Day 10 - There are others like me?!

Today at lunch I was surprised to find that, yet again, there was a veggie alternative to our food.  It turns out that one of the main ladies here in Texas is a Vegan!  The food we've been eating has not been truly vegan, but in consideration of her, we've at least had meatless options.  How cool is it to find someone in Texas that doesn't eat meat right at a time when I'm struggling with the whole concept?!  It lifted my spirits :-)  I should really try to hook up with my vegetarian and vegan friends.
I still feel gross, but I've had a minor break through.  I am not eating healthy.  Just because I'm not eating meat doesn't mean I'm eating any healthier than I did before.  I had enchiladas for dinner and after I ate half of them, I noticed that my plate was drenched in grease.  Not good.  I need to pick healthier options and not just assume that I'm eating healthy because it's not meat.  There are SO many ways to eat unhealthy. 
Also, I think I've been worried about being hungry, so I've been eating large portions of food.  I need to eat less at a time.  If I get hungry at 3pm, I should have some veggies or yogurt or just something healthy.  I shouldn't worry so much about starving.  Maybe I should fast and pray for the wisdom not to worry about being hungry?! Lol!  I read all the time in articles about how much Americans over eat.  I'm just going to repeat under my breath whilst I'm eating, "You will not starve if you stop eating now.  You can have a healthy snack later, I promise.  You live RIGHT next to a Publix and there's ice cream in the fridge at home."  I guess I need to chill.
Before dinner I actually took a Beano for the first time!  My stomach doesn't feel as bad as it has felt after eating recently.  Maybe there's some truth to Beano after all.  It's only my first time taking it though, and I did purposefully not finish my food at dinner.  I need to read up on how often I can take this stuff.

02/16/11
Breakfast
Donuts (I'm at the mercy of the meetings in Texas)

Lunch
Cheese pizza with tomatoes and some leaf that was yummy
Romaine lettuce "salad"
Water
(cheesecake - oops!)

Dinner
Cheese enchiladas (which was like eating a block of cheese wrapped in a corn tortilla, not the best idea)
Rice
Beans
Guacamole
Coke

Day 9 - "Meat"

I had another veggie burger today in Texas for dinner.  I've discovered that the best way to be vegetarian right now is to eat things that are pretending to be meat.  With my new found love of "chicken" nuggets and veggie burgers, it only seems right.  In restaurants I've taken to looking for the veggie burger instead of looking for something with vegetables, unless you count fries.  Potatoes are a vegetable right?  I need to eat more salads.  I'll put this on my mental to-do list.
I was very pleased to find that the lunch they provided at our meetings included a veggie sandwich!  They also had cut up raw vegetables!  I admit I was very much dreading finding out what was on the menu and having to tailor it to my needs. 
Btw- my stomach still hurts at this point.  I still haven't taken Beano even though I am now carrying the bottle around in my purse.

02/15/11
Breakfast
Fresh fruit! No kidding!
Croissant

Lunch
Small roll sandwich with mozzarella disk, tomatoes, lettuce
Fresh veggies
Potato chips
Water
(a sugar cookie too!)

Dinner
Veggie burger
The World's Most Amazing Cheddar Fries
Sweet tea

Day 8 - What do vegetarians eat in airports?

Happy Valentine's Day all you lovers!
Today I flew to Texas for some meetings.  We hit the airport at dinner time with just enough time to eat something really quick.  The Birmingham airport does NOT have good food.  Let's start with that.  Even if I were a carnivore, I wouldn't have been thrilled.  We sat down to eat and I ordered nachos.  Why not?  It's a carb, and I guess I thought it would fill me up since we really didn't plan to eat once we got to Dallas.  The nachos came with a choice of meat - chili, chicken or some other meat.  I ordered the nachoes with extra guacamole and NO meat of any kind.  I said this twice.  The waiter came back to our table after putting the order in and asked me what kind of meat I wanted.  NO MEAT!  Do I need to wear a sign that says, "I don't eat meat anymore! I may look like I'm starving, but really, NO MEAT!"  I guess I'm testy just on the inside, cos on the outside I smiles and assures him that really, I don't want meat.  You had it right when you didn't write down a meat.

