Vegetarian for a Month…yes, I said MONTH

I don’t even know what I’m thinking.  This just seems impossible to me….a whole month of no meat, fish or poultry?  People do this every day of their lives, but I’m just not sure I can hang.  But let me tell you my line of thinking, so maybe you’ll see there’s some sanity to my decision.

A few weeks ago I’m flipping through the last issue of Vegetarian Times magazine, and there on the back cover I see this:

I don’t usually take the time to read long, drawn out ads like this one was, but after I read it my first thought was, oh, I need to let all our erth readers know about this (see, I think about you all first).  I almost immediately went to my laptop to check out the site www.worldvegetarianday.org and the first words my eyes locked on were “win up to $1000.”  Yes, hello?  But as I read more on the site, I thought to myself, “self, you could make an effort to do more than just one meat-free day a week.”  What if I pledged to go meat-free for an entire month (forget the contest, just do it for me)?  First of all, I would have tons of recipes to review and share with you all.  And if by random chance I win the $1000 for pledging, then bonus!  It would also be a great experiment and challenge to blog about and see how I feel after a month of meat-free meals.    So I’m doing it, for better or worse.

The group behind this whole vegetarian awareness day/month is the North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS).  They have declared October 1 as World Vegetarian Day, which is the kick-off to Vegetarian Awareness Month.     There is a pledge card you can print here to fill out and send in for the contest.  I’m filling out mine today.  On this pledge card there are also the following points about vegetarian diets:

Reduce the risk of major killers such as heart disease, stroke and cancer while cutting exposure to foodborne pathogens

Provide a viable answer to feeding the world’s hungry through more efficient use of grains and other crops

Save animals from suffering in factory-farm conditions and from the pain and terror of slaughter

Conserve vital but limited freshwater, fertile topsoil and other precious resources

Preserve irreplaceable ecosystems such as rainforests and other wildlife habitats

Decrease greenhouse gases that are accelerating global warming

Mitigate the ever-expanding environmental pollution of animal agriculture

I hear ya, I hear ya.  There are all these benefits of a vegetarian diet.  So let me tell you the challenges I will face….I am married to a meatatarian hubby….enough said.  He has already “expressed concern” in the form of eye rolls and sighs regarding this month of craziness.  And the kids are picky enough eaters as it is, I can’t remove the one protein they actually eat from their diets.  So my challenge will be cooking a vegetarian meal, while providing a “side” of meat for the rest of my family.

I’ve already started preparing by scouring my Vegetarian Times magazines and ripping out recipes.  I even bought a vegetarian cookbook for $5 during Border’s going-out-of-business sale (score!).  I am putting all these recipes on index cards so I can organize the week’s meals in advance.  This will make shopping and preparation easier.  For lunch I will plan on eating leftovers for the most part, and breakfast is always an easy one to avoid meat.

So that’s my plan.  It starts this Saturday, oh boy!  Anyone want to place a wager on how long they think I’ll last?  If I make it the entire month, who’s going to buy me a big, fat, juicy steak on November 1st??  :-)  But more importantly, who is in it with me?!