Wednesday 29 April 2015

A Vegetarian Revelation...

Last Friday I watched the documentary 'Vegucated' on Netflix. I guess I was just stuck for something to do and thought it might make for interesting viewing. Well, it certainly was and in the process totally put me off eating meat. For real. It really did break my little heart and really truly opened my eyes to the whole process of rearing and killing animals for meat. 
my general life - vegetarian revelation
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I feel like prior to this, I had some level of awareness of what happens, but I really wasn't allowing myself to acknowledge this awareness or connect what goes on with what ends up on my dinner plate. The documentary made everything feel so very real. And I guess that's what it was made to do, it was made to get people talking and thinking about vegetarianism.

Needless to say, I haven't eaten meat since watching Vegucated, and what I find most alarming about this is that I don't even miss it. Not even a little bit. Now I know it's only been 4 days, but thinking about it, never in my 'proper food eating' life (i.e. not counting being a wee babe) have I ever gone that long without eating meat. In fact, my typical diet generally had 2 meals a day containing meat. So for me, this is a huge step. 

After having a little chat with myself (like you do), I've decided to try out a vegetarian diet (with milk and eggs allowed - purely so I can make sure I'm having sufficient protein and I'm not ready to give up milk in tea just yet) for a whole month. Now prior to this week, that would have sounded like an impossible challenge to my carnivorous side, but actually, I'm quite excited! I'm looking forward to experimenting in the kitchen and whipping up some delicious veggies treats. I'm also intrigued to see the impact (if any) it has on my body (if you're a regular reader you will know I have the joys of IBS) and just how I feel in general. Thus far, the IBS might pose an issue towards longer term vegetarianism, however, I'm willing to give it a trial and see if all that extra fibre makes a difference - I've never eaten so many veggies! I've also recently discovered vegan baking which I'm loving and what better excuse to get in the kitchen and cook up some more vegan friendly sweet treats!

I'm not going to put any pressure on myself, I just want to see how the next month goes and take it from there. I feel that even if this 'experiment' (which is what it is really) results in me eating less meat in the future, that would still be a fantastic outcome for not only myself and my overall health, but for the environment and the gorgeous little animals. But anyway, I'm going to get rid of any expectation and just go with it :)

Would you ever consider trialling a vegetarian diet for either health or ethical reasons? Or have you recently made the switch to vegetarianism? I'd love for you to share your thoughts either in the comments below, or you could tweet me @mygenerallife!

Also if anyone has any delicious veggie recipes, please do send them my way!

While you're here, why not check out my previous post: RECIPE: Banana and Date Loaf.


my general life healthy lifestyle blog

Sunday 26 April 2015

RECIPE | Banana and Date Loaf.

Since getting the Ms Cupcake vegan recipe book as leaving gift recently I have got so very into vegan baking. I find it so much easier than 'regular' baking, there's no creaming of butter and sugar and gradually beating your eggs and flour in, it's literally bish, bash, bosh and your done! So today I thought I'd share the recipe for a super tasty banana and date loaf that I whipped up last week. The recipe is slightly adapted from the Ms Cupcake book, so all credit for the basics of this recipe go to her...it's just so good I had to share and if you don't have her book, you are totally missing out!

my general life banana and date loaf vegan gluten free dairy free ms cupcake