Almost Vegetarian

Recently I went through this phase where I just stopped caring what I ate.  So, I started drinking chocolate shakes and diet Cokes again, and eating burgers and all kinds of junk.  And the pounds started to pile back on and I felt miserable.

I knew I was doing it because I was depressed, and because I had lost my focus.  I've never been a skinny girl, but I've tried, more often than not, to take care of myself, because I have four responsibilities.  And, of course, when you have a special needs child, you have to live forever...but that's a different blog.

So, anyhow, the other day I got this cookbook offer through Bookbub. It was for a book called "Feast" and it was a vegetarian cookbook by Sarah Copeland.  It promised meals that would actually leave you feeling full...unlike many vegetarian recipes that leave you feeling dissatisfied and still a little empty (Where's the beef???)

I decided to give it a try, and the first thing I did was buy a blender and make a kale shake.  Sounds gross, right?  I won't share the recipe because that wouldn't be fair to Ms. Copeland...but suffice it to say that it was good.  Surprisingly so.  I had it for breakfast.

Soon after that I was trying different oatmeal recipes, vegetable pot pies, eggplant parmesan, and paella, to name a few.  And I started to feel better.  

It wasn't a miracle cure for weight loss, but that wasn't what I was looking for.  What it did do was give me a greater awareness of food.  It made me stop and ask myself, what's actually in this thing that I'm putting in my mouth?  After about a week or two of doing this, I had a chili cheese dog.  It was disgusting.  I also had something else...I can't remember what it was, except that it was some kind of dessert...and it was horribly sweet.  Not delightfully sweet, but sweet in a way that I could taste the synthetic stuff that was in it.  

Now, lest you think I've turned into some kind of health nut, I want to make it clear that I love to eat and I enjoy really good food.  The point of this is not to tout a vegetarian point of view or to say that hamburgers are evil.  It's to say that developing a greater appreciation for the foods that are in season, and the foods that Heavenly Father actually created for us to consume, can really pay off in the way we feel physically, emotionally, and mentally.  I challenge anyone to try this, within the limits of what they can physically handle...give up the diet drinks and sodas, give up sugar. drink lots of water, add more vegetables than meat to what you're eating...and be surprised.