Veg Out

I read an article last night in Natural Health (do not ask me how i have the time to read magazines - i don't, i just choose to anyway) about going vegan. For those of you who don't know (and i wasn't 100% sure myself), vegan means no meat, poultry, seafood, or dairy. It also means no leather or animal-based products. It's rough. The author attempted a vegan diet and survived 7 days, and while she's perfectly content with going back to her normal omnivorous lifestyle, she did say that she had more energy and just felt... healthier. I imagine she also felt lighter. Meat weighs a lot, dude. Anyway, reading this article inspired me to try a vegan diet, simply for the sake of seeing if i could (1) actually do it, (2) enjoy it, and (3) not die. Cutting out meat/poultry/seafood I could do. It wouldn't be pleasant by any means, but I could do it. But... no dairy? (i wouldn't do the no leather thing, i would focus mainly on diet. sorry.) I LOVE dairy. I eat cheese on a daily basis. I could live without milk as I'm already an avid fan of soy milk, but cheese?? Not to mention one of my most favorite foods is goat cheese!! And butter? Delicious butter... Apparently you can't have honey either, not that I eat honey on a regular basis, but having the option is always nice. So as I happily munched on my tomato, pesto, and fresh mozzarella sandwich at George's, I thought maybe I'll start slow... you know, baby steps. I'll try a full week of being vegetarian. Then maybe one day I can try the vegan thing.

Please note: I am not planning on ever going vegetarian or vegan. I just want to see how difficult it is b/c it seems tres difficile to moi. And while I don't doubt that that kind of diet, when properly maintained, can give you more energy, etc., I could never claim to be a vegetarian/vegan on principle. I am a foodie. Not a fancy foodie, but I consider myself to be a at least a beginner foodie, and as such, I could never rule out any food group.

I think I'm going to start Operation Veggie on Monday. I would start Sunday because I really like to view Sunday's as a fresh start of the week, but I have a date at Bess Bistro on Sunday, and there is no way I'm placing any dietary restriction on that experience. So Monday it is.