Vegetarian for a week

So from Monday the 20th of April to Monday the 27th of April, I went vegetarian for the week. Essentially, I may have taken it a step further by not eating any meat whatsoever during this week: no steak, no chicken, no fish, no pork.

However, I did keep the dairy products of milk (I cannot survive without my daily cup of coffee in the morning) and cheese, in order to still receive some of the proteins required to live.

I must just say, it's a lot harder than it looks to not eat any meat for a week. I found myself on Wednesday craving the taste of the Colonel's tasty chicken, and it took a great deal of self-restraint to not drive to the nearest KFC and buy myself a bucket of chicken.

I commend those who stick to the vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. So much thought has to go into what they can eat, and research also has to be done in terms of dairy and protein alternatives.

For dairy alternatives, one can look at soya milk, coconut milk, and almond milk. When considering whether I would go vegetarian or vegan, I actually tried some almond milk in preparation. While it is quite nice on it's own, it does leave a bit of a weird aftertaste in your mouth.

I wasn't prepared to subject my coffee to that kind of taste-distortion. Hence the vegetarian option.

For protein alternatives, one can look at members of the legume family: beans, chick peas, etc. Once you've done your research and found the meat and dairy alternatives, you're ready to start your new lifestyle choice of vegetarianism/veganism for the week.

Even then, it'll probably take a while to acquire a taste for all the meat and dairy alternatives, if one chooses to go the full vegan route.

I now have a greater respect and understanding for vegetarians and vegans. A lot of thought goes into meal planning and food shopping, having to check the label of everything you purchase to be sure that there are no meat or dairy ingredients in it.

I understand their reasoning for not wanting to eat meat, and I respect their life-style decisions.

Perhaps going vegetarian or vegan for a week each month isn't such a bad thing. It forces you to think creatively about how you are going to get the required nutrients into your system without any meat and dairy, and to try new things that you wouldn't normally want to try taste-wise.

Above is a photo taken of my fridge during my vegetarian week. As I only decided to cut out meats and not meat by-products, I have milk and eggs in the fridge for my protein choices. Otherwise, I have only fruit and vegetables in my fridge. Oh yeah, and there's cheese in here somewhere as well.

(Plus some carbonated drinks because, you know, I need the sugar for those sugar-induced midnight work sessions ;). Haha, nope. If I did that, I probably would have nightmares so bad, I wouldn't be able to sleep for a week.)

In any case, definitely give being vegetarian a try for a week at least. Once you've done that a couple of times, you can then level up to the more challenging vegetarian-for-longer-than-a-week-mode, before finally reaching and attempting the master level of vegan-mode.

If anything, it'll change your perspective on life and make you realize just how much we rely on different kinds of food to sustain our bodies properly.