Week 1

The jump from a vegetarian diet to a vegan one is a much larger jump than a meat eating diet to one of a vegetarian. The number of temptations are endless. Three days in a row, I made it all the way until dinner time, when I couldn’t say no to a few M and M’s or a piece of cornbread. It is absolutely shocking just how many of our foods have dairy products in them that don’t really need it. The worst realization for me was finding that one of my all time favorite foods, Poptarts, have gelatin in them. Many of my comfort foods, or the foods that never fail to make me smile, now have to be cut out of my diet. For even just two days a week, this has proven trying. After the end of the week, I came up with a new dietary plan to improve the environment. At this time, veganism does not seem like a viable option for me. Therefore, I will focus my efforts on decreasing food waste. For this I will only eat when I am hungry and will eat everything on my plate. The first two days of doing this have been tough, but doable. My other project is water and electricity conservation. I have discontinued my warm shower for a cooler temperature and shaved with the excess water caught in the bottom of the tub by the plug. My shower times have been cut in half and I only keep one little lamp on in my room, and only when I need it. Compared to cutting dairy and egg products out of my diet, trimming the fat off my excess energy and water consumption isn’t too tough at all. It does not seem like it will be hard to incorporate the changes in water and energy consumption into my daily life.