One BIG change

Just before father's day, I started reading The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. The reason I read it was because I was curious about the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle. I had no intentions of ever transitioning or even considered changing the way I ate. But while reading it, I learned more about the foods I was eating and became more aware of what I was putting in my mouth and before I knew it, I was making the switch. 

To friends who have known me the longest, they know I am the last person in this universe to ever make this kind of change. Especially since vegetables were never ever part of any of my meals. My parents (and a couple friends) have made concerned comments about me not including any vegetables to my diet for pretty much all of my life (until recently). Their words went in one ear and out the other. As far as I was concern, meat was the one and only food group I needed. I was a dedicated carnivore. I don't know what it was but something in this book spoke to me and made me want to make the switch. 

July 4 was the day I stopped eating any meat, dairy, eggs, even seafood. I wasn't expecting to go cold turkey at all. I actually wrote down a plan of eliminating one animal at a time but for some strange reason, I was able to tell myself that if I could find an alternative, I should choose that instead & so far that's been working well. I also used some tips from the book, which were pretty simple to follow. 

Since I just started changing my way of eating, I'm not very strict with myself. On weekends, I allow myself to go vegetarian, which means I can eat anything with eggs or dairy. But whenever I can, if a vegan option is available, I'll definitely go for that. It's been two weeks since I started and it's going quite well, better than I expected. Surprisingly, I don't miss eating meat as much as I thought I would. I've been able to prepare some tasty salads from reading different recipes and I've tried some meat alternatives and they're pretty good. Coming from a meat-eater, that says a lot, don't you think? :) 

I know this is going to be one interesting and challenging journey but I'm doing it for my health & I think it's worth it. I still have a lot to learn and I'm learning as I go along while reading some books about it and making weekly weekend visits to Whole Foods, which is always fun for me. :) 

What's your most recent BIG change?