I have just tearfully seen my Mom off to the airport for her long trip back to the US (miss her already!), and it is time to get back to real life and work on those goals I set last month. In working on my health goal- today is officially Day 1 of my month sans-meat.
I have always been fascinated with vegetarians- and the dedication it takes to maintain the lifestyle in world where meat often reigns supreme. In a fit of teenage angst I briefly experimented in exclusive veggie eating in my early teen years after being forced to read The Jungle in school. But, I wasn't too committed and quickly returned to my carnivorous ways. To be fair, it is difficult to be a veggie in a family that owned a cattle ranch and enjoyed a good steak with decent regularity. That and I have always had a special place in my heart (and tummy) for hot dogs.
It would seem that the world is now a buzz with stories of the evils of meat consumption and the virtues of vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. Its not just the Hollywood celebrities and crazy hippies either- I just watched a whole story on how President Clinton is more-or-less a vegan these days and has achieved amazing heart heath results from his diet change. With the various outbreaks of meat-borne diseases in the last decade and the recent left-wing exposes on the practices of the meat industry, it is easy to be a little weary about meat. Let me say that I respect those who do the veggie thing for the sake of cute animals everywhere- and trust me, I like animals too, but that has very little to do with my new found veggie plan. Raised in Colorado with close ties to the agricultural and ranching communities, I was raised to believe that there is no evil in eating animals. I still believe that to be true, but now I also believe that for the sake of our hearts and waist lines, maybe we should all eat a little bit less of it.
Asia is a good place to experiment with vegetarianism due to the fact that many Chinese and Indians eschew meat consumption for religious purposes and veggie friendly dining options abound. I guarantee that you are never going to find more tofu in a grocery store than you are here. I also think it will be good to give it a shot here because one thing notably absent from most grocery stores are those meatless products pretending to be meat which line the shelves of Whole Foods and their brethren in the US. I can admit to loving myself some Trader Joe's tofu chickenless nuggets, and have on occasion tried other meatless-meat items- but since I am doing this for heath reasons, I have decided to steer clear of this kind of processed product (for the most part). I think it is fair to be somewhat suspicious of some of the processed veggie foods in the market these days- some taste like cardboard (my short-lived adventures in meatless breakfast sausage confirmed this) and some are so processed that they simply cannot be that healthy for you, regardless of their meatless qualities. In my past life as a New Yorker (and even prior) I was oft criticized for sticking to a diet of highly processed diet foods- fat free/low fat creations made just for girls like me that love shortcuts and microwavable meals. While Singapore is not always the healthiest place to eat (god they loooove to fry things here), one thing that we have cut back on significantly is processed food. There are no 100-calorie packs of anything here and it's virtually impossible to find fat-free/low-fat anything. So in many ways, we are back to the basics and eating more "whole foods". I am hoping to be able to replace the meat in my diet with actual veggies, that still resemble something that came from a farm, and will try to avoid reaching for pre-processed meat-replacement foods.
So what is my goal with this? Primarily to check out the celebrated health benefits of cutting back on/cutting out meat. I have been gradually cutting meat out of my diet since we have been here- but I think it will be a good challenge to completely cut out meat for a month. To be completely honest, I do not plan to be a vegetarian for life- I just don't think it is realistic for me- I do actually enjoy meat on occasion. But I think there is value in limiting meat consumption and I hope that having to give up meat entirely for a month will broaden my horizons on healthy eating and teach me something that I can carry with me for life.
So, stay tuned for updates on how it is going. I bought a TON of veggie and vegan cookbooks on Amazon (that were kindly imported to Singapore by my Mother)- so as long as work cooperates and lets me out once in a while, I hope to start spending some time in the kitchen cooking up a veggie friendly storm.
Love,
the temporary herbivore
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