come. So I’ll real quick bore you with a story and my current feelings on my own personal diet.

     While I was growing up my Dad ran his own business. It was dog training and boarding and it was really cool. My entire family worked there. Mom on her day’s off, and my after school, on weekends, on vacations. We were always busy with the business. That left no room to cook. From the age of seven until around seventeen, my diet consisted of nothing but fast food when I wasn’t at school. It was either burgers, chicken, or pizza. My dad was touchy and we only had select places we would go. Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas were the only days I had home cooked food. I also grew up drinking soda. We would get off work late and go to the store and buy whatever sounded good at the time. At my max weight, I was around 220 pounds. I wasn’t happy at all.

     When my father sold the business my world changed. We started eating at home finally. I was still hooked on fast food and soda but I did manage to drop my weight down to the 175 area. That helped me a lot.

     After I got kicked out, my world changed again. I had the freedom to eat whatever I wanted and to cook anything. My father didn’t believe in spices or vegetables. Our diet up until this point had been meat, potatoes, and corn. Bread if it was a good day and sometimes mac and cheese. Every single day. This new freedom let me explore food and flavors and it’s been amazing so far. I haven’t lost any more weight but I was exchanging it for muscle.

     Now, back to the original question. Why am I doing this? Because, I am personally going through a time of growth. I have the need to feel better, physically, mentally, all around I just need to feel better. I’m also still not happy with my weight. I know I’ll never be perfect, but again, I want to feel better. I believe that this is a step in the right direction for me personally. I’m not saying it’s a perfect diet or that everyone should be on it. I’m doing this for me only and for my health. I also don’t currently eat a lot of meat anyway, but I want to get on a more balanced diet.

New Beginnings

     My heart hurts while I type this, so forgive me if things are not 100% clear. As any of you who have been following me know, my partner has been dealing with a lot of medical issues with her pancreas over the past year. It’s been hard on both of us. She currently has a tube down her nose and is in fairly poor condition overall. Because of this we have made the decision to send her back home to her family. Her aunt is home all day and can help take care of her like I cannot right now. I’m working 30 miles away from home and am trying to further my career to make sure bills are being paid. I cannot always be home with her and sometimes I am away for days on end. This also means that my focus for a lot of his blog (and cookbook) are going out the window due to lack of use.

      Yes some of it could be handy when she returns, but to be honest, we don’t know how any of this is going to go. We are taking it one day at a time.

     So while she works on getting better, I’m focusing on my health, and my writing. I’m hoping to keep up on this blog a bit more. (I know, I say that all the time, but I believe this time I will have more spare time. I’m also utilizing the scheduling feature.) I have also made a very crazy decision to transition to being 90% Vegetarian. Mostly I will no longer be eating meat, save for a few low fat choices and it will be on rare occasions. So hopefully you will be following me as I take this journey.