Day 40 Or... The End?

I did it!

I've reached the end. And I suppose, in some way, if you're reading this you've reached it too.

I survived a vegetarian diet for 40 days and believe it or not, for the most part, I actually enjoyed it. I think it's been an excellent experience. You should really try it.

A few questions have been posed again and again to me, so I'd like to close this project by answering five of them.

• Did you crave meat?
  

What a silly question. I absolutely craved meat, especially during those first few days... perhaps the same way your houseplants crave water, love, and sunshine. Lately though, I've really grown accustomed to not eating meat. Occasionally, during the project I would see a commercial for a big juicy cheeseburger and I would yell at the TV, "I want that!" However, I've really enjoyed the variety of foods this project has forced me to eat. I actually crave fruits and veggies now. And, the sight of raw meat sometimes grosses me out. Weird.

I haven't consumed anything that was bloody or that contained bones in 40 days. And that feels good. I think avoiding meat has helped me see why some people think eating animal flesh is gross. When you stop handling and cooking raw meat, you start realizing how much you don't miss seeing it or touching it.

• Have you noticed any health benefits?

Because of my vegetarian diet, I feel more energetic. It sounds a bit cliche but it's true. This semester has been exhausting to say the least, but I really think this diet has helped my energy levels.

When it comes to weight loss you may remember (from day one's post) that people who switch to a vegetarian diet lose an average of 24 pounds in the first year and they usually keep it off. I've certainly not been a vegetarian for 365 days, but I compared my starting weight to my ending weight. I've lost five pounds in the past 40 days. That means I won't get the title of "the Biggest Loser" and you won't see me hawking low-fat Morning Star products on television. But, it's a nice start to my weight loss goal and certainly an added benefit to this process.

• Was it hard?

I'd be lying if I said it was easy. Yet, one of the main reasons why I started this project was to just see if I could do it. While it wasn't the equivalent of running a 5K each day, it did seem fairly impossible to me before I started. I went from eating giant portions of meat during each dinner to none at all.

Did everything taste good? No. (See the entry on tofu, for example.) Did I enjoy some new things? Yes. I even ate a lot of things that I wouldn't have tried before, some of which I truly enjoyed, like meatless meatloaf. But, I need to emphasize that if it wasn't for my wonderful family, kind friends, and supportive readers, it would have been much harder, that's for sure. And now, I'm sure I could go other 40 days with very few complaints.

• What has it been like writing about your experiment every day?

It's been a roller-coaster in some ways. I came to the realization recently that to call myself a writer, I must... write. It's not exactly a difficult concept to grasp, but admittedly I had fell out of the habit of writing on a daily basis. That's a hard thing for a journalism instructor to admit, but it's true. This experiment provided me with a topic, a basic structure to follow, and even an audience.

Using a blog also really enhanced the accountability of this project. Yes, it forced me to write everyday because a small but devoted audience apparently enjoyed reading about my experiences. But, it also helped hold me accountable to the biggest rule of this experiment: don't eat meat. The times that I was most tempted to eat meat, or even a marshmallow, I pictured myself in front of the computer typing "I ate meat today." Then, I pictured, almost instantly, an angry and disappointed (but mostly angry) mob forming at my door with torches and pitchforks yelling, "What happened?! You let us down!" (This is how my mind words sometimes.)

Therefore, I'd strongly suggest if you have a goal that you'd like to achieve, start a blog about it. Tell people about it. Get them hooked. If your experience is anything like mine, that audience's expectation will be a huge driving force to help you step toward your goals.

Some nights, I would happily write hundreds of words about the day and about what I ate, about what I liked and didn't like. Other nights, when I was juggling lots of responsibilities and lecture prep, I wanted to forget the blog altogether... or I wanted to type, "I didn't eat meat again today. Big surprise." Some posts were much better than others. But I was able to write something every day, which has had its benefits.

I should probably also mention that, apparently, a few people really enjoy knowing what I each for each meal. Awkward, isn't it? That proves, if nothing else, that some people will read anything!

• What now? Or... are you going to eat meat? Or... are you going to stay a vegetarian?
  

I do plan to eat meat, but not on a regular basis. I plan to be a flexitarian, a person that focuses on a vegetarian diet but occasionally enjoys consuming some meat. It's worth noting that flexitarian was voted by the American Dialect Society as the most useful word of 2003, because of its popularity. There are too many benefits for me to go back to eating meat on a daily basis, so I plan to find myself eating almost exclusively meatless meals.

At this point, for example, I'm certainly not ready to cook raw meat at the apartment any time soon. But, during social gatherings and family get-togethers and such, I think I'll occasionally have some chicken, fish, pork or beef on my plate. I refuse to be the guy who gives ridiculous vegetarian commands to waiters or to be the party guest who says, "what are you serving that I, the vegetarian can eat?" So, indeed I'm going to eat meat; maybe even as soon as tomorrow. I'll just eat it very rarely and go from there.

Who knows what will happen? Maybe I'll end up returning to strict vegetarianism very quickly. By tasting meat again, I'll find out how much I missed it or how much I can continue to happily live without it.

- What did I eat on Day 40? Breakfast. This morning I had a banana. I opened it upside down and was again amazed at its biodegradable wrapper.

Lunch. For lunch, I finished my box of Mom's Best Naturals: Toasted Cinnamon Squares. I actually saw Mom's Best featured on a new episode of Food Network's "Unwrapped" last week. Neat.

Dinner. Today, to meet this project's promise of 20 new recipes, I made new recipe #20: Grilled Portabello and Brie Sandwiches. This was very heavily inspired by one of the recipes listed at the Newman's Own website.

While I'm not sure that I had tried portabellos or brie cheese before this recipe, I may try them again soon. The results were actually pretty good. Here's the simple recipe...

Ingredients:

• 4 portobello mushrooms, sliced into strips
• loaf of focaccia bread, thickly sliced
• slices of brie cheese
• Pasta sauce w/ garlic like Newman's Own® Tomato & Roasted Garlic or Classico Roasted Garlic Sauce
  
• fresh basil leaves

Directions:

• Clean and grill the portobellos.
  
• Toast thick french bread slices. Spread pasta sauce on toast.
  
• Add slices of brie and the grilled portobellos.
  
• Top with basil and enjoy! Good stuff.
  

Thanks again for reading and for following me on this journey! 40 days down. None to go. I've finished the Go Veg Project!