The New Me! (Sort of)

So I have finally done it. I've toyed with the idea for a while now, played around with it off and on over the past couple years, doing a sort of a one step forward/two steps back dance that, were I a politician, would clearly be labelled as "waffling". (I prefer to think of it as testing the waters.) It's a big decision I am have not taken lightly. It's a major lifestyle change. So, here we go-

I am going vegetarian. (No, really this time.)

There, I've said it! It's kind of liberating to get that off my chest. I like to think of it as my new "dietary identity". I've been what you might call a flexitarian for the last couple years, having basically eliminated pork and red meat from my diet, allowing for fish and chicken almost exclusively. I've been increasing the amount of vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, and the like and have reduced (although not completely eliminated) my consumption of grains; in that regard, I have eliminated white and processed grains, opting for whole wheat and unprocessed varieties when available.

I've actually been at it for a couple weeks now. I have experimented in the past but my heart was never really "in it". After further exploring food choices and considering the wide variety of options available (not to mention reading the bios of some pretty incredible athletes like Scott Jurek, Michael Wardian, Bart Yasso, Brendan Brazier, Rich Roll, and generally cool dudes like Matt Frazier who are all plant powered) I feel much better about my chances of sticking with it on this go-around.

I've been asked on more than one occasion "Why"? I could go on and on about the state of our food supply, how destructive our meat supply is to the environment, use of antibiotics, etc, etc. That's already been covered by others in far more depth than I care to go into here. (I'm far from an expert anyway.) But the bottom line is that I believe that this is right for me. It's a model for the way that I want to interact with the world. I've been coming back to this idea time and time again. And I've found that when that voice in the back of your head doesn't stop talking to you, you might want to listen to it. 

So I am off - 10 days in and feeling great! I'm encouraged by the variety of vegetarian options at local restaurants that I had never noticed before. I'm also looking forward to continuing to add to my repertoire of salads and hot dishes that use some wonderful meat substitutes like tempeh, seitan, and yes, even tofu. We'll see where it goes from here - and, of course how it affects my running and recovery - but I think it could be a good move for me in the long run. 

So to speak.