Culinary Coincidence?

Well, by now you've read all about my up-coming culinary voyage to the 5 Stars to Mickey Bars event happening at Walt Disney World... but what you may not realize is that Saturday also represents another important food milestone in my life. Its my

1 Year Veggieversary

Yup, on Saturday April 24th 2010,  I'll be celebrating one year of meatless dining. And to be honest - I think I may have surprised even myself with that milestone!

Now, I have nothing against meat - in fact, since I'm still a newbie at this (at least I consider myself one!)... I may even occasionally drool when the neighbors are grilling up burgers and I catch a whiff... 

You see, I decided to forgo meat for health reasons - not moral, ethical or lack-of-yumminess reasons. 

And its working, vegetarianism has made it easier on me to choose healthy meals and keep making those healthy food choices. Gone are nearly all of the high-fat dishes. Gone is the red meat. 

And, although its not meat, gone is the half-and-half in my coffee. Its gone becauce once I started looking and evaluating with an eye towards "Why do I want to eat this? What is good about it?", it became pitifully apparent that so much pre-packaged, pre-prepared convenience food is just no good. 

Yup, that's an obvious conclusion. One I should have seen coming... but when life gets busy, when you need to balance jobs, schools, sports and just about everything else life throws at you - its something that's so EASY to forget. 

BUT, giving up meat meant I had to read the labels. I had to look a little closer at what was actually in that food... And, some of it, I can't pronounce. I can't even imagine what some of those compounds with 28 letters, 3 hyphens and 2 numbers are for - or why anyone would think its acceptable to put that in my food.

So, now I don't buy anything without knowing whats in it. I buy organic whenever I there is an option. I even can my own foods now...  Sure, I'm not perfect - sometimes I can't walk past the bowl of Doritos at a party... but, that's the rarity now, not the norm.

And, it all started with a single act - thinking about how I could give up meat.