I wrote last week that I was staring down the barrel of the loaded shotgun that was Week 3. Then I wrote about not listening to me whine, we’ll check back in a week.
I’ll be honest with you. I’m writing this on Friday evening, knowing what I’ll be eating for dinner and just about all of Week 3 behind me. Week 3 started out really rough for me, really rough. I have my brother in law to thank for that, and my nephew (his son) for turning 3. You see, my brother-in-law and sister throw these eat-fest parties. I imagine I gain about 3 lbs. while at their house on a normal day; for parties? Forget it. 10 lbs easily down my throat. I have no self control at their house. It just isn’t possible.
So, for D’s 3rd birthday (and he is the most adorable child in the world, speaks in full sentences, understands far more than many people I speak to on a daily basis do; unfortunately due to parental concerns – that I cannot say are unwarranted, having gone through my own share of shit when I was young – I cannot post a photo of him), the party began at 3, with myself and my boyfriend instructed to arrive early. (My boyfriend really enjoys decorating cupcakes, and my sister enjoys baking them; it all works out, really.) BIL (brother-in-law) grilled up hot dogs, hamburgers for those of us who arrived early.
I made myself a tomato, onion, mozzarella sandwich on a hamburger bun. Not half bad, especially once I added mayo and Sriracha to the top, though BIL began giggling madly when he saw me doing this and said “You look MISERABLE! Why even bother!” and I didn’t have a good answer for him. It’s a challenge. I like challenges, I love dares, and if I can keep doing it, I WILL. This being so public – I admit here that were this a private, just kept to myself challenge, I might have already slipped up. But “with the world watching” as it were (which, to be honest, I’m not even entirely sure they are, all the time)… I have to win! I have to persevere!
I got up and walked to replace the Sriracha and mayo in the fridge. When I returned, there was a hot dog on top of my sandwich, and I actually felt a little… revolted. I don’t know why. I couldn’t bring myself to touch it and just tipped the plate a little and rolled the hot dog onto my sister’s plate. “Not cool,” I glared at BIL. “I’m not going to eat meat!”
He tried this trick a few times throughout the day, and unwittingly made me more determined to keep to this challenge by informing each of his friends what I was doing. “She’s not eating meat,” he rolled his eyes to each person as they sat and ate with us. “What? Why not?!” they would recoil, practically in horror, and start grilling me. Someone said it was unhealthy. Someone else told me that I couldn’t be serious, meat is delicious (and yes. yes it is, thanks for reminding me).
Though that day I struggled with putting into words exactly why I was doing this, or how it was making me feel, I remained resolute. In the face of corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes for dinner, I managed to eat copious amounts of the three side dishes without touching the main attraction. I wistfully stared at the luminous meat, glistening with its own fat, and I dutifully helped pack away the leftovers in giant containers, knowing that on any other given day, any other party at my sister’s house, I’d have been packing up a container for myself. Instead, I packed only cabbage (boiled in butter, I’m sure of it) for myself to take home.
The next day, I returned for a smaller gathering of just my immediate family with the birthday boy, so we could watch him open his presents and play with them (and they are oh-so-very-awesome, I must inform you!). I was again faced with the corned beef (leftovers, glorious leftovers) and though I was not hungry, I busied myself with stuffing my face with potatoes, cabbage, carrots, so that the corned beef – which sat unfortunately atop the carrots – would not lure me in with its promise of glorious fat.
Because my weekend was occupied with spending time with my two adorable nephews, I had less time than I normally do during which I could prepare food to pack for lunch for the week. Packing lunch makes remaining meatless so much easier. I also had no time to buy bread (again), which means breakfast tends to the sad side – including large bags of Cheez Doodles – so when I wrote that post about staring down the barrel of a loaded shotgun? I meant it. I was fighting cravings of meat big time; the corned beef, the smell of those burgers, the sight of those hot dogs… I wanted it. I wanted to cram my gullet with as much meat as I could find. I wanted to run to Shake Shack at an off time and order 10 Shackburgers. I wanted to eat MEAT.
I was ready to cave.
Instead, I ate cookies. We’ll get to the cookies. The cookies were (mostly) good.
Google Alerts brought to my attention that someone mentioned The Feisty Foodie, and I clicked over to see what this was. Now, I put myself out there and I completely expect that if I say something stupid, someone will call me on it. (I say a lot of stupid things.) This is a blog, and a food blog to boot, so there’s tons of room for ridicule. So I took no offense at what was said – it’s true, I publicized that I’d eaten Cheez Doodles for breakfast – but the part of Young & Hungry’s post that made me sit up and take notice?
“which would be more impressive if she excluded fish, too.“
Oh. You know, thinking it over, I actually haven’t been very good. I’ve simply replaced my dependence on meat with a dependence on fish. Salmon, to be exact, and I’m super tired lately; do I have mercury poisoning a la Jeremy Piven?! (No.) But the point is… I’ve nearly breezed through 3 weeks of not eating meat. Let’s up the stakes. Take it one step further.
No more fish. (We’ll keep the stuff-made-with-animal, chicken broth, etc. because I can’t be bothered to be a strict vegetarian, I’m sorry but I can’t and I keep a lot of chicken stock at home so it seems silly to run out just to replace it all for a few weeks of cooking.)
I was pleased with this decision, and plan on keeping it for the rest of the challenge. 5 weeks, I’m done with 3, so there should be only 2 left, right?
WRONG. Apparently, counting is not my strong suit (instead, I can talk at length about any given topic. WIN!) February 28 – April 9 is actually one day short of 6 weeks.
So we have 3 more weeks, and I’ve already told myself that I now will not consume any fish, either. No sushi!!! Where will I get my protein from? Oh my stars, tofu will be my new best friend, huh? We’ll see.
