avocado_love

I never thought I would be one of those people, you know?

Somehow, somewhere along the line I became my own cliche. You know the type: The atheist vegetarian environmentalist who lives in NorCal?

Yeah.

But I gotta tell you... I'm on my second month of giving up chicken, red meat and pork (Still clinging onto fish as I have to eat SOMETHING in restaurants, and I personally believe that dairy does more good than bad, especially for women). And suddenly, I have more energy than before. I used to get so tired mid-day, like clockwork. And I used to have to sleep 9 hours a day  on top of that to feel normal.

I wasn't expecting it at all, but within a few weeks I noticed a upsurge in energy. Now I can go 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night and not be tired in the next day. Sometimes I feel a little drowsy around 3 or 4, but it's easy to work through it.

And the meals? I don't feel like I'm giving up anything at all. Now, instead of microwaving a hot-pocket for a snack, I'll grab an apple. It's not bad. I substitute mushrooms or tofu or avocados or cucumber in place of meat in my meals. It makes things easier and faster to cook. I'm eating better, feeling better, and as an added bonus I'm pretty sure I'm losing weight.

It's still possible to eat very poorly on a more restrictive diet. I have to be careful not to, say, eat a bag of Cheetos from the vending machine instead of some trail-mix.

There's always the placebo effect, I suppose. But the thing is, I wasn't expecting any of these benefits. It's like when I gave up soda last year to keep from getting so many damned cavity and the stomach-aches that have haunted me all my life suddenly went away. Turns out they were caused by carbonated drinks. Weird, huh? 

So yeah, I guess I am one of 'those people' now. Damned hippies. I'm only on my third month in, but... so far, so good.