02/14/11
Breakfast
Kix and milk

Lunch
Veggie Burger
Fries
Sweet tea

Dinner
Chips, cheese, some corn salsa, some black beans, & guacamole or if you will, nachos
Sweet tea

Drinks at the hotel later when we were working at 10pm :-)

Day 7 - Even the Lord rested one day!

Day 7 was a continuation of the pain.  Let's have a serious discussion about this pain I'm having.  My stomach hurts.  Just hurts.  There's no sharp pains.  It doesn't help if I eat or if I don't eat.  I am so conscious of my stomach.  It feels like there's a balloon inside of me and I can't pop it.  Today I bought Beano, but did not use Beano.  Maybe I should just start taking it before I eat anything.  It doesn't seem to matter what I eat, my stomach aches.
This is the day that I seriously thought about giving up on vegetarianism.  I thought, "Why am I suffering?" "What is the point?!"  I whined about it a lot today.  Mom made pot roast for lunch and I kept staring at it on her plate.  It said, "Eat me!"  I wanted it too!  I seriously almost had some and just said screw it!
Since my stomach has been hurting, I've been a little down.  My will power was low at this point.  I feel isolated in that I'm not eating the same things the people around me are eating.  I also feel ugly cos having stomach aches makes me feel gross.  I have fantastic self esteem, and this is rough.
Today I did discover Morning Star Chicken Nuggets.  I don't like fried chicken.  Laugh now, but I live in Alabama and don't eat the stuff.  I love me some chicken nuggets though!  My friends have suggested trying this stuff.  I really liked them!  Now, they were NOT chicken. lol.  They didn't even taste like chicken.  I'm not sure I can tell you what they tasted like cos I scarfed them down.  The consistency was great too!  They were the highlight of my Sunday, especially since I worked for 3 hours today.

02/13/11
Breakfast
Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch
Mommy-made macaroni & cheese
Broccoli - yes, it had bacon bits in it, but I didn't eat the actual bits
Green beans
Crescent rolls

Dinner
"Chicken" nuggets
Crispy crown tater tots
Sweet tea

Day 6 - Oh the pain!

Day 5 dinner did not help me any with my current pains because we ate "Mexican" for a friend's birthday.  I use the term "Mexican" losely.  We had Fuego in Southside.  It was NOT good.  The food wasn't good (2 of my friends were sick after and I didn't eat my food) and the service was terrible.  This is seriously our conversation with the food runner : "I have a burrito." "What kind of burrito? Four of us had different burritos." "A burrito, burrito!"  Not cool.

02/11/11
Dinner
Three bites of a veggie burrito
Chips, salsa, queso, guacamole
Sweet tea 

My stomach pains continued this day.  It probably doesn't help that I have continued to eat Mexican food and have not bought Beano as was suggested to me by my friends the night before. 
It really sucked too because I went to a party this night and they made brisket!  I LOVE brisket! Correction I LOVED brisket.  It was painful.  I swear I'm going to try to eat mushrooms at some point, but even the mushrooms had meat in them at this party.  It didn't bode well for me that the birthday dude is from Texas. lol!

02/12/11
Breakfast
Skipped it cos I wanted to sleep

Lunch
HABANEROS!!! (I am incapable of turning down Habaneros even when I'm in pain and have had so much Mexican)
Spinach enchiladas
Rice
Beans (I know!)
Guacamole
Sweet tea (possibly the only thing that makes up for the fact that my tummy hurts)

Dinner
A couple squares of cheese pizza
Veggies
Drinks at the party
I really didn't eat a lot, but really with a tummy ache like that, why would I?

Day 5 - My tummy hurts!

