Honestly, I wasn’t sure this was possible! While driving around town the other day, I was musing on this to Greg, who said that he thinks the reason it’s stuck when it’s never stuck before is that I’m doing it for myself, not to fit into a group or to “be the person you think you should be”. This is exactly true. I keep using the phrase, “Something just shifted inside me,” because that’s the only way I can describe what I feel.

It hasn’t been easy, but then it hasn’t been nearly as hard as I thought it would be, either. I had two big situations come up for me this past week, in which I would normally decide to just chuck the vegetarian thing in favor of convenience. This time, I didn’t do that. Here’s what I did:

1. On a long car trip: No more burgers! Heck, I don’t even want to support fast food anymore. I had to figure out what to eat on two recent drives. I brought sunflower seeds, apple slices, smoothies, peanuts, and pomegranate pips. It went fine. I felt full, and like I was getting tasty food (i.e. I didn’t feel I was suffering).

2. What to eat at a party where meat is served, and I traditionally eat a lot of the yummy delicious meat made by a great cook: This was trickier! Thankfully the hostess (NAY, the GODDESS! Hi Lisa!) had put out a vegetable platter. I grabbed a plate and threw on two big handfuls of carrots and pea pods, and a bit of ranch dressing. Then I ate it. THIS, this right here, is how I know this is a shift made deep inside. Because if this had been a year ago and I was faced with a choice between hot, roasted meat, or raw carrots, I would have just hung up my vegetarian hat for the night and said, “Holiday parties don’t count!” Instead, that never even crossed my mind.

Greg and Jason and I left the party for a couple hours to meet up with my Dad for some dinner, and I had two black bean soft tacos, which was grand! Our waitress was vegetarian too, and she steered me toward the right stuff. I loved that! Also, my body is really starting to crave beans, which surprises me after such a short time being veg.

I did eat way too many of the holiday cookies though, and I got a massive headache and felt pretty bloated and sick afterward. I’m noticing that I definitely can’t eat sugar the way I want to as a vegetarian. I’m being forced to reckon with my sugar habit in a way I hadn’t before.

I had a minor crisis at Taco Del Mar. This will make a few people laugh, because hello, where else would it be easier to eat vegetarian? Still, I stood there for a few minutes, trying to figure out what I was going to put in my burrito if not that delicious seasoned chicken. I got black beans, and it was fine. I didn’t even miss the chicken. It’s so strange to me how much meat is a habit rather than any kind of necessity at all.

So far, so good! I’m getting used to soaking beans at night, which is great, because the soak method really does get rid of the Fart Factor. I’ve heard that for years, but had never tried it for myself. Beans are now my friend, rather than my gassy foe.