Hi friends! Fall is in the air! I even bought pumpkin spice coffee for my Keurig yesterday AND a pumpkin pie Yankee candle. I am ready to go! Now if the weather would just cool off…Yesterday I had to bring the dogs to an appointment early and it ended up taking a LOT longer than I thought, so I went to the gym and ran 5 miles on the treadmill and lifted weights (bi’s back, and legs.) When I finally did get home after 2:30 I stayed busy until Bobby came home, so basically the house is still a disaster. OOOHHH well! This post is word heavy, but stick with me. I shall intersperse pictures of my cute puppies to keep you focused.
I am sure some of you are tired of hearing about the Healthy Living Summit, but I DID want to make sure I chatted with you all on my thoughts concerning the keynote speaker address. I am sure you have read on other’s blogs about what this plan consists of, etc. So I wanted to give my take.
The author of the book, Dawn Blatner, was a very well spoken, charismatic, beautiful lady who knew her stuff. I enjoyed her talk on action mantras, and her general sense of humor. Being a meat and potatoes kind of girl, I wasn’t expecting to get much out of this. I was quite surprised though. Let me preface….I have NO INTENTION of becoming a vegetarian. PERSONALLY, I feel my body performs better as a distance runner and overall as a human being when I eat chicken, meat, turkey, etc. I do limit my red meat to once a week, but I have SOME form of meat at least once a day.
With that being said, I do feel that I did enjoy and appreciate some of the things she had to say. As a picky eater, I do realize I need to expand my horizons and learn to like more vegetables, and cook with a more wide variety of things. I have no problem having a meatless breakfast or lunch here or there, but being the good southern girl that I am, I need meat at dinner!
Sassy before and after.
I read the entire book on the plane ride home (skimming the recipes portion) and she does have some great overall healthy living tips, meal ideas, and ways to incorporate more veggies, beans, etc. into your diet. I realize plant based/natural foods are very good for you, and feel I have grown a lot over the years in my cooking and eating, but I don’t feel the flexitarian way is for everyone (including me.)
Bella before and after. I love how happy she looks in the second picture!
The last thing I want to do is tell YOU what is best for you, because only you know that. (Wow that’s a lot of you’s!) I am just stating my personal beliefs and experiences. It was a good, interesting, and eye opening read. I picked up a few new things and ideas, but will not be “converting.” I do realize the book is saying you CAN eat meat sometimes, but it wants you to wake up every morning with the intent of being vegetarian that day. Friends, that is not the way I choose to live my life. Mental health is important to me, and not eating meat would positively make me go batty. Please note I DO NOT JUDGE YOU if you are vegan/vegetarian. That is a personal choice, I do not look down upon you at all! I think it takes lots of discipline to keep up that lifestyle, so kudos to you for sure! You rock! It is just not for me. All you vegan/veg readers, I still love you, and hope you don’t hate me.
To sum it up….
-engaging, well spoken author
-interesting book, learned new things from seeing her point of view
-good healthy living tips
-yummy new recipes
-great new ways to incorporate more plant based foods into my diet.
-whole idea in general personally not for me, but will incorporate a few of her “tips” into my life/cooking
-I love my vegan and vegetarian readers. MMMUUWWAAHH!
QOTD: What are your thoughts on this flexitarian idea?
*Please don’t forget to enter my Rok Bands giveaway, TODAY is the last day to enter!
what a cool book, I think its so great to open your eyes to different diet approaches and find what works for you. I think vegetarian diets are great and people should eat more vegetables in general but I do understand its not right for everyone!
I have recently read a few other blogs about the Flexitarian diet after the HLS. I had heard about the diet before, but never knew many details. Just as you, I wouldn’t be myself without meat; however, I choose to not eat red meat because of personal decisions and health issues in my family, but I definitely crave chicken, seafood, etc. and couldn’t live without! I applaud those who can live a vegetarian and vegan lifestyle though 🙂
I’m definitely a flexitarian, but not for the reasons mentioned in the book. I got food poisoning 12 years ago, and haven’t eaten red meat since then and I think seafood is gross. So I only eat chicken and pork, on occasion. Most of my meals are meatless since we only eat chicken once a week or so. I have been eating more chicken sausage and turkey bacon since being pregnant b/c my body wants it. But that’s just what works for me! I definitely think everyone should do what works for them, and not worry about being judged 🙂
I think it’s a great thing that you gave the book a shot, despite your ideas you had before-hand and took something positive from it. I love that attitude! Personally, I was a vegetarian for about 6 years after watching a documentary in class. Then my busy life and picky eating caught up with me and I wasn’t getting enough protein in my diet and it showed. It’s definitely POSSIBLE to be a healthy vegetarian, but it does take effort and a big chunk of time (no good fast food options with protein). Since I didn’t feel like I had the time to commit to cooking protein-rich vegetarian options every day, I added chicken and seafood into my diet on occasion, but will still choose vegetarian first if I can so I guess that makes me flexatarian. I’ve never been one to judge other people’s choices though (my bf is a red-meat guy all the way), and can definitely understand everyones viewpoints, since I have been on all three sides!
Sounds like an interesting book, I think I am going to look for it at the library! I tried eating more meatless for a while but once I started strength training with heavy weights I noticed how much better I felt when my body had protein. I know there are vegetarian sources of protein but it’s just so much easier to throw on a chicken breast or scramble an egg than press tofu (I do love tofu) or soak/prepare beans. I do try to eat a lot of veg, though!
I definitely agree with what you’re saying. I tried being vegetarian for a couple months in college, and while I know I could live without meat if all I had to do was worry about feeding myself, it really came down to a convenience factor for me. I didn’t want friends and family having to cook a separate meal every time I ate with them. That being said, i do try to limit how much meat I eat and, like you, I have tons of respect for people who are able to live as a vegan or vegetarian. It definitely takes discipline and a lot of creativity! I might look into the Flexitarian book after your review too, thanks!
I really enjoyed Dawns speech at healthy living summit. That being said like you i doubt that i could give meat up all together, but i have learned to substitute some healthier options instead of meat (sometimes). My fiance is deff a southern girl and cringes at the sign of chick peas, tofu, and any other weird texture food. So i have been trying to broaden her horizons on different ways foods can be meatless that is still tasty.
Pumpkin spice!! Delicious!!
Interesting…I’ll have to add this book to my list to read. I definitely need to incorporate more veggies into my diet but I don’t know that I could ever be a vegetarian.
bleh, I hate snakes!! I had to jump over one when I was running by the lake about a month ago. I’m glad youre safe. At least with that one getting killed theres one less snake in your neighborhood
You jumped over it?! Aah! Scary!