Sunday, May 1, 2011

Meat-Free May

Thank fucking Christ, April is over and I can swear again! We all knew No #$%@&! April wasn't about me simply not swearing, but rather catching myself when I inevitably did, and so there had to be a punishment for failure, as failure was a foregone conclusion. I promised to pony up one dollar per swear and said I'd donate it to charity at the end of the experiment. The grand total came to $59, so that's basically two accidental swears per day…doesn't sound so bad, yet I can't believe I ever thought I'd have to enforce a $25 minimum. I decided to round it up to a tidy $75, which I just this morning donated to the ACLU. Kind of a weird choice, giving my punishment fees for uttering certain words to an organization that's so into protecting such rights as freedom of speech, but there you go.

And now onward to May, the Discipline Year month during which I can't eat meat (including no eggs or seafood…why do people not seem to count fish as animals?) I'm keeping dairy, at least for now…I may or may not have given myself a stress fracture, so I'll take all the calcium I can get. Plus I love my half and half. If I get ambitious in the second half of the month, perhaps I'll try to finish May off the vegan way.

My birthday is tomorrow, and I was loathe to miss out on my annual baked scallop dinner, so the manfriend and I did that last weekend. Check. This afternoon we're heading to our cousins' place to watch the Celtics (go Ray!) kick off their second round of the NBA playoffs against the Heat, and I'll get to watch everyone eating barbecued chicken—charred just the way I like it by the he-cousin—while I fill up on corn and salad.

But charred chicken denial aside, I think it'll actually be a fun month. Great excuse to try new foods and recipes and expand my dinner repertoire.

Just for kicks, I thought I'd weigh myself before and after the experiment, to see if I either a) lose weight from eating more veggies or b) puff up from eating tons of carbohydrates. As of this morning, I'm a very typical-of-me 142.2 pounds. I'll let you know of any shocking fluctuations at the end of the month. Meanwhile, if you've got any kick-ass vegetarian recipes, feel free to send them my way!

6 comments:

  1. Oh, this reminds me... Wanted to thank you. Found out about 'couch to 10k' from your blog and tomorrow's my Day One. I have a trekking trip planned for late july and had no idea how to get in shape for that. This was perfect. So, thanks!!!

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  2. Hooray! I hope you find it helpful. I'm going at the rate of only about one "Day" per week, as my shin and ankle have been giving me grief. Still, progress is progress, in both running and writing. After all, the finish line's not going anywhere!

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  3. Happy Birthday! Happy meat-free may! My 16 yo son gave up meat for lent, and lived through it. Go, you!

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  4. I hope your birthday is great!

    As a veggie I love when people give it a try. I do admit that I eat fish maybe once or twice a month still though. I also keep dairy in my diet. I'll send you some super simple (if it takes longer than 5-10 minutes I'm out) receipes I love. :)

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  5. I'm not a veggie anymore, but I still hate cooking meat. You might want to check out www.101cookbooks.com for some healthy (and not healthy) vegetarian recipes - she does use eggs, but she has some great stuff on there.

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  6. Thanks for the resources and tips and birthday wishes, everyone!

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