I started my vegetarian diet just to see how long I could go without eating meat. It turns out the answer was 9 years.
9 years ago, while eating some Thanksgiving leftovers, I decided to challenge myself to see if I could go for a month as a vegetarian. After a month, I just kept going. At first, I would occasionally have intense cravings for hamburgers, which I quickly figured out was my body's way of telling me I needed more iron or protein, but soon, I found it pretty easy to stick to my veggie diet. After the original motivation of the "challenge," I was turned off at the thought of eating flesh, and had fun learning new vegetarian recipes.
While living in Asia, I adopted a flexitarian diet. I avoided meat as much as possible, but if it was served to me, I ate it. My friends in China did not understand why anyone would give up meat because to their families, it was a luxury. I put cultural sensitivity ahead of my own beliefs, and ate what was put in front of me. During this time, I also started giving more thought to the local food movement, and it was of some comfort that the meat I was eating was predominantly bought at local markets from local farmers. (I tried to put China's track record on animal rights out of my head).
Aside from a brief stint trying to be vegan when I returned to Canada (I couldn't do it), I started a pescatarian diet about 3 years ago, because living in a small, northern town, there weren't many veggie options and I like variety and simplicity in my diet. I was also able to get a fair amount of local fish, and started thinking more about where my food was coming from.
Last year, we got chickens. With a coop in the back yard, I knew exactly what they were being fed, how much space they have to run around, and was able to stand by for moral support while they were being killed. (Moral support going equally to the BF doing the killing and to the chicken in the cone).
There are a lot of protein sources available to vegetarians and vegans. Lentils, beans and nuts work great without even touching soy, but I found that more and more I was picking up convenient, processed, simulated meat and I wasn't entirely comfortable with that. Another advantage of living in a northern community, is people like to hunt. It's easy to get some meat comes from an animal that lived a happy free life without hormones or antibiotics being pumped into it, eating it's natural diet that doesn't make it sick, and that didn't travel hundreds of miles to get to my plate.
Over the past few months, I've slowly eased my way back into a diet that includes meat. I no longer can say that I'm vege/pescitarian. But I'm not totally comfortable eating all kinds of meat, either. I admit that I've recently had a McD's quarter pounder (just to remember what it tasted like), and tried a few of the BF's favourite dishes at a couple of restaurants, but I don't want to eat ALL meat, all the time.
Do you think about where your food comes from? What about your meat? Do you think about how much meat you eat?
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
21 Things
Tall Mom tagged me last week to share 21 things about myself. I'm going to try to keep them original and new! Here it goes:
1. I love the book Charlotte's Web, but none of the movie versions. I read it over and over as a kid and have been on the look out for a new (used) copy to re-read and replace my old one that is now missing pages.
2. I recently started eating meat after 9 years of being vegetarian (post coming soon).
3. I have a B.Sc in Biology from McMaster University, but don't use it. I also have a Grad. Dip. in Teaching and Learning from Christchurch College.
4. I wish I liked to cook, but I really don't. Fake it til you make it? I do like looking at cookbooks, but almost always just choose the recipes that go with the pictures.
5. I have been lucky enough to do a fair amount of travelling and have taken a lot of pictures but don't think I'm a particularly good photographer. Sometimes I luck out and get a good one. This is one of my favourites:
Stefano The Black Knight
1. I love the book Charlotte's Web, but none of the movie versions. I read it over and over as a kid and have been on the look out for a new (used) copy to re-read and replace my old one that is now missing pages.
2. I recently started eating meat after 9 years of being vegetarian (post coming soon).
3. I have a B.Sc in Biology from McMaster University, but don't use it. I also have a Grad. Dip. in Teaching and Learning from Christchurch College.
4. I wish I liked to cook, but I really don't. Fake it til you make it? I do like looking at cookbooks, but almost always just choose the recipes that go with the pictures.
5. I have been lucky enough to do a fair amount of travelling and have taken a lot of pictures but don't think I'm a particularly good photographer. Sometimes I luck out and get a good one. This is one of my favourites:
6. I like math and numbers. When I need to add figures, I prefer to use a pencil and paper over a calculator.
7. I like to do crosswords. The Toronto Star crossword is the perfect difficulty level for me when I lived in Ontario - tough enough that I don't finish it every day, but easy enough that I can often finish it and feel good. I haven't found a good one in the papers in BC.
8. December 21st is my favourite day of the year (it just gets brighter from there!)
9. I am a rule-follower. I am a horrible liar and I hate getting "in trouble." I even feel a twinge of anxiety if I jaywalk!
