Mike and I wanted to see if we could go without meat for a month. To lose some weight, embrace a more peaceful way of eating and in some ways, I think to challenge ourselves. On a regular week, we’re pretty healthy eaters to begin with…salads, lots of water thought the day, and plenty of veggies to accompany the main dish, which three to four times a week was sans meat anyway. So, why not see if we could do it full-time, for a month? Game on!

Thing is, I wanted to be realistic. The feelings and in-humaness of the animal treatment around meat consumption, well, I had never had them before. I love meat, love food and believe that creating food that bursts with flavor is a beautiful thing. Having watched Vegucated and Food Matters, I truly feel I want to adopt a lot of these principles – educating myself on the products I’m ingesting, treating my body as a machine, being conscious of how animals and humans are sharing this planet and asking why we are allowed to treat them in such a way, without much thought. It’s terrifying the way the meat-industry is allowed to operate, truly upsetting. On the flip side, I believe in supporting local farms, farmers who are making their living treating their livestock as humanely as possible, without steroids and the brutality of mass-production methods. It got me wanting to do something about it. The tears cried over these movies is sweet and all, but I told myself, ‘Ok, so take action, because all crying does is mean I feel something. Big deal!’

Admitting to myself that I wanted to change, but being realistic about my ability, I wanted to turn these feelings into viable, proactive actions. I started looking into a food-coop (haven’t settled on one yet, but am considering Weavers Way, as it’s close), I researched skin cream that doesn’t test on animals and found Pangea which uses all organic, sustainable products and has a really cool philosophy. Little steps taken are better than no steps at all I guess. Sometimes I get ahead of myself, so wanted to keep it realistic, but keep it moving.

Day 2 of our challenge:

For breakfast, I had my usual banana, peanut butter and rice cakes, although I did treat myself to these really tasty blueberry rice cakes. At 16 calories per cake, it’s an awesome alternative to bread. They’re a bit more expensive, but I love them, even though Mike thinks I basically am buying air. What does he know!?

Mike went for the homemade quiche we made this Sunday. Diced tomatoes, sautéed shallots & portabello mushroom, with a bit of Greek yogurt mixed in with the egg. Pour it in a pilsbury pie crust and top with some sliced Swiss and it was on!

For lunch, I had 45 minutes of spin class, followed by a bag of raw green beans and a half of a veggie wrap. Portabello mushroom, roasted red pepper, lettuce and mozzarella. I polished that off with a 100 calorie pack of dark chocolate covered blueberries (best find at BJs ever!) Mikes lunch consisted of peanuts. He was busy in the garage making a cabinet, so who has time to eat while woodworking is going on!?

That being said, by the time I got home, he was ravenous and already worried that his hunger was caused by lack of meat. All in his head, I told him. Eat some lunch tomorrow, then tell me how starving you are. Men! Dinner tonight was delicious and super easy, as I had prepared the main dish on Sunday. Feeling pretty good and taking little steps.

Snap peas, goat cheese, dates and mixed green salad

Carrot & Ginger soup

Garlic & pea purée toast topped with some cheddar cheese