Day 10: I'll Update This Later

Waffle House - Hashbrowns smothered (with sauteed onions), covered (with cheddar cheese) and capped (with mushrooms), scrambled eggs, and buttered toast


Snappy Salads


Cafe Brazil - Cheese Nachos (Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich and side of bacon in background were not mine)

Day 9: I'll Update This Later

Wendy's Garden Side Salad + Baked Potato + French Fries


Bowl Appétit! Three-Cheese Rotini

Day 8: I'll Update This Later

Mango's Noodle House - Tofu Vegetable Spring Rolls - Flash Fried tofu served with Hoisin peanut sauce


Mango's Noodle House - Tofu Rice Noodles On the Wok

Day 7: I'll Update This Later

Kush Mediterranean Grill and Hookah Bar - Babaganoush
Baked eggplant with a touch of garlic, sesame oil and lemon juice, sprinkled with olive oil and served with clay-oven baked homemade bread


Mango's Noodle House - Tofu Vegetable Spring Rolls (Flash Fried tofu served with peanut Hoisin sauce) and Grass Jelly Milk Tea

Day 6: I'll Update This Later

Bistro N at Nordstrom - Buttered Noodles and Macaroni and Cheese from Kid's Menu


McDonald's - Side salad, french fries, apple pie

Day 5: I'll Update This Later

Jimmy John's - #6 Vegetarian sub
Provolone cheese, avocado spread, alfalfa sprouts, sliced cucumber, lettuce, tomato, and mayo.


Golden Egg Roll - Vegetarian Chow Mein

Day 4: Are we there yet?

Although it has only been 4 days since I have started this, it feels like an eternity since the last time I ate meat. To be perfectly frank, I am not enjoying this very much, but I certainly do not want this blog to devolve into an arena where I just complain about being vegetarian. Time permitting, I will try over the next few days to find some more tasty foods.


French fries were brought up in a conversation today, so I decided to drive to Jack in the Box for some seasoned curly fries thinking that there would surely be a vegetarian entree option available as a side to my fries. I was mistaken. Outside of desserts and milkshakes, the only non-meat selection was the lowly grilled cheese sandwich. It's two pieces of bread and cheese, and it tasted like I was eating two pieces of bread and cheese.


One thing I had not originally taken into consideration is the difficulty that would be faced in finding a nice restaurant to eat out at. Steaks and seafood are out of the question, so after some deliberation, it was decided that pastas are a generally safe vegetarian option. MoMo is a cozy Italian restaurant in Addison, not too far from work. Pictured above are a portion of the Fettucine Alfredo and the Conchiglie Ai Quattro Formaggi, both meatless. After the Jack in the Box failure, I was actually so excited to be having legitimate food that I had forgotten to snap a picture until I was almost done. Once again, while chicken or shrimp would have made these dishes more palatable, they were still tasty and enjoyable.

Day 3: Why am I doing this (again)

Today was a difficult day. I was not so much craving meat as I was craving something a little meatier (like a tiny asteroid is a little meteor). It is a strange feeling to actively ignore 95% of the menu and then to eat something that will likely leave me hungry and unsatisfied. While I am sure that I will survive with no negative effects, as one friend keenly observed, it is like when a girl wears uncomfortable high heels. It's not terribly difficult, but sometimes the suffering that is endured is enough to make one question whether or not it is worth all the trouble in the end.


Having to eat lunch on campus is proving to be an increasingly bothersome inconvenience as I will be here during the lunch hour for a better part of the week, and the relatively small selection of meatless options is going to become tired soon. Today, the salad bar was a quick and seemingly promising option. However, like the lecture that immediately preceded this particular lunch break, the salad was plain, uninteresting, and lacking in anything worthwhile.


On my way to work, the temporary alleviation of hunger provided by the aforementioned salad subsided, and I was forced, at great risk to my own punctuality, to take a 10-minute detour to Taco Bell (hence the above shot of the food on my passenger seat of my car). Two Crispy Potato Soft Tacos, Cinnamon Twists, and an order of Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes later, I was feeling much better. Leave it to Taco Bell of all places to save the day.


I ended the evening with some chips and queso at Fox and Hound. I would have preferred to have the wings, but unfortunately the wings (like a great many delicious appetizers) have meat on them.

