Countdown

Afternoon ladies and gentlemen,

Well, its less than 24 hours until I become a vegetarian, so I figured a little prequel post was due to explain the why's and the how's of what I'm doing.

A couple of weeks ago, while I was checking all my daily websites, I was on vegetarian organic life (www.vegetarianorganiclife.com) and came across this challenge by Amira Elgan.

The challenge was, in honour of vegetarian awareness month (October), for non-vegetarians to become vegetarian for 21 days, and for vegetarians to become vegan for 21 days. Amira then cited the potential advantages that would come out of altering your diet and lifestyle in this way.

On top of just changing diet, Amira, a holistic health counsellor, advises on work-outs, and not only cutting out meat - but also what you should replace it with, and what products are better for you than others. She offers two free telephone sessions (as she lives in California) and all the email support we need to undergo this 21-day challenge.

Amira herself is an apparently amazing woman from what I've read and from our initial consultation. Well versed in the vegetarian and vegan lifestyles and sympathetic to what peoples pleasures are in the way of food. She takes on the slow philosophy on food that I enjoy so much. The idea of not just eating for sustenance, but cooking and creating meals and flavours and sensations that are not only healthy, but are an experience to create and enjoy with family and friends.

And she's offered up some good advice. Changing my bread from white to whole grain, and turning a focus onto breakfasts rather than dinners as the meal to spend the most time on. My big concern now is my grocery bill. I've done up a list, and there are nearly sixty items on it, and not a single piece of meat or dairy or eggs are on it. Despite that fact, it looks as if I'll be getting everything I need in order to maintain myself as healthy.

Plus, the money I'm losing by paying more in groceries for more high-end items and fresh produce, I'll be saving because I won't be able to eat out as often, and I've also decided to quit drinking for this challenge (except for on Halloween if I'm feeling up to a drink or two). Overall I'm hopefully looking at a net savings of money over my traditional eating habits.

Well, looks like it should be an adventure. I'll keep you posted. Next post will be the experiences of my 1st day and grocery shopping.

Cheers