As some of you know, a few months ago we had an ordeal with Lil's gallbladder. It had to come out. What happened to me on a personal level during this 2 month adventure was unexpected. I hope that you can hear my side and understand that this isn't coming from a "preachy" standpoint. This is just me letting you know that something changed.
Lil couldn't eat meat. Not because of how it made her feel but because of how sick to her stomach she got just by smelling meat or sometimes even seeing it. A lot of her weight loss probably came from the fact that she was no longer eating those "stick to your ribs" meals that Southerns cook so well. Meat was slowly taken out of our household to show solidarity to her. By slowly I mean we ate what we had without buying new. Over the past 4 months I have seen myself go from having 8 to 10 servings of meat in a week (mostly chicken) to having 5-7 servings a month. I was not prepared to do this, there was no thought in this at all, but I would like to tell you what is and isn't different.
1. The story that vegetarians tell you about dropping red meat from your diet and instantly losing a dress size is painful for me to hear. I have lost no weight at all, probably because I am over 30 and HORMONES play a bigger role in my life than food. So, no....I haven't changed physically.
2. Is meat still in my house? Yes. I have come to the point that I cannot fathom eating most meat, chicken just makes me ill to look at it. I can now have it in the house and not be tempted to eat it. I just plain don't want to.
3 What are my 6 serving a month looking like? I eat 1 hamburger every 2 weeks and a BBQ sandwich once a week. I enjoy the heck out of those sandwiches. They taste completely different now and (remember I am cooking them at home, not eating out) I can taste every nuance the BBQ has. Yum!!
4. Why do things taste different? Well, there is a huge amount of sodium not sticking to my palate lately and when the kids get fries at a fast food place I sometimes feel as if the salt sits on my tongue for hours. It is really gross. Your taste buds change and some food just gets better and some food doesn't.
5. Am I eating healthier? Heck no. Have you met me? I still eat fish and rice everyday at lunch and I still love a baked potato and bread. Nothing has changed other than the amount of meat.
6. How do I feel physically? I have to admit, I don't take aspirin the way I used to. The headaches are pretty much gone. PMS is pretty much manageable. I feel like I have more energy and my mind goes at a thousand miles per hour some days. Some days my thoughts just zoom zoom zoom. It's kinda weird but not in a bad way. If I do eat a bite of steak or something....I have tried. Over the 4th I went to a cookout and ate some steak. It was a bad idea. My body just can't process it like it used to and the stomach cramps are very real.
7. Do the kids participate in this lifestyle? No. Tika loves sausage. Tika gets whatever she wants.
8. We definitely are not saving money. Having more fruits and vegetables in the house is more expensive
I have to admit that if you told me a year ago that I would not want chicken I would have laughed and laughed. The truth is we never know why people change or what spurs a change. I hope that if you find yourself becoming a different person than you imagined you were that you would share the reasons. Tolerance only comes from understanding some one's motivation.
Much love you guys.
