We just started a 6-week series on Ephesians in church. As part of it, our wonderful pastor mentioned the gap between what we "know" and what we "believe". He suggested, as a way to help close that gap, a "fast" of sorts. We're also to spend much more time in prayer than we usually do (an hour 1-3 times a week in addition to what we normally do).
The "fast" suggestions were these: fast one day a week (not an option--Hazen and I both become VERY cranky when we get hungry), skip one meal a day (not an option for the previously mentioned reason), or give up something. So, for our fast, beginning today, we will be doing 6 weeks of no meats, no sweets, and no booze. The sweets will be the absolute hardest thing for me. The meats I can handle. The booze will be fine. The sweets....ugh. I finished up the ice-cream in the freezer last night because I couldn't bear to see it go to waste (at least that was my excuse while I was downing my massive bowl...).
My biggest concern about "going vegetarian" is making sure we aren't missing any essential nutrients. Ian will be following our diet, though a little less strictly, so I really want to be sure he is getting what he needs. The nutrients we'll need to watch are:
•iron
•calcium
•protein
•vitamin D
•vitamin B12
•zinc
We all take multi-vitamins, so I'll be checking the daily values on those, and will also be looking into what natural options exist. We've decided to allow dairy, eggs, and a couple of servings of fish a week. So I guess that will mean we're dabbling in pescatarianism/lacto-ovo vegetarianism...vegetarianism with the allowance of fish, dairy, and eggs.
Our hope is that when it gets hard-and I'm sure it will!-we will be able to pray through it and stick to it. We're also hoping that cutting some of the fattier, nastier things that we enjoy so much will help with the waistlines...we've both put on a little weight in the last few months. Nothing drastic, but the fact that I'm gaining at all disturbs me as I've always been someone who can eat whatever she wants and not gain an ounce. This darn aging thing is a bit of a menace. ;)
kidshealth.org has been a helpful source in finding which nutrients we need to be careful about and giving options for obtaining those, and this blog post: http://eatclosetohome.wordpress.com/2008/03/29/vegetarian-menu-and-recipes-for-a-month/ is sooooo hopeful! She has two months (that I've found...there may be more!) worth of vegetarian dinner menus already laid out including the shopping lists and recipes. I don't think she could have made this any easier for me!
A couple of complications--Ian's birthday, which we will be celebrating three times when all is said and done. We already went to the Smithsonian in DC (which I really need to post about...I am so not good at this blogging thing), then Ian and I will be celebrating on his actual day, and then we'll have a small get-together about a week later beeeeecaaaaause...Hazen is going TDY for two weeks, right over Ian's birthday. So I'm really not sure how he plans to follow the "fast" while he's living out of a hotel room in Missouri. We're going to have to come up with some kind of plan for him. I'm sure it will be doable, but he will definitely have the harder time between us. And we've already decided we all get a pass on Ian's birthday/party. There's gonna be cake. He's been asking for cake for months. I can probably get around the meat thing, even if I have to grill burgers for everyone else, and serve Hazen and I something different. But I'm gonna have cake. No way I'm missing out on the best part of my kiddo's birthday celebration. ;)
So, wish us luck. Hopefully this will give us the boost in our faith that we need, and maybe we will enjoy this new lifestyle. We've been trying to add more meatless meals to our menu anyway, so this is a good way to really kick us into it and force us to try new foods!
2 comments:
So you're basically celebrating your own personal Lent? Interesting. Fasting has played a major role in the history of faith, though I can't say that I've ever really participated (as an extremely thin person, it's not really a good idea for me to fast from food). Though since we've been attending an Episcopal church, we do participate in Lent. Giving up coffee was the hardest for me. Meat would be really tough! Good thing you guys are giving up the same things. It'd be near impossible, otherwise!
Yeah, Hazen asked me "we don't celebrate Lent, do we?". It does seem to pretty much be what we're doing, though our church doesn't technically do it. I'd have no problem with coffee...the sweets is killing me, though.
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