In Preparation for a Meatless* March

Every juicy bite of meat I consume is one bite closer to my last. Beginning tomorrow, March 1st, I'm attempting to give up all meat for an entire month with the exception of just one meal, that meal taking place on my birthday. Why just one meal? Why give up meat at all? There are many reasons to give up meat, mine is a combination of concern for the welfare of animals and concern for the welfare of human beings, myself included. Animal cruelty is only part of my decision; discovering the wasteful impact inextricably connected with meat production is the other part. Is having a hamburger really worth destroying valuable forest land and decimating entire ecosystems? Is it worth having less fortunate people than myself starve for? I didn't think so either, which is why I made a decision.

I decided to begin with baby steps and commit myself to one month meat free (or almost) because I take my decision and myself seriously; this is something I really want to do and do right. I realized that if I underestimate the significance of such a decision I risk setting myself up for failure. Knowing that eliminating all meat from my diet cold turkey could be a recipe for disaster, I decided it best to have a sort of 'trial period' with at least one day I can look forward to just incase my will power begins to falter. 

But before and after that day, I have some work to do. Making the decision was the easy part, but actually following through will take some preparation. So, I've compiled research and advice taken from active vegetarians and vegans that should ease my transition to a meatless March. The following list highlights some of the most fool-proof tactics for successfully phasing out meat, or so I hope :)

1) CONNECT with your goals. If you're giving up meat you must have a reason (or several) for doing so. Identify these reasons clearly and remind yourself how giving up meat will help you to achieve these goals. For me, I realized that I didn't want to support practices that harm our environment or contribute to unnecessary suffering; while giving up meat won't stop these practices, it will help make the world a better place, and as Ghandi said, (I will) "be the change" I want to see. 

But reasons need not always be so large. In the course of my research, I came across stories from several athletes who realized that meat was actually hurting their performance and found that a meatless diet helped to (sometimes literally) push them across the finish line. As a runner myself, I'm intrigued by the possibility of becoming lighter and faster.  Even a small goal can be reason for a big change.

2) SLOW & STEADY wins the the race. The world won't change overnight and nor should you. If you really want to make a change, it's wise to move slowly and mindfully in your chosen direction. Phase out meat gradually, either by scheduling a "cheat day/meal" (like I did) or by removing one meat from your diet at a time. Once your body gets used to not having meat, you may find that you don't even crave it (surprisingly, most vegetarians said they didn't miss meat once they gave it up). Perhaps most importantly, if you move gradually then you won't have that frightening voice screaming you can never enjoy that juicy steak again! On the contrary, you will probably cherish the rare occasion when you actually do consume meat because it will be special. Or, if you're lucky, like I'm hoping to be, you won't even salivate when the scent of fried bacon hits your nose.

3) PLAN a course of action. EDUCATE yourself. Like anything in life, you can't possibly expect to succeed without a solid plan and the knowledge to back it up. This means planning meals, learning about new ingredients (buy a cookbook!) and learning new ways to cook. Get excited about learning how to cultivate change! By Learning about what it is you're trying to accomplish, you can create and strengthen your plans. In my own research I came across this quote, which I think sums it up nicely: "If you're failing to plan, you're planning to fail !" And besides, planning can be fun and make you excited for the journey while providing useful and realistic guidance. 

Lastly,

4) REWARD yourself. Small victories are still victories, and are worth being celebrated. If you make a ritual that reinforces positive energy and good feelings for doing the right things, then you will become more mindful of what those right things are, making it much more likely for you to accomplish your goals in the future. For example, I don't drink any alcohol during the week because I want to stay focused on my goals. Then, when the weekend rolls around, I can enjoy a bottle of sauvignon blanc, or pinot with my boyfriend, knowing that I had a productive, fruitful week. This acts as both ritual and reward, and motivates me to work hard all week, every week. Rewards can be anything from enjoying a favorite food to taking a trip to the spa, just make sure you set aside the time and do something nice for yourself when you've earned it! 

In a way, these four points outline the plan I intend to use while giving up meat, although I happen to think each one is also good advice for achieving any goal. I hope whoever happens to read this can find a way to apply such advice in his/her own life and hopefully achieve positive results. In addition to the advice listed above, I would only add these words of wisdom:

REFUSE to let the fear of failure stop you from trying.

Well here goes: Day 1.

*Meatless March- not entirely. I am attemping to give up all meat, not including dairy or seafood, for one whole month with the only exception coming on my birthday (when I may consume goat, chicken, lamb, or some other delicious animal).

When Life Gives You Rotten Bananas, Make Banana Bread

Better yet, make Chocolate Banana Bread!

This past week winter has left its cold burn on my heart; with it’s nervy hands feeding me a snowy, wet, and blustery diet of ghostly white monotony, I feel the chill sinking deeper and deeper into my bones. I’ve been hiding at home since Wednesday and my boyfriend Gurpreet fell ill on Friday. Gotta love winter!

The view from my apartment

But rather than spend my hours daydreaming about remote tropical islands and bright green lizards with warmer blood than my own right now, I’ve forced myself to do something, anything to keep my mind engaged in the here and now while I save the dreaming for my pillow.