10. When I travel, I am frequently "randomly selected" for an extra search. At one point it had happened on 5 flights in a row, and once for an extra search as I boarded the plane when I was moving to New Zealand for a year. They went through each of my CDs one by one and made me turn my laptop on. I connected through LA, and it was not long after 9/11 so it all made sense, and I'm happy to take extra safety precautions, I just wonder, why me?!
11. I have suffered from insomnia in the past. Lately, I've been playing Boggle on my iPhone to help me clear my head and fall to sleep. 3 games usually does it!
12. I have been to all of the provinces and 2 of Canada's 3 territories. I am currently on a personal mission to get to Iqaluit, Nunavut for a work trip.
13. I have never smoked. EVER.
14. I almost never wear jewellery, but I love to look at it and will often buy a necklace or a bracelet while travelling as a souvenir because it is easy to pack.
15. Growing up I always wanted to go to Australia. Whenever someone would ask, if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go, that was my answer, without really knowing why. Now that I've been, my new answer is Peru. I don't know why! If I could go back to somewhere I have already been it would be Laos or India or France.
16. I escaped deportation/jail in China because my boss' father knew the police chief and bribed him with cartons of cigarettes. (There was a misunderstanding about my passport and visa).
17. I don't like making phone calls to non-friends or calling anyone for the first time. I hate calling to make appointments or inquiries or orders for pizza. I will put these calls off for as long as I possibly can, and will get out of them if I can.
18. I love ice cream. LOVE.
19. I am currently shopping for a new car! I have been driving my current car since I was 17 (I'm 32).
20. Je voudrais être bilingue. My favourite french word is "pamplemousse"
21. I am known for being extremely well-organized at work. I am a planner, and like to have things ready to go well in advance of a presentation, workshop, or meeting, however, I never feel like I am organized enough and always feel that I have to rush at the last minute to complete the final detail.
I will tag the last people to comment around here:
Amanda @ Run to the Finish
Abbi @ Higher Miles
Christine @ Dream BIG Runner
Monday, November 21, 2011
Techy Tuesday
Over the past week, I've been setting up a Twitter and Facebook account for my blog. Yes, it has taken me a week to figure it all out, and I'm still working on it!
You can come "like" my Facebook Page, and you can follow me on Twitter @GetReadySetRun.
I'm not going to lie, I still don't really get all the #, and @ stuff, but I'll get there! (Man, I feel old).
You can come "like" my Facebook Page, and you can follow me on Twitter @GetReadySetRun.
I'm not going to lie, I still don't really get all the #, and @ stuff, but I'll get there! (Man, I feel old).
Monday's Mindset
This morning I woke up feeling: Motivated.
What a great start to the week! Between joining the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge, and the upcoming 30 for 60 challenge, and just being fed up with my own recent laziness, I'm ready for a comeback!
It's a cool morning and we've had a bit of snow, so I bundled up in my tights, headband, mitts, and jacket and wore my trail shoes for a little extra grip on the snow. After a few runs broken with walk breaks over the last couple of weeks, I felt ready to try 5 K of running, without the walking. I left the Garmin at home so as not to be frustrated by the slow numbers. I didn't care about time, I just wanted to run, slow and steady and all the way around the loop.
Mission accomplished!
To keep this motivation going, I'm going to be working on a flexible plan that lets me slowly build up my mileage to get back into a regular routine. I'm going to keep running Garmin-free until I've got a few more runs under my belt/the roads are clear (because snow always slows me down anyway).
Have you signed up for a challenge over the holidays?
What a great start to the week! Between joining the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge, and the upcoming 30 for 60 challenge, and just being fed up with my own recent laziness, I'm ready for a comeback!
It's a cool morning and we've had a bit of snow, so I bundled up in my tights, headband, mitts, and jacket and wore my trail shoes for a little extra grip on the snow. After a few runs broken with walk breaks over the last couple of weeks, I felt ready to try 5 K of running, without the walking. I left the Garmin at home so as not to be frustrated by the slow numbers. I didn't care about time, I just wanted to run, slow and steady and all the way around the loop.
Mission accomplished!
To keep this motivation going, I'm going to be working on a flexible plan that lets me slowly build up my mileage to get back into a regular routine. I'm going to keep running Garmin-free until I've got a few more runs under my belt/the roads are clear (because snow always slows me down anyway).
Have you signed up for a challenge over the holidays?
