I can't deny i feel better, I've slept better, my skin is softer. however I'm not quite sure I'm ready for it in the long term.
Having been told very clearly this month that giving up meat is probably the best route we can take to reduce our carbon footprint it is clearly something to aim for, but it does feel like a huge step especially as we have a freezer full of our own pork and 3 sheep running around the field outside, also ready for the freezer, but they can't get in as it is full. My Father was a farmer who had cattle, pigs and sheep at various stages so I was brought up on meat and 2 veg and still have that slight niggling feeling that a meal isn't quite as tasty as it could be if it's lacking meat. Still, we are certainly going to eat a few more vegetarian meals a week from now on so it is a step in the right direction.
I thought feeding the children vegetarian was going to be the biggest challenge. I'd happily eat pulses, aubergines and mushrooms by the bucket load but trying to get my daughter to eat a mushroom is impossible. However I did come up with one tactic. If I feed her something where she has to take out one ingredient she will usually end up eating the rest. Last night we had a curry and she extracted the butternut squash and then ate the chick peas and aubergines, de dah!
“Giving up the alcohol has been a breeze.”
If you knew what an old soak I am you would be surprised at this. I also consider myself ill disciplined. I love a drink especially if it is a glass of red wine and I am very poor at knowing when I have had enough. It is simply a mindset, once I've made the decision to stop and it is carefully timed, i.e. I could not stop on New Year's Day and it has to be a Monday. But then it becomes easy. So in some ways I am dreading starting again but actually frankly that is totally over ridden by the fact that I am oh so looking forward to that first glass tonight. I think it will have to be a gin and tonic.
Cheers!