Some people might hate this one, here's your one and only warning. We're going vegetarian. Absolutely no meat. Chicken, fish, meat, bacon, salami, sausage, etc., none of it. For me, this will be extremely difficult. I live off chicken and fish. But I want a tough challenge this week. I have tried different diets throughout the years, but never gone vegetarian. I think it will be good though because of the mental and physical challenges that come with. You have to learn about becoming vegetarian, the possible effects, and alternative way to receive proper protein. I love finding new foods as proper supplementation and adapting to different environments and the food provided. I'm now in Germany, and I have tried to go Keto here before. It's extremely difficult to do that in this location. A ketogenic diet doesn't exist here, they live on gluten products. So I understand location constraints, and other environmental factors that may come with this challenge, but I think we can do this one. Unlike the keto diet, I believe more cultures have experience with the vegetarian diet. As always, you don't have to do a vegetarian diet, especially if you are already vegetarian! You especially don't get a week off. Do something that changes your diet. Do keto, eat meat if you don't usually, try paleo, try gluten free, vegan, pagan, etc. The point of this challenge is to adapt your body to something different and still run proficiently throughout the week. If you have any questions or comment, don't hesitate to reach out, and document your findings throughout the week. Good luck everyone!
BONUS CHALLENGE: This weeks bonus challenge will be 50 jumping lunges. I am terrible at jumping lunges because they are terrible, but it will be so satisfying when you complete it. And you're welcome, its 50 total, not each leg. Enjoy!
REFLECTION: Vegetarian was difficult for me. I struggled to find large enough portions, going out to dinner with other people was an inconvenience, and I really just missed eating meat. One of my good friends who lives up in Alaska gave me some good advice on Tuesday though. Here's a quick excerpt from what she said, "My thing is, I won't eat meat if it's not actually meat and anything in a grocery store( in America anyways) is processed. For me there's no point in eating processed meat or contributing to a system that promotes processed meats. Now I look at people eating chicken and feel bad that they're probably going to end up with severe health issues. That way of thinking has helped my will power. Luckily I live in a place I can get game meat:) Moose burgers for dinner!" This is intriguing because America's food supply really is on the outer limits of what 'food' should be, but for some, myself included, there's really nothing I can do about it. Realistically, I'm not in Alaska. I'm currently not a hunter and don't see it becoming a regular hobby. I eat healthy but I can't get around all the stuff we put into our animals and all the alterations we do to produce enough food for everyone to enjoy. This week didn't change anything for me, I'm still going to eat what I want to eat, whenever I want, but it was eye opening in a sense to live in someone else's shoes. What people go through to be educated on what they put in their bodies. Which brings me to my next point.
I failed this week. It was on complete accident and didn't realize it until I messed up. On Thursday night I was at the airport. I had been traveling all day on an uncomfortable plane, didn't really sleep the night before and was just ready to get to any type of bed. Plus I don't speak polish which didn't help the speediness of my rental car situation that evening. I was offered some beef jerky… In my current state, all I could think about was food. And I do love some old fashioned peppered beef jerky. So I started crushing it. I kept it right in my jacket pocket for easy accessibility. Well, it wasn't until I was on a congested freeway surrounded by crazy drivers that it clicked.. I'm literally eating meat. I threw the bag into the passenger door and started hitting the steering wheel. I was so frustrated with myself; and still incredibly hungry. My point, we have completely separated food and animal. It's certainly not labeled cow jerky,(well I guess there is turkey jerky, but most people think of nicely sliced white turkey meat you buy at the store, so I think my point still stands). People don't want to kill the cow, do all the necessary steps to get it to what we consider 'food.' They want to choose from prepacked selections in the store that look nice and don't look like animal at all. But the fact of the matter is, it is. It is an animal which someone killed. So when I ate that beef jerky, it hadn't clicked that I was eating an animal. This could totally be my stupidity, current mental state, or just plain forgetting I was doing a vegetarian challenge this week ( which I did do multiple times). But I do believe that I have some validity in my words. So pay attention to what your eating and educate yourself. If you want that store bought chicken, know what you're getting yourself into.
Who else thought the 50 jumping lunges was a piece of cake? ;)