I think New Year's resolutions are kind of lame. For the most part, I think people make them because they see something about themselves they don't like or a habit they can't quit, and they jump on the bandwagon of making a lofty goal that they may or may not ditch before February rolls around. I don't, however, think giving something up for lent is lame at all. I think what makes it possible is that it's a short term goal. You know it's going to end and that soon enough you'll get to eat candy again (right, Whitney and Cindy?). This year I've already decided what I'm giving up for lent. Actually, Jeremy and I are going to do it together (which means, by default, Moses and Ada are, too!) We're giving up meat. We are going to eat strictly vegetarian from now until Easter. So, I know it's not lent yet, and I just google "when does lent start" and it's not until February 22nd, but we've decided to start now with all intentions of continuing on past Easter.
I've always been the kind of person that had a "good for you!" vegetarian outlook. I think it's wonderful and I'm certain, very healthy, if you want to be a vegetarian, but I love MEAT! But sometime last year my brother and sister-in-law encouraged us to start eating "Meatless Mondays" and we did, off and on for about six months. Then in the fall Jeremy and I have made it a goal to eat 4-5 meals a week that didn't have any meat in them. It really hasn't been so bad. Plus, when we are eating less meat we feel so much better! We slacked (a lot!) in November and December because we were super busy and fixing vegetarian meals isn't as brainless to me as throwing together something with meat. But now that the holidays are over we're ready to get back on track. Our original plan was to eat as little meat as possible, but this weekend we watched Forks Over Knives - a documentary about the radical health benefits of eating a plant-based, whole foods diet and decided we would go for it! And not just for us, but for our kids, too.
Here are my goals for this lifestyle change:
- Bake bread for the family weekly.
- Significantly decrease the amount of dairy Moses and Ada's diets.
- Introduce alternative calcium-rich and high fat foods to Moses and Ada's diets in place of dairy products.
- Only use dairy and eggs for baking recipes and occasional meals.
- Become educated on where to purchase organic and local produce.
- Find a local bulk grains store - or order bulk grains online.
- Get Moses more involved in cooking daily.
- Have a weekly menu for breakfast and lunch, not just dinner.
- Eat more fruit! (I hate fruit. I know, it's so weird, but man I do not like it)
- Find good, healthy, filling snack items.
- Blog on progress daily. I've read in three different places over the course of this year that when tackling a goal you should journal about it. I figured I might as well let you guys in on what we're doing, too.
I'd love your input or recipes or thoughts on what I'm doing (or you can just read this and not comment and I'll never know! Stalkers.)
See you tomorrow!
4 comments:
looking forward to the progress reports. We supposedly do no meat 2 times a week. (ours is mostly for money reasons) Since the baby, yeah... not so much. I could definitely use some inspiration. :-)
excited to read about this too! we do meatless several nights a week too (vegetable quinoas, edamame in stir-fries, etc.), but I'm especially excited to hear about your alternatives to lots of dairy and eggs (which are staples for us, while meat remains an "occasional"). I can't seem to do without them. I also have trouble getting in enough protein without meat because I easily get sick of beans and lentils... I can't wait to read more & see recipes! Also I want to watch that documentary. =)
Mandy and I gave up meat for lent once. It was definitely a challenge to find recipes that satisfied. When you're used to that protein in the middle of the plate carrying the meal, it's very hard to dream up a delicious-sounding plate without it! I wish I could tell you some of the things we cooked during that time, but thinking about it, I have no idea. I know now our biggest meatless meals are things like pasta and pizza. It's really easy to throw together a quick pasta dish with just olive oil, garlic and some veggies.
Where we live, meat is actiually the easiest food to source locally year round. We buy in bulk (a pig or a half a cow at a time) so always have a freezer full. It is very expensive to do this, so it provides good motivation to keep the protein portions small (it's also nice to know you're paying the *true* cost of the meat).
Oh also, when grilling comes again, don't forget grilled veggies. Summer squash, zukes, and onion rounds brushed with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and thown on the grill are almost a meal themselves.
Finally, we bake a lot so let me know if you want any tips on the baking situation. Check out "Artisan Breads in 5 minutes a Day" It's a good system for maintaining freshly baked bread in your home.
Just a stalker looking for some good recipes! ;) I appreciate how thoughtful you are about what your family is eating and why. I would love to add some more healthy vegetarian meals to our family menu. I look forward to hearing about your favorite meals during this process and sharing ideas. Thanks for sharing your inspiration in the blog world!-Jenn
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