Wassup Family,
Let's do our 30 Day Vegetarian Diet officially. Are you down...
As long as I can remember eating solid foods I’ve been a meat eater. And I did not discriminate either. You name it: ground beef, chicken, salami, steak, turkey, chicken, sausage, hot dogs, chicken, lamb, fish...did I mention chicken!
The old excuse of 'eating good is too expensive' is still true to some extent. But the other side of the game can also hurt the pockets. So now I blame being busy, being ignorant about cooking tofu, blame the convenience of restaurants & supermarkets, etc. So now we'll try to focus that energy on something new. It would be hard to do this on our own, so it's good we have each other. Thanks Jenine for inspiring us to make this big move!
I'm not even quite sure what a vegetarian lifestyle means yet. So I created this the blog a few weeks ahead of time so we can get our game plan on. This way one of us doesn't get caught with a burger in Week II because we didn't research or plan meals properly. We'll need to start things like comparing nutrient sources. For instance, I like to eat the occasional medium-well dripping steak. So I'd like to know exactly how many greens I would need to eat to offset that protein source. I found this so far...
I encourage each of us to post commentary, ideas, suggestions, gripes, complaints, and random thoughts during this entire process. Post recipes, restaurants, snacks, tips, tricks, websites, books - anything and everything healthy and meatless.
Click to subscribe to daily updates, and let's challenge ourselves to put one foot in front of the other and see where it takes us 30 days from Sunday June 1. Be safe, happy, and most of all healthy.
I'm down....I've been down this road before....and since I don't really like meat subs, I've found ways around them luckily....so let's do this!
ReplyDeleteNow I notice the website you used for protein reference is a vegan site, are you trying to go full-on vegan?
I am definitely down with a change in lifestyle. I think I need to include exercise with this change. Diet and exercise work hand in hand so hopefully I can do that while changing my choice in cuisine. I guess mi haffi lean off the fried dumpling. TOO MUCH FLOURRRRRRRRRR. All mi beef patty haffi eat fast. Kingston bakery a go vex but in the long run it is worth it. respect fried Dumpling
ReplyDeleteI'm down! Shauna's Oxtail could be the reason that I couldn't do this full time; however, I'm ready for the one month push. I'm excited to see how my body reacts to the right kind of fuel. I'll be back in the gym as well now that school is done (what with that 10/12 event I'm attending, ehem). My regimen, good or bad, is to hit the treadmill for a good 300-450 calorie run then hit the weights. ideally that would be 3-4 days per week + soccer. Colleen is 'bout to put me back on track tho. Lawdhavemercy!
ReplyDeleteCouple of things.
ReplyDelete1. A few tips (I can't find much on the author's fitness or health cred, but there are a few tidbits in here that I like)http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/436768/how_to_avoid_losing_muscle_on_a_vegetarian.html
2. Small workout suggestion for those with different workout goals(feel free to disagree): Do a 5-10 min warmup, then do weights, then the bulk of your cardio afterward. Here's my logic: a.Most of us workout in the evening, right? So you've eaten already several times. b.Carbs are your primary source for resistance training. c.It takes about 15-20 min to deplete immediate carb stores and get into fat burning stages during cardio. Soooooo....If you do your heavy cardio first, by the time you get to weights, your primary carb stores are gone and you're likely to hit that wall faster due to energy drain.
That being said, I know plenty of people who do it the way jenine mentioned, but I have not noticed them gaining much muscle, at best they lean out or maintain. So we're back to the original question of what our personal goals are.
3. I always shoot for muscle gain because it takes up less space on your frame, but looks a lot better. Also, unless your initials are S.P., it's pretty challenging to build muscle. Don't fool yourselves into thinking that you'll get muscular too fast. Most of us don't have the genes for that. Plus if you happen to build up too fast, it's alot easier to lose muscle than to gain it.
4. I think I'll go with the name SugaDaddy. Not because of the sugar daddy candy, but i just eat too much sugar in general.
Yeah DRE! That's that trainer knowledge that I know and love. I'll take all of that into consideration (and will leave my personal goals out of it ;) Interestingly enough, I am that person that has the genes to build muscle on the fast side. It'll be going good for a minute but then I'll have to fall off to avoid looking like Wonder Woman...
ReplyDeleteI'm excited about our challenge. It'll be a great bonding exercise for the family. I've been trying to eat out less generally (both for health and expenses) so I'm on the hunt for yummy recipes (esp for on the go work lunches). I'll post anything I find.
Go Team!
J*Nice aka "Hot Chik"-fil-A
(I have a weakness for the chicken sandwiches. Popeyes is a close second but there was no way to make that sound cute. LOL)
Mark presented a good question - what exactly are we refraining from? How are we defining veggie? Are we cutting out eggs and fish also? I've heard of all kinds of variations of vegetarian so I thought I'd put it out there.
ReplyDelete(Colleen here:) I understand it has been suggested that a kind of cleanse/fast be done to prepare our bodies for the change.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm not sure what's already been suggested, but I had done a Grape Juice fast on and off for a few years. It was suggested by a bodybuilder friend of mine. Apparently, apple juice and grape juice are low glycemic, therefore, allow you to maintain blood sugar levels, so you don't have your blood sugar go all over the place.
1. Apple juice has pectin in it which helps with flushing the gall bladder and liver.
2. Grape juice preserves the muscle you already have, so you don't breakdown any muscle mass during that time.
(number 2 happens to be more important to me, so I've always done the Grape juice fast.)
Let me know what you guys think...
C Howard
To all my fellow chicken lovers...
ReplyDeleteWhen is the last time you've cleaned chicken? Like getting all up under the yucky skin and rawness. If it's been awhile then I suggest you try some raw chicken preparation before June 1. I witnessed the process this morning and it was a huge source of encouragement for our challenge. Yuck. (Counter that with the fact that I made a Popeye's run last nite...for old times sake...lol...so conflicted!