Vegetarian for a Week

 Vegetarian for a Week, or 

Maybe a Couple Days!

Why?

When I read this assignment I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I have always wanted to make more of an effort to reduce the amount of meat in my diet. However, this takes planning and time. I knew I needed to connect with my "why" so that I would be motivated to continue. What was the deeper reason I wanted to attempt to go vegetarian for a week? 

After mind mapping reasons I wanted to make this change I settled on this "why":

I want to attempt no meat as I know the negative impacts meat production has on the environment.

For me, anytime I connect sustainability to something I tend to have more success with that goal. For example, 7 years ago I opted not to drink bottled water and 7 years later I have not touched bottled water all because I knew the implications of the waste I was generating. My hope is connecting my vegetarian week to sustainability I will be more successful and last the whole week. 

This video highlights the reasons I am attempting to go vegetarian this week. 

Planning 

Each week my partner and I plan out our meals and grocery shopping list. Usually, a meal would consist of meat, starch and vegetable. Below is a photo of the meal plan for the week. We left the weekend open as we usually are a bit more flexible on those days.

I did not include snacks in my plan but usually, my snacks do no contain meat anyway. They tend to be fruits, protein bars, and vegetables. 

Implementation

I planned meals that I would normally eat. So I went into the week feeling fairly comfortable about seeing this week through and not throwing in the towel. 

Monday: I made it through the entire day following my plan. I made Monday fairly easy as I included one of my favourite dinners, perogies. 

Tuesday: I was doing well until lunch when I started to crave a protein source in at lunch. I keep protein bars in my desk so I had one of those in the afternoon and felt better but I was missing meat. For dinner, I had a stir-fry but omitted the tofu as I could not figure out how to prepare it.

Wednesday: I felt like I was into a routine until I remembered it was pizza day and I had ordered two slices of pepperoni pizza. The easy part was finding someone else to eat my pizza the hard part was giving it away. I sadly ate my pasta for lunch but noted I next time I can order a different type of pizza and still have that treat. 

Thursday: I was doing well till dinner. I had not planned a new dinner I just said I would eat leftovers. There were no leftovers so I went out looking for something to eat. In the end, I settled on a Pizza, probably due to cravings left over from yesterday, from Za (build your own pizza shop).

Friday: I was starting to notice the absence of meat in my diet today. I was craving burgers, chicken wings, bacon, and so much more. When I went to the staff room at the break there was a snack table set up with trays of lunch meat. This made it hard to avoid. I will admit I failed and took a few pieces. I then felt guilty and for the rest of the day stayed on plan.

Weekend: The weekend is tricky because we do not eat at certain times. I stuck to a vegetarian breakfast for both days. On Saturday I did not eat lunch but had a big dinner at Mongo's, a create-you-own stir-fry restaurant. Sunday I had a pita from Pita Pit and attempted a Beyond Meat Burger from A & W.

For my snacks I had fruit and potato chips. Except for the one slip up I was able to stay away from meat for all of my snacks.

Results 

I was quite surprised at how easy it was to remain on plan. However, I did notice that I was craving meat and kept telling myself I would eat it all the following week, which I did! I do see becoming a vegetarian as something that I will attempt in the future. For the purpose of this assignment, I jumped right into it and determined what I could eat based on the rule of anything but meat. I think when I attempt this again I would do some more research on nutrients or supplements I would need to replace the meat in my diet.  Becoming a vegetarian is something I want to do. Perhaps there is a solution beyond simply meat or no meat. This next video explains my thought process where I know all the information but have not made the change. 

I think it is important to note that this is one side of the argument of reasons to go vegetarian. There is another side that claims the environmental impact is not that bad.  After reading articles and watching videos I still feel reducing my meat intake is good for the environment.

Conclusion 

So, for the most part, I survived the week meat free except for my little slip-up on Friday. I need to do more research about what I can replace meat protein in my diet with. I do not think I am ready to go 100% vegetarian and I do not think I am ready to become a weekday vegetarian just yet. My next step will be meatless Mondays and work my way up to becoming a weekday vegetarian.