I am not kidding you.  My tummy hurts! It has hurt since bedtime last night and just gets worse as the day goes by.  It makes all kinds of crazy growling noises too.  My Bulgarian friend says it's cos I'm not used to eating real beans (see Day 4 Dinner).  I eat beans all the time though! I eat at Habaneros at least once a week and ALWAYS have beans. 
The intense ache in belly today has caused me to question my vegetarianism.  Am I really accomplishing what I had hoped?  Does it read like I've eaten a lot of vegetables this week?  Cos it doesn't feel like it. Do you think I've eaten healthy?  I'm not sure.  I haven't really cooked as much as I would like either.  Plus the things I did make at home weren't exactly complicated.  Plus, what is this protein stuff?  Am I getting enough?  I need to reevaluate this experiment.  Unfortunately, I'm going out of town next week and we all know how hard it is to eat good then.  I'm busy this weekend too with all kinds of birthday celebrations that involve eating with others where others have picked.  Plus I need to work Saturday in the office and the nice people downstairs won't be there.  What will I bring for my lunch?  (Frozen dinner?)  I'm thinking about just pushing through until I can make some serious grocery plans.  I'm also thinking about eating a hamburger!

02/11/11
Breakfast
Kix and milk

Lunch
Mac 'n cheese
Mashed potatoes
Squash
Corn
Yeast Roll
Water
  

Day 4 - Snow Day

Last night it snowed! It was SO ridiculously beautiful!  I slept late this morning.  It was lovely!
I was expecting a little more snowpocalypse, but the roads were ok and everyone made it in to work.
It was a busy day at work, and it took me an hour just to eat my pasta alfredo (yup, vegetarians eat leftovers too!).  I've found that my latest issue with vegetarianism is the fear of being hungry.  Reading back over the blog I realize I'm eating just fine, not quite healthy just yet, but I'm sure that will get better if I actually grocery shop.  I had two bowls of icecream tonight to make up for that fear :-)
Did you know they make "vegetarian" refried beans?! I thought they were already "vegetarian".  Today I learned it's possible to make the most vegetarian things, beans, more vegetarian.  They're "vegetarian" because they have soybean oil instead of partially hydrogenated lard!  So cool!


02/10/11
Breakfast
Cinnamon rolls
Sunny D

Lunch
Pasta Alfredo (let's get this straight - this is what it said on the bag)

Dinner
Vegetarian bean burrito
Cheese
Salsa

Day 3 - The WHY AM I DOING THIS?! day

Day 3 was rough.  The day in general was rough really.  I took it out on my vegetarianism a little bit.  I had an appointment at lunch that ran late.  I knew I was just barely going to make it back to work before the meat and three closed downstairs.  On my way back from the appointment in the car I was trying to think of what I would eat at a fast food place.  I thought I could just swing by a drive-thru and get something before I went back to work.  I couldn't think of anything I would eat from a fast food place that I would enjoy.  I could have fries or a wimpy salad.  What else?!  I just couldn't think of anything!  I felt a little panicy that I wouldn't be eating lunch this day.  So, when I got back to the office, I ran downstairs.  Most of the veggies were gone.  Nothing really looked good anymore.  I was a frustrated vegetarian, but decided to stick with it.  They normally have pre-made salads, but I was late.  The dude made me a small salad with the lettuce left (still fresh!) and fruit and cheese (cheese saves any meal).  The lady in line behind me said, "That's a small salad for $5.00!"  I looked at her, with her chicken, and said, "They made this special for me. I have special dietary needs." She said, "Oh." Oh is right lady! It was a rough day.   

02/09/10
Breakfast
Strawberry yogurt
Pretzels (I like to dip them in the yogurt. I'm special.)