Day 2: Tips greatly appreciated

Much to my surprise, a lot of people that I know are actually vegetarians. If you have any advice on how a lifelong carnivore can survive 30 days, please do share.


Even though I had unofficially decided to not eat the same dish on consecutive days, they have apparently opened a Papa John's Pizza on campus. I took that as a sign that the Subway Vegetarian sub would have to wait until a more desperate day. As a firm believer that a plain cheese pizza is only the blank slate on which toppings should be served, I opted for the Papa John's Garden Veggie Personal Pan Pizza which also appeals to my love of alliteration.

Unfortunately for the second in as many days, I was unable to stomach the entire meal. The thing with a normal meat pizza is your next bite might possibly contain a delectable morsel of Canadian bacon or a sliver of pepperoni. With a vegetable topped pizza, this is not even in the realm of possibility. Pizza is, at least for the time being, no longer on my list for the month.


At a good friend's suggestion, I went with an Asian tofu dish for dinner. I returned to a familiar Thai restaurant, Royal Thai, a place where on a previous occasion after a training run, a group of runners and I were quickly ushered outside to dine at the patio lest we ruin the dining experience of the more appropriately dressed patrons.

Complaints aside, Royal Thai is an excellent Thai restaurant. Pictured above is the Pad See Ew Tofu and Thai Tea I ordered. While I don't particularly dislike the taste of tofu, the tofu did not do anything for me on this particular occasion. I think this meal might have been better off with just a plain, meatless Pad See Ew. It was still delicious, of course, but that is in large part due to how yummy Thai food is already. Chicken, of course, would have made it a little bit better, but it was only missed for a brief, passing moment.

Day 1: Why am I doing this again?

A little background on why I am doing this at all. Back in 2009 or so when I was running 5ks on a regular basis, I would tell everybody who was fortunate enough to become engaged in a conversation with me how great running was and would subsequently attempt to convince them that they too should start running. Fast forward then to 2010 where an unconvinced non-runner friend tried to convince me to become a vegetarian. Two seemingly unrelated stories until she dropped the gauntlet one evening by exclaiming, "I'll start running if you become a vegetarian." So, here we are. One month of her running (easy, right?) and one month of me struggling to find foods without meat in them that are also bearable to ingest.

A quick stroll through the food court today provided a stark reminder of just how many foods are off limits for the next 30 days. While hamburgers and pizza both come in meatless varieties, can they actually elicit the same satisfaction as their delicious, meaty counterparts?


The first meal in my life that I purposely picked to be void of meats was pizza from Famous Famiglia Pizzeria. I selected a slice of their Pizza Fresca (tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil) and a slice of spinach and mushroom. The tomato slices on the former were fashioned in such a way that they would appear at a glance to resemble slices of pepperoni. A cruel deception as the taste is in no way comparable. “Eww, it even smells vegetabley,” remarked the owner of the turkey sandwich in the background. Overall, the meal was underwhelming and without a doubt had a sense of incompleteness.


This evening, I ordered a Veggie Burger from BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse. I have no idea what the patty was made of but it was certainly shaped like a hamburger patty and there were definitely grains of rice in it. At no point during the meal did I ever think that I was eating an actual beef patty, but at the same time, I did not gag once. While the $10 price tag gives me a confused look on my face, I will definitely eat this once more during the month.

Day 0: Start a blog

Let me start this blog the same way that every blog starts: by explaining that I have never written a blog before. The majority of my writing these days comes in the form of shorthand notes on a policyholder's file at work. "MSPH C/I RBI INC H/E DED $500" doesn't leave much room for creativity, so this blog will serve the twofold purpose of allowing me a temporary escape from that monotony as well as a place to chronicle my one month long adventure into a world of vegetarianism.

Starting tomorrow, I will go 30 days without eating meat. It sounds so simple when I write it out, and even though I’m the one doing it, I am somewhat eager to see how this turns out. There is a chance that I will find this whole experience pleasant and enjoyable and continue the lifestyle well after the month has passed.

But considering how much unhealthy fast food I currently eat on a regular basis and the fact that my 5 8” frame still weighs in at a very slim 130 pounds, there is also the distinct possibility that I will lose a ridiculous amount of weight and fall ill. This is the scenario that excites me the most about this little challenge.

Good bye for now, steak and fried chicken.