Aren’t you glad you read all that? Now, here’s the run down of what’s been consumed during Week 3 (no better than Week 2, really, but it will improve; I swear it!)
Saturday, 3/14/09 – Meatless Day 15
all day (not really broken into meals…): root beer; Chex; deviled eggs; pickles; carrots; cabbage; potatoes; kettle chips; tomato onion sandwich; tiramisu
Sunday, 3/15/09 – Meatless Day 16
(I walked about 5.5 miles around Flushing Meadow Park in the morning… I’ll have you know!)
lunch: udon with 5 veggie dumplings; bok choi; 6 fish balls
snack: 1/2 Milk Bar cookie
snack: popcorn; pistachios; melon bar
dinner: potatoes, cabbage, carrots
Monday, 3/16/09 – Meatless Day 17
breakfast: little bit of udon; 1 compost cookie from Milk Bar; 1/2 white chocolate macadamia cookie
lunch: 1/2 hummus with veggies sandwich from Cosi; small bag of cracked pepper chips
dinner: 1/2 hummus with veggies sandwich from Cosi; large bag of Bravos (sorry… chips are my downfall!)
Okay, before you say anything, I’ve never thought udon/noodles or soups for breakfast was that weird. I’m not a fan of oatmeal so there’s only so much hot/liquidy-ish stuff I can have in the morning. I used to have Cup’o’Noodles for breakfast. Yes, I’m weird and I like salty things over sweet. And the cookies? Oh, whatever.
Tuesday, 3/17/09 – Meatless Day 18
breakfast: bowl of random rice (which might sound ick, but is really quite tasty)
mid-morning snack: 1/2 caramel Fat Witch brownie; green tea
lunch: bento #311… and a bag of Cheez Doodles
dinner: maple glazed salmon, roasted broccoli, random rice
Mmm yeah that was good. Don’t judge me for my Cheez Doodle addiction! I’ve sworn off buying them, that’s it! It won’t happen again! (Not until post-challenge… haha)
Wednesday, 3/18/09 – Meatless Day 19
breakfast: udon with fishballs
lunch: giant Fuji apple; bento #312 (it should be noted here that I ran 2.37m between the apple and the bento)
dinner: bento #313
Thursday, 3/19/09 – Meatless Day 20
breakfast: udon with fishballs
lunch: bento #314
dinner: salmon, broccoli, random rice; mini panna cotta (2oz)
Friday, 3/20/09 – Meatless Day 21
breakfast: cabbage; (small) Harry & David pear; 1 thin mint cookie (I don’t want to admit it to you… but I will)
lunch: giant Fuji apple; vegetarian banh mi (grrr!) (it should be noted that between the apple and the banh mi, I ran 2.45m)
dinner: we’re going to Veselka and I am probably going to order the vegetarian combo platter because that’s what I want.
So, all in all, not a complete disgrace, but I have to get rid of those nasty chips. I just really like crunchy & salty snacks… and don’t like pretzels. Bah.
No meat, no fish, no animal flesh. Simply… vegetables.
Tune in next week to see how I do…
PS Seriously, I may have to start taking supplements. I’ve been losing a lot of blood via random nosebleeds lately. Every night for the past 3-4 nights. Plus a few the week before. It’s uncool to be anemic, seriously.
SkippyMom says
Hey you! Looking good – I have no idea how you survived your sis/bil’s house [love those posts, they can cook too!] but I am proud of you 🙂
A thought on the salty – have you ever thought about making your own “chex mix” – you can leave out the pretzels and it is inexpensive and you can mix up a huge batch and it is good for you….and I could go on, but you get the idea –
Also, glad you got rid of the Cheeze Doodles….[omg so good! 🙂 ] how about some citrus in your diet too? I like the apples and pears, but perhaps an orange [or 2] or a red ruby grapefruit? mmmmmm grapefruit…lol..I always get hungry reading your blog.
Take your supplements! Mom says! and I hope the nosebleeds stop soon. Hugs and GREAT JOB.
Yvo says
Only BIL can cook… My sister, not so much 😉 she can make some things though, so we keep her around LOL just kidding (if she reads this, I’m out!!!)
That’s a good idea actually… I was eyeing this Chex mix bag at my boyfriend’s house on Saturday. Is it still healthy if I just buy it? :X
Funny you mention citrus, I bought oranges yesterday, so you should see them appear in my lunch… tomorrow, actually. 🙂
No to the supplements though! I refuse! Every vegetarian swears it is possible to be healthy without supplements and meat subs, so I will do it!
Anonymous says
The world is, in fact, watching, at least the English-speaking world or, okay, the East-coast North Americans living in the U.S.
So, here’s my question: Would you be able to restrict your diet to vegetarian foods for an entire month?
Notice, I did not say vegan. You don’t have to deny yourself eggs, for example, or dairy foods.
However, I can’t help but agree w one D.C.-based food critic that you still depend a whole lot on fish–or in at least one guilt-producing moment–seafood.
I am not advocating meat-substitutes.
In addition to garden burgers, tempeh and salmon, there are dried beans to make into soups, falafel, chili… Nuts. Whole grains such as quinoa. Skillet cornbread baked from scratch, incorporating eggs and buttermilk.
No need for supplements. Just eat a greater variety of real foods.
Then you can indulge in all the Cheeze Doodles you crave.
Elizabeth
Yvo says
Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for your well thought-out comment. I have to ask, though, if you actually read this post, since I both mention the DC critic… and that I have given up fish as well for the remainder of this Meat Hiatus challenge. Also, I’m curious why you think I don’t eat a good variety of “real” foods – for the vast majority of my diet, I eat food that I have cooked myself from scratch (and in Week 3, some foods cooked from scratch by my brother in law or his mother). Thanks for the encouragement 🙂