Lunch
Romaine lettuce
Oranges
Cranberries
Walnuts
Tomatoes
Cheddar cheese
(Yea, a salad)
Water

Dinner
Pasta Alfredo
Green beans
Cornbread (butter)
Dr. Pepper

Habaneros - The blog within the blog

Habaneros is my most favoritest place in the world!  No other restaurant will ever fulfill my hunger like Habaneros! (hehe)  Day 2 dinner was my first night eating Habaneros as a vegetarian.  I wasn't exactly sure how I would feel without my burrito relleno, but I was willing to try.  The good thing about vegetarian Habaneros is that most Mexican food fits right into my theme.  Take out the beef, chicken, steak, and shrimp and you've still got an amazing meal!  Beans, rice, cheese dip, chips, salsa, sour cream, tortillas, peppers, onions, guacamole, lettuce, and tomatoes - all fair game for a vegetarian.  Habaneros even has a specific "Vegetarian" section on the menu.  There are 5 whole options!  This night I tried the spinach burrito with rice, beans, and guacamole salad.  Guacamole salad cracks me up because it's basically just some guac on some lettuce!  That's not a salad!  You still need chips to enjoy that!  I digress.  My spinach burrito was like 5 pounds of spinach wrapped in a tortilla.  I felt like Popeye.  Everything was so delicious!  I couldn't stop eating.  Also, I didn't have that ridiculously full tummy ache from when I eat too much Mexican.  Dare I say it might be the beef?!

02/08/11
Dinner - Habaneros!
Spinach burrito
Refried beans with cheese
Mexican rice
Guacamole (I don't eat the lettuce that makes it a "salad")
Chips
Salsa

I ate like a Queen!!!

Day 2 - I ate a pepperoni yesterday!

Last night's dinner should not have been as challenging as it was, but unfortunately I ended up eating a pepperoni.  I shared a pepperoni pizza with a friend thinking that I would just pick the pepperonis off.  However, I got a little bit distracted when my most favoritest show, How I Met Your Mother, came on.  I was all excited and grabbed a slice of pizza and had eaten a pepperoni before I came to my senses.  Not to mention the fact that pepperonis do not come off of pizza as well as one might think.  This might also be a good time to note that my dinner was so not healthy in any way. lol. Oh well.

02/07/11
Dinner
Cheese Pizza (and that one pepperoni, dangit!)
Crazy bread
Coke

So far, I'm eating good without the meat.  It helps a lot that there's a meat and three bar downstairs in the building I work in.  My lunches will feature several different vegetables when I eat at work.  I find that variety is nice.  However, around 3pm yesterday I got really hungry.  Now I usually get a little hungry and have a light snack, but yesterday I was starving!  I had a glass of water because I read that sometimes when you feel like you're starving, you're actually thirsty.  Drinking a glass of water before you eat is supposed to help you eat less at that meal.  I was full of water for a little while, and then I just couldn't take it anymore!  I had some M&M's to quiet my tummy.  Still vegetarian!

Day 2 - so far, so good.  We'll see how I feel around 3pm.

02/08/11
Breakfast
Kix and milk

Lunch
Mac 'n cheese (cos in the South that's a vegetable!)
Mashed potatoes
Cabbage
Squash
Yeast Roll
Water

Day 1 - To be or not to be?

It's the first day of my vegetarian experiment!  I absolutely ate pepperoni pizza and cheeseburgers this weekend to prepare for my final moments of meat.  I'm armed with several vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, plus fantastic friends who have this lifestyle already. 
I've decided to try vegetarianism in the hopes that I will cultivate a cooking hobby and be forced to eat more veggies and healthy meals without having to think too hard about it.  Also, I'll be trying lots of new recipes and cooking most of my own food (I could have a cooking experiment blog too.  I'm fairly new to the concept, but am loving cooking all the time.) I'm going to be an ovo-lacto vegetarian to start off with.  This means I'm going to eat eggs and dairy (cheese is just so amazing!).  I'll keep an open mind along the range of vegetarianism and possible make it all the way to vegan for a moment.
Each day I'll post my food choices and agonize over my lack of nutrition or rejoice about a new found favorite.  I'm sure I'll have some other note-worthy information to share as I learn what meat substitutes are and what they taste like.  Stay tuned for when I make my own seitan!

So, follow me on my experiment and we'll see just what it's like to turn a carnivore into a vegetarian.

02/07/11
Breakfast
Kix and milk

Lunch
Spaghetti noodles
Squash casserole
Greens (I admit they tasted like bacon had been added in, but I'm in the South...)
Yeast Roll
Water