The Committment Lives On

Today is the last day of Lent. Although I’m not Catholic, some of you might remember that I decided to ‘commit to something’ during the time of Lent. Initially I thought it was going to be sweets, but then it turned into being committed to giving up meat (red meat and pork since I already don’t eat chicken).

Yeah, I know you’re probably thinking that I might have taken the easy road on this one. But I do enjoy a great steak, hamburger, and just about anything pork related. The most difficult part during this time is that I’ve been on a work assignment, which typically consists of more fast food options which aren’t always non-meat friendly.  For the most part it wasn’t that difficult and I had two slips ups:

1) From a box lunched served during a business meeting. It was about a week after I stopped eating meat, and I had half of a roasted turkey sandwich (and let’s be honest, is processed lunch meat really meat in the first place?);

2) When I was attempting to be conscious of what I was eating I ordered baked cheese ziti from Fazoli’s. From the name of the dish I assumed it would have tomato or marina sauce, well it didn’t. There were some type of meat crumbles in the sauce (and let’s be honest again, if I were really trying to eat meat it wouldn’t have been faux meat from Fazoli’s).

Overall I am very satisfied about my commitment to not eating meat. With the exception of pizza, I didn’t miss eating it at all. Although I really did want some good ole pepperoni on that pizza that I ordered!

As far as health benefits…I believe I was a lot more regular, if you know what I mean. I’ll spare you the details so we’ll just say that was a benefit for me. I also believe that I ate more veggies (which also probably contributed to the TMI moment that I just shared with you).

At different periods in my life, I have stopped eating meat. With the exception of chicken, I have always returned to eventually eating meat. Now, I am seriously thinking about continuing on this path and only eating fish and seafood (also known as a pescatarian but I’m not into those types of labels).

Probably my biggest concern with this decision is for those who invite me over for dinner. Right now people already think it’s strange that I don’t eat chicken, which seems to be a staple for most Americans. Now to eliminate all type of meats might make others feel limited as to what they can cook when I am invited over. Typically I don’t share my eating needs with others, and I’ll just eat the non-chicken items that are served. This new change might just make me come out of my ‘what I eat and don’t eat’ closet and expose myself to everyone.

Stay tuned and we’ll see how it goes. Maybe I can incorporate some other healthy changes into my daily diet. If anyone has suggestions for me regarding my new eating choice, please let me know!