Why I Decided To Go Vegetarian in the New Year

Why a New Eating Plan?

Why am I trying to eat better in the New Year?  Well, why does anyone try to eat better in the New Year?  Yep...it's because I ate a little too much over the holidays and now I'm feeling absolutely disgusted with myself and would love more than anything to drop a few pounds.  That's it in a nutshell.

The Way I Diet

I have to follow a meal plan when I diet.  I can't just "make better choices", because when I do that I get to thinking to myself, "Hey, this food is healthy! That means I can eat more of it!." And I do.  One of my favorite healthy snacks is apples with nut butter.  I don't really care what kind of nut the butter comes from, to me it all tastes good on an apple.  But here's the thing about nut butters: they have tons of fat.  That makes this favorite of mine a healthy, but certainly not low calorie, snack.  But I'm not thinking about that when I'm eating it.  I'm just thinking, "Yum," and I keep eating until I'm full, so I need to follow a scripted out plan if I'm going to see results.  I have to have some external form of portion control or I will overeat.

Why Vegetarian?

I would love to tell you that my decision to go veggie is because of some noble sense of duty to this world and the furry creatures that inhabit it, but I'm not going to tell you that because if I did I'd be lying.  Don't get me wrong, I do love animals, and occasionally feel a twinge of guilt when I eat them.  I have also read all of the research that says giving up meat is better for the environment and the world as a whole.  These thoughts were naturally in the back of my mind when I decided to give up meat (or maybe just eat a lot less of it) this year, but they were not my primary motivation.

Have you ever tried to improve your eating habits?  What is one thing that you discovered when you did that?  Most likely you found that healthy food is a lot more expensive than junk food.  Snacking on fruit and cheese costs a lot more than eating crackers and chips.  Lean meat costs more than fatty meat.  Seafood costs more than just about anything else in the grocery store.  When I've followed meal plans in the past I've spent so much on groceries it made my head, not to mention my checking account, spin.  Putting all of that money into my diet becomes just one more excuse to give it up completely and go back to crackers and white bread.  So I'm trying something different this time.  I'm giving up the thing that usually ends up costing the most in any healthy eating plan.  The meat.  I'm only one week in, so I don't know yet if it's made a difference in my budget, but I'm going to take a guess and say that it will.  Hopefully. 




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