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Canada Games Centre
This week I had the opportunity to work out at the Canada Games Centre in Whitehorse. Keep in mind that Whitehorse has a population of less than 27 000 people and there are only just over 34 000 people in the entire territory, so it is pretty impressive that they have this awesome facility:
I spent most of my time on the treadmill, but also made my way over to the indoor track, which circles the indoor soccer field and basketball court, before stretching out in the spacious gym. I didn't make it to the pool, or the fitness class, but when I finished I spent some time watching the figure skaters on one of two ice rinks.
I just wish running on a different treadmill in a new gym had the same effect as running on a new route!
 |
| Source |
I spent most of my time on the treadmill, but also made my way over to the indoor track, which circles the indoor soccer field and basketball court, before stretching out in the spacious gym. I didn't make it to the pool, or the fitness class, but when I finished I spent some time watching the figure skaters on one of two ice rinks.
I just wish running on a different treadmill in a new gym had the same effect as running on a new route!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Aikido
Thanks for the encouraging words on my last post. I'm looking forward to my next run (tomorrow morning).
Today I had the opportunity to try Aikido, through work. According to Wikipedia, Aikido is performed by blending with the motion of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on. This requires very little physical strength, as the aikidōka (aikido practitioner) "leads" the attacker's momentum using entering and turning movements. The techniques are completed with various throws or joint locks.
We started with moving our joints, rolling our ankles, crunching the toes, bending the knees and swinging our arms to warm up before doing some gentle stretching. After my plane ride back from Ontario yesterday, and a day of travel to get to Whitehorse today, this was a great start. This was followed by practising kneeling, "the Japanese way," which built into standing, then rolling from a seated position, rolling to kneeling, rolling to standing, and rolling from standing. Each move built on the next and soon we were rolling across the floor, then rolling over obstacles on the ground. Though they were all moves that anyone could do, I tried to engage my abs to do each roll with control and make it a bit more of a work out.
After some time practising, we got to work in pairs to try some different moves that would allow you to easily bring an attacker to the ground. This required a little more coordination than I readily possess, but after a few tries I was able to get it.
I can't say that I have a passion for pursuing this or any other martial art, but it was a great class to try it out. Almost everyone was a beginner, beginner, and the instructor did a great job of demonstrating and giving feedback and encouragement.
And did I mention that I was working while doing this?! One of the youth I work with in Whitehorse had the opportunity to try it out recently and loved it so much that he wanted to introduce it to the others. It was great to see them support his effort in organizing the evening, and his excitement in sharing Aikido with them.
Have you ever tried Aikido or any other martial art?
Today I had the opportunity to try Aikido, through work. According to Wikipedia, Aikido is performed by blending with the motion of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on. This requires very little physical strength, as the aikidōka (aikido practitioner) "leads" the attacker's momentum using entering and turning movements. The techniques are completed with various throws or joint locks.
 |
| We wore all white, because we are not masters! (Source) |
We started with moving our joints, rolling our ankles, crunching the toes, bending the knees and swinging our arms to warm up before doing some gentle stretching. After my plane ride back from Ontario yesterday, and a day of travel to get to Whitehorse today, this was a great start. This was followed by practising kneeling, "the Japanese way," which built into standing, then rolling from a seated position, rolling to kneeling, rolling to standing, and rolling from standing. Each move built on the next and soon we were rolling across the floor, then rolling over obstacles on the ground. Though they were all moves that anyone could do, I tried to engage my abs to do each roll with control and make it a bit more of a work out.
After some time practising, we got to work in pairs to try some different moves that would allow you to easily bring an attacker to the ground. This required a little more coordination than I readily possess, but after a few tries I was able to get it.
I can't say that I have a passion for pursuing this or any other martial art, but it was a great class to try it out. Almost everyone was a beginner, beginner, and the instructor did a great job of demonstrating and giving feedback and encouragement.
And did I mention that I was working while doing this?! One of the youth I work with in Whitehorse had the opportunity to try it out recently and loved it so much that he wanted to introduce it to the others. It was great to see them support his effort in organizing the evening, and his excitement in sharing Aikido with them.
Have you ever tried Aikido or any other martial art?
Friday, November 11, 2011
Day One
Here I am, back at the beginning.
This summer, after a disappointing marathon in the spring, and a crushing, so-close-it-hurts half marathon in June, I was not enjoying my runs.
The last run I went on that I liked, was on my birthday in mid-July. After that, I was dragging myself out the door, counting down the minutes until it was over, and not feeling any better afterward. I was either mad at myself for being lazy and not pushing myself or exhausted from working too hard. That pesky hip injury from last winter started to kick in again, and my knee wasn't feeling great. When we went to Alaska in August, I was happy for an excuse to take a break, but when we returned, I just didn't start again.
