My Vegetarian Story

This month is National Vegetarian Month! This is my story of why I became one, even though it is a short one. I am also participating in Veg out with Elycia, whom is a wonderful lady that I met in blogger world. 

I have been officially vegetarian since the end of August. So it's only been about a month. But I have always leaned towards vegetarianism. So much that a friend gave me a vegetarian Italian cookbook a couple years ago, because she knows that I am not much of a meat-eater. I have always been super picky about meat, so the decision was really easy for me. Like I have said before, becoming vegetarian is just limiting myself to what I really want to eat in the first place. So I am much happier! I am actually pescetarian, so I do eat fish and seafood. I also make sure and eat protein that can be found in beans and meat-substitutes, like tofu and tempeh. My husband was a little worried when I announced my change in eating that I would not be getting enough protein or iron. But you would be surprised how much food you can eat that has those things. 

The decision was easy for me but a little harder for my family. My parents feel like they don't know what to feed me and often don't understand. They think I am on a diet and I keep correcting them. It is just the way I eat! A choice I made. They also think that I can eat bacon! They tried serving me soup with bacon in it and not telling me. When my husband figured it out and told me before I ate it, they said, "You can have bacon! It's good for you! We won't tell anyone." So, I am still working on helping others understand my decision and what I can eat. 

Part of my decision to become vegetarian is because of personal and taste preference and the way animals are treated and processed before they go on your plate. To make my decision even easier, we started getting a weekly delivery of organic fruit and vegetables delivered to our house. That is me in the picture above this week with some of our bin items. I love finding ways to cook vegetables that I might not normally buy. Like rainbow chard cooked in olive oil and topped with parmesan cheese, savory stuffed baked apples, steamed bok choy and zucchini bread. Everything is so fresh and lasts so much longer than stuff from the store. Plus, I swear we are saving money from not being tempted at the store to buy junk. 

So far, the mister hasn't complained much. He likes eating vegetarian with me at home and has been very supportive. We love going out to sushi and Thai food, so not much has had to change. I haven't felt tempted by foods I used to eat but sometimes have to think twice about repeating old habits. 

So although my story only starts a month ago, I wanted to share it. Happy Vegetarian Month!