2021 Challenge – Day 21

my last post was almost exactly four months ago!! discipline, amirite??

well, a few nights ago i watched the movie Julie & Julia on Netflix, which if you haven’t watched, i recommend. it’s totally up my lane – cute and feel-goody. anyway, in that movie, julie keeps a blog for 365 days as she takes herself through a cooking challenge. as i watched it i thought “maybe i should keep a blog of my yearly challenges too,” haha. though the blog might not be as exciting as julie’s was, i figured i already had a yearly challenge that i was almost three weeks into so i would definitely have material, and given i had about forty-nine weeks to go, it wouldn’t be too late to start. i had ten million blog posts in my drafts anyway, so this would give me a reason to check on them frequently and potentially promote them from drafts to published posts.

so, here i am on day 21 of my 365-day challenge. “what is the challenge?” you may ask. well, this girl is vegetarian for the year! you heard that right… no meat for a whole year! i’ve had family members ask why such a huge change, especially for someone who comes from a culture where you haven’t had a meal until you’ve had meat. i figure some of them ask out of pity, that maybe i’m too broke to buy meat – lol, i’m trippin’. truth is, i think they ask out of worry that i might go a whole year just plain hungry! p.s., if you are family and you are reading this, don’t worry – i am very well fed.

so… why vegetarianism? it’s an idea i have flirted with through much of my time in college. i’ve been vegetarian for religious fasts, i’ve been vegetarian for a few weeks just for kicks, and once i was even VEGAN for a whole two weeks (i’m never doing that again!). half way through 2020 i realised i had gone the entire year thus far without getting any braids done in my hair or anything of that sort, and so i challenged myself to finish the year like that. upon realising i wanted a new challenge for 2021, vegetarianism came as a no-brainer. this was my chance to see if i had the guts to do this for more than just a couple of weeks. granted the hair thing was eons easier – in fact, i’m still rocking my natural hair (15 months and counting)., i had to try!

i decided to commit pretty early. at the end of september i dropped pork from my diet which was super easy cause i didn’t eat much of it to begin with, and then october saw the end of my beef days, a transition that wasn’t too difficult either. the real challenge came at the end of november. i must admit that on december 2nd, i found two leftover chicken nuggets in my fridge & i did not have the heart to throw them out, so i had them, hehe. and then on december 31st i had my last taste of any sort of meat until 2022 when i got myself a roll of eel & avocado sushe. bye-bye 2020, & bye-bye meat!

now that you have the backstory of what my challenge for the year is, i’ll now tell you what these updates will be all about. i’ll use them let you know what i’ve been eating, share some recipes that i’ve tried and maybe give some reviews, and then i’ll tell you how i’m feeling about the whole shabam. i’ll try come up with regular questions i can answer to track how my feelings may be changing with time, so here’s what i can think of today:

How has the experience been so far? so far so good. i am confident that i can complete the challenge. i’ve realised that now that i’m vegetarian i am far less likely to order take-out cause i just don’t feel like paying a restaurant for vegetables, feel like a rip-off lol! another thing is that after 9 months of cooking for each other every night for dinner, nardos & i have split our groceries and now cook for ourselves, and i feel like a little child! i don’t feel the drive to cook for myself, so if i’m not eating leftovers, i’m probably just having a sandwich for dinner or something dumb like that.

Protein: my go-to has mostly been high-protein yogurts and eggs, but i’ve read in a few places that dairy might not be the best supplement. but hey, i like my eggs and yogurt, so i’ll stick to that for now. i’m also not a big fan of cheese (except on pizza), so that’s another little protein hurdle. i downloaded My Fitness Pal so i could keep track of the nutrients i am consuming and while i’m not doing terrible, i’m not doing great either on the protein.

Could I see myself remaining vegetarian past December 2021? that would be a hard no. are there some great vegetarian recipes and dishes? absolutely yes! but i have to say i miss me some fried chicken.

Favourite recipe so far: well, i actually prepared this in december 2020 when i could still eat fish & seafood, but i made a barley soup which i really liked. i had never had barley before, and i had never liked soups much, but i impressed myself with this one. i even baked my own bread and it was great!

if you have any suggestions for things i could try out, feel free to leave a comment on this post or message me privately! also check out the podcast – i’ve been on an unannounced break for about two months now, but i’ll be back v soon.

hasta luego!

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xx QueenJoy