What I'm Eating Now

I like to call myself a foodie with vegan tendencies. It's true, I rarely eat meat. I stay away from cheese and other dairy products and I don't drink milk. I prefer to eat whole grains, fruits and vegetables (I dislike the word veggies....anybody else feel me on that one?), nuts and seeds, legumes, and fish. (I have recently learned that I could be called a freegan or a flexitarian....but it's not really about titles anyway.) Anything else besides these items seem to make me feel sluggish, lethargic, like my body is working too hard to process them. When I sit down to a table set with freshly cooked vegetables, ripe fruit, whole grains and vegetarian proteins, it's like my body instantly knows this is gonna be good and really great for me too. And afterwards, there is never that ohmygoshwhatdidijustdotomyself feeling. Instead, I am rewarded with a sense of calm and wholeness.
     I have a friend who was a vegetarian back in the mid 1990's, before it was even cool to be one. When asked about his dining choices he'd answer "There is already enough killing and violence in the world. I don't really wanna add to it just so I can eat a big, juicy hamburger for dinner." I kind of see his point. Ignore, for a moment, the issues of hormone-injections and ill-treatment of animals to be slaughtered. We don't really need the animal protein in the first place. Why Americans think it's a necessity, heck, a RIGHT, to not only eat three meals a day but to have meat at each of those meals is beyond me.
     Ok, it's not exactly beyond me. In our country, meat=$. To my fathers' generation it meant that things were going to be A-OK. There's enough money to put good food on the table and good food is meat and potatoes. I get it. My dad, bless his heart, puts a smile on his face for every meal I ever cook at his house and after each carefully chewed bite and quizzical look, usually says something like "Well, Sheila-Marie, that was actually very good after all." 
And that's ok. Because it's a big leap for someone like him to make changes. But he's open to it. Because he wants to be healthier. (And because my mother makes him.)
     For me, it's all about moderation and expectations. When I'm at a wedding, I'll probably eat the prime rib. And when I'm celebrating a friends job promotion at her favorite restaurant, yes, I'll try the tandoori chicken because she loves it so much. And I love her.
     Sooooooo......Are you already with me?  Awesome. Wanna eat less meat? Consider making one dinner this week a vegetarian creation. Ready for a bigger change but not sure how to start? Check back in in a few days...we're going grocery shopping. :) 
     DISCLAIMER: I promise that I won't use this space to rant and rave about eating meat vs. not eating meat. I just wanted you to know where I'm coming from.