Good morning! Man, it feels good to be back here blogging and totally recovered from being sick! I have the day off from work today for President’s Day (really? I guess I’m not complaining) and those Body Revolution DVDs are screaming my name. Tackling Week 3 (again) starting tonight!

This weekend was super productive for me. Adam and Harper went out-of-town and I had the weekend, the WHOLE HOUSE, to myself! I can count on one hand how many times that has happened in the past three years. It was bliss! I loaded our house full of groceries, re-painted Harper’s room, met some girlfriends for lunch, watched movies that didn’t involve Disney princesses … BLISS, I tell you! Of course the second they came home last night I realized how much I missed them. Especially my little tornado, who promptly said “oh mama! I’m so glad you’re here!” and gave me a big hug. Awwwwww.

Okay, moving on.

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A month ago (or so) Netflix launched a ton of streaming documentaries, a lot of them tackling the issue of food. Vegetarianism, factory farming, juicing, and sustainability. I was fascinated. Over the course of a couple of weeks, I watched these movies (and would recommend them all).

(Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead // Food Matters // Food, INC. // Hungry for Change // No Impact Man // Forks Over Knives // Vegucated)

I’ve thought several times over the past few years about transitioning to a vegetarian lifestyle. It’s cheaper, it’s healthier, and I know that I just feel better when my diet consists of mostly plant-based food. I cut out cow’s milk over five years ago, and have drunk almond/coconut milk ever since. I know that eating less meat is more sustainable for our environment. Vegetarianism is no doubt the more humane option, I’ve seen the horrible footage of chickens being electrocuted with charged water, pig’s testicles being ripped off (BY HAND), and many other terrible slaughter-house practices. So what’s stopped me? 

Mostly, I’m just lazy.

Yup, I’ll be the first to admit that.

Going to the store and buying meat – easy. Not having to branch out and try new things – easy. Pop some chicken-nuggets into the microwave – easy.

Maybe it was because all my fellow blogger friends started having “maybe I could go meatless for a while” conversations, or maybe it’s because I’m planning a huge garden now and veggies are on my mind, or maybe Vegucated scarred me a little, maybe I’m finally facing the fact that dairy makes me feel like crap, or maybe I just really love a good challenge … but somewhere in the last month, Brooke and I decided to go for it.

Welcome to the Meatless March Challenge!

 

Meatless March

A whole month without meat? You betcha! Brooke and I got really excited, really fast about this challenge. What a better way to kick of the spring than by focusing on fresh and clean food! Neither one of us have ever attempted a vegetarian diet, and we’d LOVE for you to play along. There’s no sponsored posts, no prizes, just a group of people wanting to switch things up a bit. It’s also important for you to know that I’m wary of any diet that eliminates one entire food group (Paleo), because I really do believe you need a little bit of everything to sustain a healthy life. I know that were are Omnivores, and built to eat meat. I’m not doing this to lose weight or equate meat with poor health. My motivation is primarily social/ethical/environmental. I figure, if I can do this for 31 days and enjoy it, maybe it’s something my family can translate into every-day life and do our part to create a healthier social/ethical/environmental climate.

 

Spend 31 days meat-free: Whatever this means to you, do it! Find your niche! Maybe you just want to try cutting out red meat and chicken, but stick with seafood (pescetarian). Or, maybe cutting out everything but eggs and milk is something you’d like to try (lacto-ovo vegetarian). Maybe you’re ready for full-blown veganism? There are many ways to be vegetarian, and this isn’t about a “wrong way” or “right way.” It’s all about what you think would challenge you, but something you’d actually do for 31 days. For me? I plan to attempt Ovo Vegetarian: no meat, no fish, no dairy, keeping eggs.

Be open-minded: My favorite thing to do is read or watch movies on different lifestyles. I’ve already read a couple of vegetarian-based books, but Brooke and I thought it was really important to include this step. As one of your challenges, you’ll be asked to read a book or watch one movie that sheds a little light onto some bigger aspects of vegetarianism. Don’t worry, we’ve got lots of recommendations to throw your way when the time comes. We can gain so much just by reading, watching, and talking to other people – let’s learn a little!

Share your experience: Most importantly, we want to share and support each other on this 31-day journey! We created a Facebook Group Page to make Meatless March super supportive and FUN! We can’t wait to read people’s stories, help each other through challenges, and just do some general cheerleading with each other. There are no blogging requirements, no you-must-do-this tasks. It’s going to be a really fun experience, we hope! Again, this isn’t about cramming some kind of “you’re evil for eating THIS way” type of agenda. Brooke an I just wanted a fun and exciting challenge. Something we could look back and say “YES! I tried the vegetarian lifestyle and THIS worked for me, THIS didn’t, and THIS is what I’ll continue to do/be aware of.” You never know until you try!

Meatless March Calendar

Throughout the challenge, there will be three mini-assignments per week. There’s no requirements in participating, but we thought this might help us all move in the same direction, and try new things together!

To view/add the tasks directly to your digital calendars, click these links! Here’s the GOOGLE CALENDAR and here is the iCAL CALENDAR.

 

So, what do you think?

Are you in? We’d love to have you in our little group! We have a lot of blog posts brainstormed to help this challenge, (menu planning, juicing, party food, etc!) and we’re even getting our whole families involved. Harper doesn’t really know any better, so she’s pretty easy to transition  but I’m not sure how Adam is going to handle it. He might crack half-way through. If he’s reading this – yes, my dear, that is a straight up CHALLENGE TO YOU. Throwing the gauntlet. In all reality, Adam’s pretty excited! We don’t eat a ton of meat already, so it’ll be interested to see how we handle the full switch. I wanted to grab him before he left for work this morning (at 3am yuck) to write a little something here, but I missed him. I plan on throwing up an “okay, here we go!” vlog right before Day One.

f you’re ready to join the challenge, jump on in! The Facebook Group Page is waiting for ya! We wanted to start the FB group early, so we could all have a place to “get ready” together. Two weeks of recipe-hunting and idea-sharing! We have the codes for the MM header and two buttons in the documents section of the group for you to add to your website to show everyone that you’re participating.

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I am really excited to tackle this adventure, and thrilled that Brooke is doing it with me. Be sure to check out her post today for her own take on the challenge! I’ve already started some vegetarian boards on my Pinterest account to get the brainstorming going. SO. PUMPED. Definitely spending the rest of my work-free Monday looking for ways to adapt some of our favorite recipes.:D

Would you ever try a vegetarian lifestyle? What’s one thing that would be hard to give up?