Week 1: Prepping!

The greatest store on earth (besides Costco)...

 

Well, I officially made it though day 1 of my pescatarian mission!  The main events of my preparation have included a massive trip to Winco (pictured above) to stock up on lots of produce and essentials for my no-meat meals as well as making my boyfriend eat all of the remaining meats still in the house. He is eventually going to join me on cutting out meat, but he has a couple of chicken taquitos and pepperoni pizzas in the freezer to finish up first.  In the past, I have struggled with low iron levels, so I want to make sure I am still getting a good amount of protein as I eliminate traditional proteins from my diet.  Black beans, eggs, and beans/lentils are what I am starting to incorporate, but I would love any suggestions if you guys know of any good alternative protein sources. 
 
Honestly, I am not 100% sure where I land on the self vs. society continuum in this situation, but I do know that I have been leaning a lot on societal resources like Pinterest and Instagram for ideas and inspiration already.  Although, I do have some recipes up my sleeve as my sister has been vegetarian since I was a kid and I've watched her make her own versions of lots of dishes along the way, like some crazy vegetarian meatballs that might just fool some of you! With all this in mind I would say that I am somewhere in the middle of the continuum, perhaps leaning towards the socially-defined side.
 
As for calculative versus meditative thinking, I think this journey entails both equally.  Calculative thinking is required to plan meals, seek out new recipes, and survive the cooking process, whereas meditative thinking side comes out when we get to enjoy meals and feel pride and joy about the experience.  

My Pinterest board is chock full of ideas and I am excited to really get going and commit to this!
 

Comments

  1. Devin MeldrumSeptember 7, 2021 at 5:14 PM

    Hey Libby!

    It's great to read about you starting your journey with your new diet. My wife and I tried a vegan diet a couple of years back (for about 5 months or so), and we always talk about trying something like that again. I think pescartarian would be a better fit for me as vegan was rather difficult (we ended up ordering a cheese pizza almost every other week). As someone who doesn't eat a lot of seafood, I'm curious why you chose pescatarian over other diets. Are you a regular fisher, or was there some research you found when you were considering changing your diet that inspired you, or is there a favorite seafood you just couldn't go without?

    Greek yogurt is one protein that my wife and I try to include in a lot of our meals (Fage is our favorite brand by far). We use it instead of sour cream or if a recipe calls for cream or milk we will do half greek yogurt. One of our favorites is white chili. We make it regularly every fall and winter!

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    Replies
    1. Libby DeySeptember 7, 2021 at 7:20 PM

      Devin,

      I definitely need to incorporate more greek yogurt into my diet, thanks for the recommendation! Plus, it's super beneficial for gut health! I have always been a huge fan of any kind of seafood so I wanted to keep that as an option, not only as a protein source, but also just so I could have more options to eat without meat now. It feels less dramatic to cut out meat when I can still have shrimp tacos and salmon.

      P.S. That white chili sounds amazing-- I am so excited for soup season!

      Delete

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