A Hankering for meat.

Shortly after the completion of my 30 day challenge, Brett and I embarked on a new challenge together: 30 days of Vegetarian Living. Since I have a proclivity for following a diet low in animal protein anyway I did not think this would be much of a feat for me. With Brett, I was not so sure considering he does tend to enjoy steak a fair bit.

We are now on the 25th day and I am realizing that for the past two months I have treated myself as a human test tube. I went from a stringent yoga regimen to maintaining an extremely high level of activity but removing “the souls of deceased animals” from my diet. As I mentioned, I don’t eat much meat at all—but upon removing it completely I came to realize that chicken and fish prove to be quiet a necessary part of my diet and help facilitate my lifestyle and energy level.

I’m not political about vegetarianism at all, but I do subscribe to a belief that local sustainability and free range farming is important. Being the over-thinker that I am, I don’t condone large scale farming and think it can be inhumane, of dubious quality as well as unhealthy.

In an ideal world, I would be an herbivore. Of this, I am certain. Throughout Brett and my challenge I’ve had the opportunity to experience a whole pantheon of foods I’ve never eaten with any amount of regularity. Suddenly, my diet became rife with quinoa, kale, spelt, seitan and tempeh to name a few. The trouble I find is that to adequately devote oneself to this lifestyle, one must dedicate an extraordinary amount of time to educating themselves on alternative protein sources as well as have the drive to be creative in the kitchen.

I’ve had the good fortune of wandering over to PCC (a posh, marginally over-priced Seattle area co-op) during my lunch hour and loading up on the ultra-healthy goodies from their expansive deli but dinner isn’t quite as easy. After a long work day and 90 minutes of yoga, time is money (so to speak). We haven’t had the chance to study the vegan and vegetarian cookbooks I’ve procured over my formative years of being a macrobiote and vegan, so we stick to what we know: pasta dishes, stir-fry, veggie burgers, beans and rice, soups and salads. This is fine and dandy, but after having hit up some really cool vegetarian restaurants in the Seattle area over the past few weeks—I just wish there were more hours in the day.

I’m learning that everything we do in life is a challenge of sorts. I’ve told Brett that I would like this to be the year of “30 day challenges” because once you devote yourself so wholeheartedly to something for a month it gets you to thinking. I’ve become keenly aware not only of my strengths, but of my weaknesses as well. I feel like I’m building character, if only the slightest bit. I am continually forced to evaluate closely what’s important to me and what I can let slide. Ultimately, balance again comes to mind. And achieving that just might be the greatest challenge of all.