Immersion Project Day 7

It's been a couple days and I apologize. I was traveling and now I'm back in Chicago. On the 7th, I struggled a little bit. Not that I missed eating meat but the fact that I felt so limited to what I could have. When I was waiting for my flight at the airport, I looked around the eating area for something to eat. Mostly everything that they had was fish or fast food. This made it hard for me because the only fast food meal for a vegetarian at those restaurants is a salad, which seemed super bland to me. I ended up settling on a slice of cheese pizza but it still felt boring. If I want to keep my sanity during this project I'm going to have to get creative with my meals. My little sister was checking out pinterest and she said she could help me come up with something cool to eat besides all the bland food that it seemed that I'm eating. Maybe Friday?

Another thing that made the day coming home rough was that my dad is really mad that I decided to do this project. He is in denial that I'm actually a vegetarian and went out of his way to make steak tacos for the family. When I asked if he had anything else in the fridge he said we only had pork chops so I could just make the tator tots in the freezer. My dad has always been a hefty cook and always has some sort of meat at every family meal. It's going to be hard the next couple of days being home because I have to fend for myself.

Immersion Project Day 6

I am full.
I just had the best dang Chinese food I've ever had and it was from a local place in downtown Seattle. The vegetable chow mien was to die for and I got a fortune cookie that told me I'm beautiful. How nice.
I've noticed today that I don't feel that full when I eat food. I try my best to fill up my meals with proteins and vitamins but after awhile I just want more food. Today I had fruit and french toast for breakfast but after a couple hours I was ready for lunch; two hours later I wanted dinner. I'll report more on this if I still feel this way tomorrow or it might just be that I have been traveling and walking a lot today. The Chinese food did fill me up and now I don't want to move. Typing this up is even a hassle.

Immersion Project Day 5

This is surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. Today at Pike Place Market I tried goat cheese for the first time along with a vegetarian burrito. Actually, it was my first burrito ever in my 19 years. At the moment, I think I could be a vegetarian forever if I could keep trying different food. I'm starting to even like peppers. Not much is really changing about me. I'm feeling happier and I'm not getting terrible cravings.

Immersion Project Day 4

So this is officially the fourth day of being a vegetarian and I think this process is going to be easier while being in Seattle. Due to the fact that I'm in the hipster capital of the United States, it won't be hard finding a variety of vegetarian and vegan options. While trying my first cup of coffee here, which was delicious, I had a vegetarian sandwich. I really can't say what was on it besides pickled onions and cheddar cheese. It had this sweet sauce on it that made it taste Mediterranean. It was different from what I usually eat since I'm used to eating the average American diet of pizza, fries, and soda. This change in my diet has gotten me to open up to a variety of flavors that I've always been too scared to try because getting a cheeseburger was always an option, and I love those. Knowing that I can't eat them forces me to try something new.

Not only has being vegetarian opened me up to different foods but I've also noticed a change in my attitude. From my research, I learned that not eating meat can lead to happiness and more energy. For the past four days it has been easier to get out of bed when before I usually didn't get up until after the fifth time of hitting the snooze button. I'm not sure if the positive attitude is from eating plants or if I'm just excited about this change. I really hope it's both. Also, people were telling me that I would feel cravings and would always feel hungry. That's not true at all, I just want more coffee.

Immersion Project Day 3

I meant to post this yesterday but I spent my day taking midterms and traveling home. Now I'm in a hotel in Seattle drinking a really good Americano. I'm going to write this log and then post another about today.

Being a vegetarian has been going really well except for the past that for the past 3 days I ate some sort of potato. The first day it was mash potatoes, the second was a baked potato, and then yesterday it was french fries. I started this project because I want to be a healthier person so I'm going to have to really watch my carb intake.

I continued to joke with my friends about how the animals keep thanking me for being a vegetarian and they are getting annoyed by the joke. I feel it's never going to get old.

Immersion Project Day 2

I'm really bad at being a vegetarian. I think for nearly every meal for the past two days has had some sort of potato on my plate. I don't miss meat that much but whenever I see someone eating seafood or meat, I tend to stare a little longer than I should. I'm also pretty jumbled with the things that I think I should enjoy. Yesterday night at dinner, I got heated with a friend over if BBQ chicken pizza with pineapple is the best pizza ever and he didn't agree. This is the point where I realized I'm a vegetarian and I should agree that it isn't good. This whole way of thinking has questioning if I could still enjoy thinking about BBQ chicken pizza or not. It's just a really odd position to be in. I've decided to simply state what food I still like. Just because I can't eat it, doesn't mean I can't appreciate it.

Immersion Project Day 1

So today starts the first day of being a vegetarian for a month and I'm extremely excited. For months, I've been interested in changing my diet in this way and I guess the best way to get myself to do something is when it's for my education. Already today, my friend shared with me that chicken nuggets are not vegetarian so he could soil my mood but you know what is vegetarian? Tator tots! The best form a potato, hands down. Take that meat eaters.

One thing I'm a little worried about while doing this project is that instead of being healthier (which is sort of the point of why I'm doing this) I'm to eat a bunch of junk like tator tots. I ate a handful of nuts today to get some protein but what if I end up eating a tub of ice cream later? This project is definitely going to take a lot of self-control I realize. I'm also worried that I'll keep thinking about chicken and beef. As I walking to class, I thought about what I could get that doesn't have meat in it. I could probably get a sandwich but I've also never gotten one with a slice of deli meat on it.

Those are just a few things I might struggle with but I'm feeling pretty confident right now. I'll probably be posting on snap chat about how being a vegetarian makes me feel and I'll post about the food I'm eating, etc.