KeepGreenGoing

This final installment has been tough to write. What more is there to say? Outside of a couple brief moments of burger cravings the final days went really well. I stuck with my basic vegetarian diet and in the end it wasn’t too difficult. The toughest part for me wasn’t pulling myself away from a steak, but simply remembering that I was committed to a vegetarian diet.

Has the experiment changed me? The experiment has certainly changed me for the better. My eyes have been opened up to the health and enjoyment of a vegetarian diet. There is a freedom and creativity present in a vegetarian diet that I never experienced as an omnivore. I also feel that I had a little bit more energy as a vegetarian and that I more easily avoided the feelings of lethargy associated with overeating. On top of all of this there is the benefit to the planet.

Has the experiment changed me into a champion of vegetarianism? Yes and no. I’ve definitely reached the conclusion that vegetarianism is an excellent way of life; a much more symbiotic relationship between the planet and the people on the planet. The less we rely on the factory farmed production of animals, the more harmonious the planet becomes. That harmony comes back to us. However I’m still not convinced that all meat is created equal or that it is all bad.

Certainly we need to strike a better balance with our consumption of meat, beef in particular, and our consumption of vegetarian diet. I’m at a point now where I think it is okay to eat a little bit of responsibly farmed meat every now and then. I’m considering buying a butchered bison from a local organic farmer with my good friend Sonny.

I suppose that in the end my perspective towards diet have changed through the experiment. I think my outlook correlates best with what Michael Pollan said in his book In Defense of Food: an Eater’s Manifesto: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Day Three

Today I decided will be an elaboration on my experiment. Rather than having the standard meals that I’ve been going with, I’ll try my luck eating out. So after my protein shake for breakfast I head in to work with intentions of dining out for lunch and dinner.

Lunch rolls around and I find myself nervous of what dining experience awaits me at a restaurant where I’m not in control of the menu. I wimp out and go to Tokyo Joe’s where I know that they are going to have some vegetarian options. I pick up the boulder veggie bowl with teriyaki and brown rice. The boulder veggie bowl gets its name, as you may have guessed, from Denver’s neighbor hippie village; Boulder Colorado where tofu is king and the streets are ripe with the smell of incense and other herbs… The bowl is delicious and to my later delight I realize that I feel satisfied with what I have ate rather than the typical gorged/bloated that I get from eating out.

For dinner I ask my wife Nicole to go on a little date to a restaurant that we both enjoy, The Watercourse. The Watercourse is a restaurant with the vegetarian/vegan in mind. Their menu consists of zero meat, their bakery is 100% vegan, and not to mention that the food is incredible. I have a wrap with seitan and veggies topped with vegan ranch and a side of steamed chard. My wife has their portabella sandwich and we are both stuffed. We ask for a to go box which is encouragingly biodegradable opposed to the common Styrofoam of death.

All in all I would say that my dining experience was a huge success when taken outside of the comfort of my own culinary practices. There are a tremendous amount of vegetarian options out there regardless of where you go to eat; there are even boutique vegetarian restaurants like The Watercourse.

Day Four and Five

There really isn’t anything to noteworthy to write about here. I feel like I’ve hit my vegetarian stride and it is quite a bit easier than I had previously imagined. My neighbor asked me how I like the vegetarian experiment. “I’m enjoying it” I reply “this could be all placebo, but I think I have a lot more energy. It’s like Sabotage by the Beastie Boys is playing in my head on repeat; and the Beastie Boys never get old.” Check in soon for the final days of the experiment and closing thoughts.

::a

Day One

I had a protein shake for breakfast. This is what I have every day so no big deal. I carried on throughout the day thinking of maybe getting a chicken burrito from Chipotle for lunch. After remembering that I’m a vegetarian for a week I decided to go with the Amy’s tofu cheddar bowl that I had brought with me. My wife is a vegetarian and together we’ve found that there are a tremendous amount of great simple vegetarian dishes available. Amy’s in particular often adds in additional soy protein which is invaluable for the nutritionally challenged vegetarian. I had a simple salad and bread for dinner. Day one as a vegetarian not bad at all. I didn’t even notice that I wasn’t eating meat.

Day Two

Protein shake for breakfast. Having these shakes I’m very thankful that I’m not participating in a vegan for a week experiment. Nothing against vegans, I just don’t know that I’m creative enough to get my essential nutrition without dairy. I picked up another frozen meal for lunch at work; a rice and bean burrito to help settle down my cravings. Pretzels as a snack and then … I remembered that I was meeting some friends for dinner. Not just any friends, Josh and Denae. Let me tell you about Josh.* Josh has studied food and it’s preparation since his childhood eventually attending culinary school after high school and is easily the best chef that I know. Tonight they are not just cooking they are cooking their grandmothers chicken riggy recipe that is raved about from all who have had it. Am I looking forward to dinner? Obviously. Am I instantly depressed that chicken makes up half of the recipe’s title. Undoubtedly.

I arrive late and begin eating with my wife and friends. I’m pleased to see that while there is plenty of chicken in the dish it is easily maneuvered around and the remaining pasta and vegetables are delicious in and of themselves. Regardless I find myself experience my first bout of vegetarian’s remorse as I watch my dinner partners devour delicious tender chicken riggy, while I’m left with just plain riggy. I persevere.

::a

* I later discovered that while the chicken riggy was delicious it was prepared by Josh’s talented wife Denae; not the culinary wizard Josh. So what.

Did you know that when you eat beans rather than beef you use 1/27 the amount of fossil fuel to produce the equivalent nutritional/caloric value? Here is the story folks - eating as much factory farmed meat as we do in the United States is environmental suicide. Here are a couple points from earthsave.org:

• Cattle produce one fifth of the methane emissions in the world (were talking cow farts, has anyone ever driven through Greeley Colorado?) Did I mention, with regards to global warming, methane is 24 times more potent as the carbon dioxide that we are familiar with?
• We loose acre after acre of rain forest each day all in the name of the almighty burger.
• Over two thirds of the land (private and public) in the mountain states, my dearest Colorado included, are used for grazing. This poorly managed grazing has a disastrous effect on our natural resources from irrigation concerns to erosion.
• 284 gallons of oil are burned up in the production of one head of cattle.
• By conservative estimates 2,500 gallons of water goes into the production of one pound of beef.

If you are a meat eating fellow like myself you are probably feeling more than a little bit guilty at this point. Good. We should feel guilty; the consumption of factory/farm raised beef is a leading contributor, if not the leading contributor, in the collapse of the environment. Where does that leave us, should we just give up meat all together? Maybe… as Bryan had alluded to earlier, I’ve begun what I will call an experiment in vegetarianism. Over the coming days I will provide a couple posts including my journal and thoughts on my time spent as a vegetarian moving from an omnivore with carnivores tendencies. Let the experiment begin…

::a