I used my hip as an excuse, but unlike in the past with injury, I was in no hurry to get back out there. I think I ran twice in September. In October I worked out a handful of times, and did a bit of yoga, but I was unmotivated to do much else. I kept up following blogs, but didn't comment and didn't write my own because I didn't feel I had anything to say. I watched A LOT of tv. I ate A TON of halloween candy. Still, the longer I went without running, the more I dreaded that first day out.
I was sure it was going to be hard, and I was going to be slow and out of breath. Finally, this week, I ran, and here's how I did it:
New Shoes: There's nothing like new shoes to put a new bounce in your step. It wasn't quite time to get new shoes, but I will put screws into my last pair for slippery winter days and get a few more miles out of them yet. Spending the money on new shoes made me feel that I had to use them!
New Route/Location: I was in Gatineau, Quebec for work this week, so I brought my running gear. A new route is a good distraction. I also wasn't able to compare how fast used to run this route or how easy it used to be, because it was brand new.
Running Buddies: I grabbed a couple of coworkers to run with me. I warned them both that I was on the comeback trail and they were super supportive and let me call the shots. They did most of the talking, which was another welcome distraction, and I was able to keep up without getting out of breath. Every runner has been injured and come back at some point, and so they knew what I was going through.
No Pressure/No Garmin: I didn't want to know how fast or slow I was going, so I left my Garmin at home. My friend carried her iPhone and used MapMyRun but didn't tell me the outcome until the end. I also originally planned to run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute, but ended up just running until I needed a walk break. With lots of short hills we went about 25 minutes out before we took a 5 minute walk break and then headed for home with a slight short cut. I was pleasantly surprised that we covered 8K in 50 minutes, including that walk break and about a 1.5K of trail.
It was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be, and felt so good to get that first run out of the way. I'm in Toronto until Monday and then in Whitehorse next week so I am looking forward to following up today's second run with a few more runs with different scenery and no pressure while I get myself back into the groove.
This summer, after a disappointing marathon in the spring, and a crushing, so-close-it-hurts half marathon in June, I was not enjoying my runs.
The last run I went on that I liked, was on my birthday in mid-July. After that, I was dragging myself out the door, counting down the minutes until it was over, and not feeling any better afterward. I was either mad at myself for being lazy and not pushing myself or exhausted from working too hard. That pesky hip injury from last winter started to kick in again, and my knee wasn't feeling great. When we went to Alaska in August, I was happy for an excuse to take a break, but when we returned, I just didn't start again.
I used my hip as an excuse, but unlike in the past with injury, I was in no hurry to get back out there. I think I ran twice in September. In October I worked out a handful of times, and did a bit of yoga, but I was unmotivated to do much else. I kept up following blogs, but didn't comment and didn't write my own because I didn't feel I had anything to say. I watched A LOT of tv. I ate A TON of halloween candy. Still, the longer I went without running, the more I dreaded that first day out.
I was sure it was going to be hard, and I was going to be slow and out of breath. Finally, this week, I ran, and here's how I did it:
New Shoes: There's nothing like new shoes to put a new bounce in your step. It wasn't quite time to get new shoes, but I will put screws into my last pair for slippery winter days and get a few more miles out of them yet. Spending the money on new shoes made me feel that I had to use them!
New Route/Location: I was in Gatineau, Quebec for work this week, so I brought my running gear. A new route is a good distraction. I also wasn't able to compare how fast used to run this route or how easy it used to be, because it was brand new.
Running Buddies: I grabbed a couple of coworkers to run with me. I warned them both that I was on the comeback trail and they were super supportive and let me call the shots. They did most of the talking, which was another welcome distraction, and I was able to keep up without getting out of breath. Every runner has been injured and come back at some point, and so they knew what I was going through.
No Pressure/No Garmin: I didn't want to know how fast or slow I was going, so I left my Garmin at home. My friend carried her iPhone and used MapMyRun but didn't tell me the outcome until the end. I also originally planned to run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute, but ended up just running until I needed a walk break. With lots of short hills we went about 25 minutes out before we took a 5 minute walk break and then headed for home with a slight short cut. I was pleasantly surprised that we covered 8K in 50 minutes, including that walk break and about a 1.5K of trail.
It was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be, and felt so good to get that first run out of the way. I'm in Toronto until Monday and then in Whitehorse next week so I am looking forward to following up today's second run with a few more runs with different scenery and no pressure while I get myself back into the groove.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)