Lean Into It

I think I want a new bumper sticker... or a shirt... or both.

"Lean Into It"

I like that. It doesn't make people feel cornered.

For a quite a while now, my household has been/was vegetarian. Some time around early Fall, I began to weaken in my vegetarianism and had insane cravings for meat and "heavy" proteins.

I allowed myself to have chicken (Whole Foods) and dressing and then further ate chili from Steak-N-Shake. I've also had tuna salad.

For about 2.5 months, I allowed myself to do these little things.

I feel quite ashamed now of that 2.5 months.

I could never bring myself to eat large piece of meat, but was eating things with meat in them (dressing, tuna salad, chili).


Even before I saw that Oprah was hosting a "vegan challenge," I'd put holds on 5 different cookbooks at 2 different libraries, all vegan. When I picked up 3 of them from my college library this morning, the woman who handed them to me was Indian. The exchange we shared was such a wonderful thing for me to absorb. For once, I didn't get a "Why?" or an odd look, but she smiled at me and then launched a WONDERFUL conversation about trying different ways of cooking and then told me she would SHOW me how to cook some of the things that she and her family eat on a regular basis... and also gave me the address and name of an Indian buffet (so I could get a better idea of what I thought me and my family would enjoy eating) and the name of a grocer who supplied many of the ingredients she uses that you sometimes cannot find at a typical store. She offered these things to me and left me feeling SO wonderful... and proud... I felt like I'd connected with someone who appreciated WHY I want to do this and opened up themselves to help me, as well. I plan to go back and talk to her much, much more.

When Sophie's tuna is gone (she's the one I'd started making it for as she LOVES it), I plan to offer her the tofu version of the same. No more meat in this house. I've kept it that way for a while, but allowed it back over the holidays with the dressing.

I never MAKE my kids choose a "non-meat" item if they prefer a burger or chicken tenders when we're out. I think that I need to be more open about WHY I don't buy the meat and WHY it's a compassionate and merciful option to pick something else, instead.

We still eat WAY too many processed "comfort" foods.

We need to move away from so much of that mess.


Just like I did with my vegetarianism, I'd like to incorporate more vegan foods into my lifestyle... get comfortable with them as I did when I began to eat more vegetarian food.

At first, I plan to have a "vegan night" where all of our dinner is purely animal-free.

I, however, will be moving more in that direction, but won't do it to the whole household (yet, haha!)

We may not ever move into 100% veganism as a family, but will remain a meat-free household.

It just hurts my heart when I think about the dairy industry (please don't expand on this in my journal). I'm aware. I know. And we eat a DARN lot of cheese. My babies LOVE cheese.

I want to explore soy and tapioca options like Daiya. I'd like to sort of begin a weaning process with the cheese. We depend a LOT on cheese when it comes to dinners.


I think that as we "lean into it," our palates will adapt to more veggies/beans/legumes/etc. and less dairy.

At one time in our relationship, Chris took ONE bite of a vegetable-based "chicken" patty and immediately made an ugly face and said it was nasty.

That's now one of his favorite meals... and Sophie's, too.


I'm hoping to explore the same path with vegan dinners.


Even though it's terribly mainstream, I can't say enough about how tickled I was to watch Oprah today. I sincerely think that if people thought more about how their meat is processed, they would consume much less of it.

AMERICANS EAT 10 BILLION ANIMALS A YEAR.


They made quite valid points about how incredibly different our eating patterns are now than they were a few decades ago... and how incredibly different our HEALTH is now than it was a few decades ago. The overly-processed, fat-laden foods we depend on is slowly (or quickly) killing us. I'm not sure of the exact number, but I think they said that like 70% of the diseases that Americans are battling are directly related to DIET.


I get on this "horse" every few months, and sometimes when I do, the goals I so aspire to accomplish sometimes stick... even just a little. If I can get inspired to try this vegan thing (yet again) and even just a LITTLE of it sticks, then I've done myself and my family right.


I'd never ask anyone to stop eating meat... but I would encourage them to AT LEAST explore how it's processed. This, my friends, is exactly WHY I'm getting on this "horse" again and giving veganism another try.

I'm ready to try again... I'm ready to LEAN INTO IT.

"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian." ~ Paul McCartney

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CLICK THIS LINK to learn more (from Oprah!!) on this topic and to learn more about where your meat really comes from.