Herbivore Update

I've been a vegetarian for about 2 weeks and I have to say, I actually like it! In my last post, I shared some of my initial concerns or fears about this transition. I'd like to take a moment to follow up with those, thus far.

1. Won't I be hungry? Meat has a lot of protein and protein keeps you full. Without protein, I'll be hungry . . .
Goodness, no! Right after Lent began, the Wolff Pack Plus (we picked up a couple people along the way), headed to Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp. Because the cook there is so wonderful, there was a delicious vegetarian option at every meal. I sat down for dinner one night and looked at my overflowing tray. Salad, eggplant parmesan, pasta, cottage cheese, peaches and a cherry bar for dessert. The only reason I stopped with those options was because I ran out of room on my plate! The taco salad lunch the next day was the same way. The only thing I passed by was the taco meat, but once I started eating, I didn't even notice it was gone. I figured if I could eat that well at a "good old Mennonite buffet" as a vegetarian, I'll be just fine.

I've also read a lot of articles online and they all seem to be in cohorts about dispelling the myth about vegetarians lacking protein. As Americans, we are generally a little too obsessed about protein and consume way more than we need. As a Veg, as long as I consume a variety of whole grains (which I already did) and a mix of beans, lentils, potatoes, dairy, nuts (yeah peanut butter!) eggs, and non-meat alternatives, I'll be just fine. I haven't actually counted up my protein intake for a day, but I betcha I'm fine. Though I still can't shake the "3:30-I'm-starving" snack attack, I'm filling up quite nicely. (But not filling out! I've actually lost 3 pounds in the process. I'm not sure if it was cutting out meat or chocolate that gets credit for that, but still, I'm happy with it!)

2. I'll eat a lot of salad.
This one barely deserves a respone. I did that before. I like salad. I often crave it. Next question.

3. I will accidently order something at a restaurant that has meat.
Now, this one is true. I went to a Mexican restaurant and almost ordered a chile relleno before I realized that I had no idea what it was stuffed with. (Just cheese.) But even so, I found plenty of other options on the menu and finished my meal stuffed, once again!

I did run across another tricky dillemma that I hadn't anticipated. Before Lent began, Brad and I had signed up to be guests at a Progressive Dinner through church. I realized that I really didn't want to have to tell our hosts that I don't eat meat. Our wonderful hosts were all "good old Mennonite" cooks in which I can imagine meat is a staple. I hemmed and hawed and procrastinated until the day of the dinner and realized that I really couldn't tell them at that point. My option now was to either eat what was served or eat everything but the meat. I ended up going with the latter and it worked out just fine! Our appetizers were (delicious) and herbivorific. The main course was chicken, rice, salad and dinner rolls. I just passed the chicken onto the next person and still enjoyed a delicious meal. I did not want to offend my hosts in anyway, but I also wanted to stick to my meat-fast. It was just fine! Not a problem in the least! (I do have a hunch that there was chicken stock in the rice and a some anchovies in the salad dressing, but I'll celebrate my baby steps.)

4. I'll only eat beans.
I've definitely eaten more beans than before, but not an overwhelming amount. As previously mentioned, variety is the key to a healthy, balanced diet and I think I (and the whole house) have done a pretty good job with it! I purchased TVP (textured vegetable protein) after 4/5ths of the house declared their vegetarian allegiance and I actually wasn't the first one to get to it. Meg was craving tacos so she made TVP taco filling rather than taco meat. Even though she made almost twice as much as intended, it didn't last long at our house. I was excited to see my housemates branching out and trying something new! Once Easter is over, we may not ever eat TVP again, but hey, we tried it!

5. I'll have troubles, err, umm, "digesting" all the beans.
Ok, so this is a well-founded fear. However, I have discovered Bean-o. That is all I have to say about that.

6. I'll have to cook more.
Again, a bit of a ridiculous fear. I love to cook. I have had to cook a bit more than before as we all develop new staples. But we are quickly discovering new meat-less stand-bys and go-to meals. And not that my leftovers ever lasted long before, but they seem to go even quicker. I think we are all learning how to eat vegetarian so any kind of in-house leftovers are "safe" and easy to go to. There was an initial increase in cooking, but it's already mellowed out.

The first time I prepared a community meal as a vegetarian was a bit overwhelming to me. I've realized that in my mind, a main dish has meat. And it if doesn't have meat, it's a side dish. I scoured through a whole stack of vegetarian cookbooks that I picked up from the library and ended up with a menu of side dishes. I feared that I was serving vegetables with a side of veggies and a side of veggies. (To be fair, I did.) However, it was still a full meal and properly balanced. There was a good mix of veggies, protein, whole grains and dairy. The USDA would have approved. it wa sjust in my mind that the meal was incomplete. It is definitely taking some time to re-allign my thinking and definition of a main dish.

7. It'll be hard.
Oh bah. Every change is a struggle and every habit is hard to break. Of course it's hard. But it's also fun, surprisingly educational and very much delicious. :)