Vegetarian Diaries

Day one- Saturday, July 8
Today, Marie and I hung out and when we got to Cha! Cha! Cha!, we both realized we were hungry. I ordered a chicken fajita burrito and she ordered nachos. As we were eating, we talked about several things, such as vegetarianism. I've been thinking about becoming a vegetarian for a few weeks now, but have pushed it out of my head cause I thought it'd be too hard. As I was talking to Marie, I realized that in my heart it was something I felt convicted to do.

Not like eating meat is immoral. It does state in the bible that we can eat meat. But the way animals get treated before getting slaughtered is cruel. Plus the mass farmers feed them anything, just about anything to make them fat. Have you ever thought that as you're eating your steak you could also be eating a cat? Cause if they find a dead cat on the farm, they sure as hell will feed it to their livestock. Plus, the way the livestock is raised is wasteful. They use lands that could well be used for vegetation, for the full use of the livestock. Each pound of meat, has about 5-15 pounds of grain in it. You know how much hungry people that grain could feed? So basically, my reasons for going vegetarian are
-environmental sustainability
-ethical problems on mass farms
-world hunger (using our resources well)
-general health
The last one is a kind of selfish reason. I would like to see how vegetarinism effects my energy and diet. Food often has a very fatiguing effect on me, and after I eat most of the time, I feel like physical activity is the last thing on my list. At 20, my health is all well. But in 10, 20, 30 years, it's scary to think of how my health will be doing.

So, I decided in my heart and in mind, that chicken fajita burrito would be the last one I ate. And to be honest, it really didn't taste as good eating it that last time, as it was other times. After that on Saturday, I did pretty well. For lunch, I had strawberries,soy chips with provolone cheese (yes, cheese is a dairy product, therefore from the same mistreated animal. However, for health reasons, I chose not to be vegan). For dinner, I feasted on fried zucchini, cucumber salad, peas, and bread, provided by the Park family's leftovers. There was also chicken teriyaki up for the grabs, but I made the conscious effort not to eat it.

Day 2- Sunday, July 9
As with every sunday here in Portland, I woke up at the early hour of 6am. I decided that an adequate breakfast would be a priority over something like, putting makeup on. I ate two strawberries, blueberries in my chai ice cream, and snacked on some peas.

My digestive track, does seem to be needing to get used to this new diet. But once, I am settled in, it shouldn't be too much of a bother.

For church, I had plenty of energy as I was running around, helping with set-up, manning the sacred space/book table, and helping in kids community.

After church, and a hot bus ride home, I passed out on my bed, until 5:15pm. I was dead tired (I had an exhausting past week, and getting up so early on Sundays always takes something). Getting up was even hard to do. Before the great nap, I did eat some veggies, fruits and bread once again.

I went to home community, where there was a potluck. The turn out was smaller tonight and the only vegetarian option was chips, and I thought, pasta salad. I ate some pasta salad, but then realized there were bits of bacon in it. Not wanting to waste food though, I finished it off. Then later in the evening, my hunger pangs struck again, and I was desperately craving protein. They had barbecued some hot dogs, very plump, nice looking hot dogs, and there were still a bunch left. Leslie said that what wasn't eaten would be thrown out. It was sad to me to see any sort of food go to waste, and being hungry, I gave in and grabbed a hot dog.

It was good for 2 seconds, but then I felt sick. I have felt sick from eating hot dogs before, it isn't uncommon. But this one(with those bacon bits), just did not settle right at all after the last 24 hours. I knew after this, craving those sort of meats wouldn't be a problem again.

I got home, and my roommate and her friends were eating Baja Fresh. mmmmm. I got offered a chicken quesadilla, and turned it down. I took out the veggies from the fridge and dipped them in the baja salsa and guacamole. I also ate some chips, and some grapes. Drank some organic lemonade leftover from the Sacred Space Ceili. I felt a whole lot better. Then we went to Baskin Robbins, and I got a scoop of thin mint and a scoop of tranquility tea. Ice cream, isn't very healthy of course. But it is good. Especially in the summertime.

My whole life, I have been very dependent on meat. I especially love chicken, and my parents' meatballs. I never really liked veggies a lot. Especially raw veggies. However, as I am eating them more, I'm taking more of a liking to them. Being a vegetarian will be hard for me, and I feel like it's gonna be a process. I will eat meat every once in awhile, until I can completely cut it out of my life. Beef won't be as hard as chicken will be(except the meatballs). And as far as red meat goes, I never really liked it. This is certainly a great challenge for me, but I feel like it's a good choice. I don't have any big holdbacks in switching over.