Today, I have a very exclusive guest post to share with you- My Hubby!! He rarely does this type of thing so it is a big honor to have him with us today ?
Thank you, my love! ?
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When I saw the subject line in my wife’s e-mail (guest post?) a slight sigh left my body as I knew what she wanted. Writing is not my thing as I’m much better at hitting things with sticks or throwing things. But I love my wife and so resigned to do something I didn’t really want to (like how she feels about watching hockey).
The month long vegan exercise was not something I had ever thought about doing, but Wendy was going to do it so I thought why not? 30 days is not too long and I am sure I can make it through! It may have been the second night that I had a dream about spaghetti with meat sauce and a pile of parmesan cheese on the top that I knew this month could be one of the longer ones. The following days got easier and easier with the occasional fantasy about a hamburger or steak (and I’m not a big steak guy to start with). I filled up on fruit and veggie platters so I could bring them to work and have something to snack on when I was hungry or bored. I felt very healthy eating veggies but it definitely took all my willpower to stay away from the cookies and other treats that always seem to make their way into the place I work.
The people I work with were interested as to why I would be doing this, as we live in a very meat friendly place. I explained that we were giving this a shot to see how we felt and to lose a few pounds if we were lucky. I was meet with blank stares and head shakes as I tried to explain how we were taking in too many animal products on a more than regular basis and wanted to see how stopping that would affect us. “You’re nuts” was the common response but I stuck to my guns and continued on.
I have to admit that I was sick going into this experiment and continued to be sick for most of the time on it so I can’t really tell you that I felt so much better. What I can tell you is I felt better mentally and felt healthier from all the good things I was eating even if I still had a cold. I was never starving as I ate small snacks all day long, and the urge to eat meat as well as any processed food went away almost entirely by the end of the month. The food we had at dinner time had a heavy dose of hot sauce at the beginning but as Wendy felt more comfortable with the ingredients and we bought some fresh spices, there were more than a few dinners I went back for seconds and even brought to work for lunch the next day. There was 1 rhubarb desert that she made which I loved and ate most of the tray over a couple of days all by myself.
I ended up losing 13 pounds in 30 days, but more importantly for me I gained a new perspective on how many animal products I was putting into my body each and every day without even thinking about it. Not to say I’m not going eat meat (I did have some baby back ribs two days after it was over) but I didn’t enjoy eating it nearly as much as I thought I was going to, and even thought how that was enough red meat to do me for a while. I’m looking forward to having some shell-fish soon and maybe a few orders of tuna sashimi as I have missed that.
I would say to anyone who is not happy with the way they are eating or just wants to see the looks on people’s faces when you tell them you are a vegan, to give it a thirty day try. Worst case is you miss out on a few weeks of meat, but you may like me gain a new perspective on what you are putting into your body and realize that “when you know better, you do better.” (A great Maya Angelou quote!)
Thanks to my beautiful wife for waking me up, even if it is only a little.
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On a very special note:
Happy Father’s Day to my husband, my Dad, my Father-in-law, our Grandfathers
Happy Father’s Day to each and every one of you Dads
The world needs your unconditional love!
“He didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.” ~Clarence Budington Kelland
