Wednesday, January 13, 2010

068. 7 Day Vegetarian Challenge: Details, Goals, and my Thoughts Going into the Challenge

So, due to my case of the blahs and total lack of productivity over the weekend, I’ve decided to push back my 7 Day Vegetarian Challenge until next week. I want to give myself some time to reflect and prepare so that I don’t decide being a vegetarian sucks and bail on my ultimate goal of a 30 day challenge.

What? Starting Sunday (1/17), I’m going to go 1 week eating 100% vegetarian. For this particular challenge this means no meat – including fish. This 7 days challenge is a pre-cursor to a 30 day challenge I plan to do later this year.

Why? There are several reasons I wanted to do this challenge.


Initially, I was inspired by a few things Laura’s post about reducing her meat consumption and transitioning to a flexitarian diet. Caitlin's post eating ethically also got me thinking. The Vegan Week/ Blogger Vegan 4 a Day Challenge that took place back in November also piqued my interest though I wasn't read to tackle that challenge at the time.

I already knew about the cruelty a lot of animals endure when they’re being raised and slaughtered. I also had an idea of the negative impact the meat industry, and factory farming as a whole, has on the environment. However, I’ve justified this in my own mind a million different ways.

It was a complete coincidence that I read Skinny Bitch as I was decided to start my first veggie challenge; however, reading the book fueled my plan. It’s also motivated me to learn more and stop trying to justify the cruelty and negative impact on the environment that my eating meat has.

Where is this going? I don’t think I will ever become a full-fledged vegetarian, but who knows. Maybe after I do my 30 days, but I doubt it. I do have a few goals in mind for this mini challenge and my upcoming longer challenge.


  • This will make my look at my meal plans for a week and make truly conscious decisions about what I'm eating since I'll need to make sure they're 100% meat free.

  • Prove to myself (and others) that you don't need meat to be healthy and get enough protien

  • Find more creative ways to incorporate fruits and vegetables in to my meals (rather than having meat with a side of veggies)

  • Increase the number of vegetarian meals I eat weekly and decrease the amount of meat I'm eating.

  • In eating less meat, I want to increase the quality of the meat I do eat (e.g. buying organic free range chicken rather than the giant bag of frozen chicken breast from Sam's Club.)

  • Learn more about factory farming and it's impact on the environment.

  • Find new and yummy recipes to add to my files.

Coming up...
Meal plans for my Challenge
New recipes I'm trying (complete with pictures and reviews)

2 comments:

  1. I just came across your blog and loved this post. I recently just read Skinny bitch too, and it was the start of my veggie "diet". I still eat chicken on occassion but I have found taking meat out of my diet is not that hard. Best of luck and great blog!!

    Caitlin
    picklesnpeanutbutter.wordpress.com

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  2. haha I just read my old post and guess what?? I bought a package of tofu yesterday! How funny is that! I'm not sure when I'll make it yet, but I think I'm going to try it using Caitlin's BBQ method. I'm a bit nervous to be honest!

    Also, I realized how much I miss my old self! I can totally see the difference in my writing back then and my writing now. Honestly now, I've just been off my game and worrying about school starting too much to be my old ridiculous self. I miss that girl! Thanks for reminding me about her :) :)

    You're the best!

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