Project Vegetarian Starts Today!

I have decided to embark on a new adventure. Some people have chosen to do the same adventure because of health, religious, political, environmental, cultural, aesthetic or economic reasons. My reasons? I’m doing it for the hell of it. I just want to see what it’s like.

I did some small research on vegetarians and I read that one study indicated that vegetarian women are more likely to have female babies. My mother certainly wasn’t a vegetarian! While there is no actual number of vegetarians in the United States, a 2008 Harris Interactive poll showed that 3.2% of U.S. adults follow a vegetarian-based diet. Make that 3.2% +1 person as of this week.

From today thru Thursday of next week, I will be a vegetarian. Why those days? So I can eat whatever food I want during Halloween.

There are all sorts of vegetarians. (From Wikipedia:)

• Ovo vegetarianism includes eggs but not dairy products.
• Lacto vegetarianism includes dairy products but not eggs.
• Ovo-lacto vegetarianism (or lacto-ovo vegetarianism) includes animal/dairy products such as eggs, milk, and honey.
• Veganism excludes all animal flesh and animal products, including milk, honey, and eggs, and may also exclude any products tested on animals, or any clothing from animals.
• Raw veganism includes only fresh and uncooked fruit, nuts, seeds, and vegetables. Vegetables can only be cooked up to a certain temperature.
• Fruitarianism permits only fruit, nuts, seeds, and other plant matter that can be gathered without harming the plant.
• Buddhist vegetarianism (also known as su vegetarianism) excludes all animal products as well as vegetables in the allium family (which have the characteristic aroma of onion and garlic): onion, garlic, scallions, leeks, or shallots.
• Jain vegetarianism includes dairy but excludes eggs and honey, as well as root vegetables.
• Macrobiotic diets consist mostly of whole grains and beans.

For this project I will be an Ovo Vegetarian. I will include eggs but not dairy products and will avoid chicken, seafood and meat. (Ha ha, I said meat.)

I’ll be eating fruits, vegetables, pastas, rice, who knows what else. Going out to eat for dinner will be interesting as I’ll get a chance to look at the side of the menu I rarely ever look at: the salads or vegetarian menus. I’m headed to see the Wildcats and Jayhawks play in Lawrence tomorrow so a road trip I’m sure will require one fast food stop. That oughta be interesting.

So let Project Vegetarian begin. Will I survive? Will I give into the temptations of meat (ha ha, I said it again). I’m going to keep a daily food blog to track what I’ve been eating and if I ever get full. For those that are really into following this adventure, you can follow me on Twitter to get updates of my food. That’s called taking “stalking” to a whole new level! I’m headed out for lunch later today so who knows what i’ll eat.

On a final note, if it’s not a fact that the McRib is truly meat, can I eat that as a vegetarian?

Have a great weekend all!