Day 3

Good evening all! Just thought I would share a few things with you tonight.

I've pretty much always been a veggie eater...I'm not too picky when it comes to food and I'll give anything a try at least once. In fact there's only two things on this earth that I will not eat for any reason (aside from meat now that is) and those things are nasty nasty NASTY coconut and okra. With coconut it's totally a texture thing and with okra it's both the texture and the flavor. Those could be the only two foods left on Earth and I would die of starvation before eating them. But I digress...

Thought I'd share a link to the website for a film I watched maybe a month ago which helped to solidify my decision for vegetarianism (along with subsequent research after viewing the film.) It was called "Forks Over Knives" and it dealt with how the food we eat is directly related to various illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer and how FOOD could help to reverse and even CURE those things.

At this point in my life I am not ready to go completely vegan as the film and research suggest. At some point, most definitely. My goal is to get through a year of being vegetarian and then who knows, that may be next year's goal. Right now I feel like the elimination of meat from my diet, along with portion control, cutting WAY down on oils, eating 5-6 smaller meals a day, elimination of highly processed foods, no fried foods, drinking lots of water and exercise are the ways to go. Aside from the elimination of meat, the other things are always what have gotten me to the start of where I wanted to be. I've never really seen eating well as a diet, but something that I should do because it's good for me...a lifestyle change really.

On another note, I was shocked that my dad has been so nice about the whole vegetarian thing since the 1st. That day he texted me and said that they were having portobella mushrooms stuffed with goat cheese, pesto, and marinara served on top of salad tossed in lemon juice (which was awesome btw...I would totally put the mushroom in a sandwich and eat that for dinner. I will totally make this one night and take pictures.) Last night he had me over, but he made sure to have TONS of veggies present for me. Tonight they had me over again, and they were making chicken corn chowder, but before they added in the chicken or the bacon, they made sure I had a portion without the meats and again provided me with various veggies to fix myself a salad. It's really more than I've imagined they would do to be supportive, which is great that they are being so understanding, FINALLY.

I leave you all (I say you all, but I don't know who actually reads it...more for me anyways, but if it helps someone else, then great) with another quote for the evening.

"Great changes may not happen right away, but with effort even the difficult may become easy." -Bill Blackman