When You Can't (B)eat Em', Change Yourself

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

Leo Tolstoy

Last week I began doing research on world hunger for a blog post I intended to write on the importance of personal consumption. One of the first articles I came across was Five things would happen if everyone stopped eating meat written by Mimi Bekhechi for Independent.co.uk website. In lieu of summarizing the article (you can read it here) I have decided to meditate on a rather important personal question: What can I do better and HOW can I do it?

Being reminded that “850 million people do not have enough to eat” and learning that “it takes roughly six pounds of grain to produce one pound of pork” helped lead me to question my own choices and their resulting effects on our rapidly dwindling planet.  One of the five things that would happen if everyone stopped eating meat, Bekhechi claims, is that world hunger could be eradicated. It comes down to simple math. It takes a lot of food (about 800 million tons per year) to feed our food, or more specifically our livestock, which eventually become meat products for human consumption. However it would only take an estimated “40 million tons of food to eliminate our most extreme cases of world hunger.” Hence if we stopped eating meat, and stopped having to feed all our grains (97%) to our livestock, we could feed every human being on the planet. Put simply, it takes an enormous amount of vegetarian grub to produce a very little amount of meat. Hashtag Wastefulness.

In the Garden of My (lucid) Dreams

Hold fast to dreams 

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field 
Frozen with snow.

-Langston Hughes

One of my New Year's resolutions was to keep track of my dreams. To realize this, I started keeping a journal by my bedside and made my best effort (not easy early in the morning) to write down the foggy details of each night's remnants. While I wasn't 100% successful (still am not) I did begin to notice that I was gradually recovering more and more of my sleeping memories. I also began to experience that phenomenon known as "lucid dreaming"; I started becoming more aware of my dreams and was able to influence their course of action, though modestly I admit.

My dreaming also led me to the vine-enveloped gates of nostalgia. Once opened, I found a garden overgrown in bramble and shrubbery. Searching through the dense abundance, I found so many moments I had left behind; like rotting fruit, each was tucked away and sealed within the compost of my childhood. One such memory (which came from a dream that I was walking through a garden) was of stealing berries from my grandma's strawberry patch when I was a little girl. The dream felt so real that when I woke up, I swear, I could taste the sweet juice of ripe strawberries dripping on my tongue and then down to my chin, as it once did a lifetime ago (I was, and still am, quite the messy eater).

Bush Plum Dreaming, Japingka Gallery

This Is Just To Say 

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold





The above poem, by minimalist poet William Carlos William, is one of my favorites. I can see, taste, and feel the situation as it unfolds, as though I were the consumer of the stolen plums. It's simplicity at its best.

On behalf of mother nature's wrath (aka storm Jonas) I have spent the afternoon cuddled up, getting lost in some rather voluptuous poetry while the snow blusters on by.  After coming across this old favorite, I was reminded of that simple joy, sensation, which I now share with you. This is just to say that I hope on this icebox of a day, you too have the luxury of curling up with some palatable poetry and indulging in your own (stolen?) plum, perhaps poached instead.

Lifting the Curtain on Organic Food

Organic food can be a good choice. Some of the time. But it can also be an expensive choice, that leaves us asking the question: What are we really paying for?  I’m not referring only to the high prices that we, as consumers pay, but also of the tremendous costs of certification required for a product to be labeled organic, which we also pay, indirectly. To understand this cost we need to understand the certification process. The following, taken from the Gale Encyclopedia of Diets, are the requirements that must be met by all certified organic farms:

"• The product must be raised or produced under an Organic Systems Plan that demonstrates and documents that the food meets the standards for growing, harvesting, transporting, processing, and selling an organic product.
• The producer and/or processor are subject to audits and evaluations by agents certified to enforce organic standards.
• The grower must have distinct boundaries between organic crops and non-organic crops to prevent accidental contamination with forbidden substances through wind drift or water runoff.
• No forbidden substances can be applied to the land organic food is raised on for three years prior to organic certification.
• Seed should be organic, when available, and never genetically altered through bioengineering.
Good soil, crop, and animal management practices must be followed to prevent contamination of groundwater or contamination of the product by living pathogens, heavy metals, or forbidden chemicals, and to reduce soil erosion and environmental pollution."

(Davidson et. al.)

In order to ensure that all these requirements are met, organic farms must spend more time and money keeping adequate records, checking soil, implementing proper pest deterrents and providing more manual labor for various maintenance and upkeep. And this is to say nothing of the environmental and monetary cost of shipping and storage for international farms. Lastly, organic food is currently in the minority of all food being produced, and thus is not as readily available. So, accordingly, organic food costs more.

But isn’t organic worth the high prices then? In theory I would say yes, but in reality, I would say well that depends.

So You Want to Know What I Think About a Farm Share?

Well, I'll tell you anyway.

I joined a farm share last year for the summer season. It sounded a bit pricy - 330 dollars for veggies every other week for 12 weeks, but some simple math told me it works out to only about 55 bucks a box. The farm share I chose (out of a few options) also did half-boxes for 198 dollars, so I only ended up paying 33 per farm box. They even had a delivery option for 7 dollars extra each week - so 40 bucks total - for fresh veggies on my door step every other week all summer long! Many farm shares also require you to pitch in somehow, but this one did not, and cost just a bit more than the others, which seemed reasonable.

They deliver, no time-expendature required, and they will give you half of the standard delivery - it sounded perfect for a couple who commute to the city! We signed up, waited patiently, and one Wednesday we came home to a big green box on our porch.