Vegetarian for a month

Just after Thanksgiving I decided to go vegetarian for the rest of 2006. I fell off the wagon on Christmas Eve. My motivation was simple. I wanted to see how easy it would be to do, how I'd feel and how much energy I'd have. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't go hungry. I eat a lot of veggie-compatible foods to begin with, and I generally like 'meatless meat' soy products. Being married to a vegetarian ensures that I get to try many of them.

I didn't really miss meat all that much and I didn't feel any different than usual. I stacked the deck in my favor by keeping the 'fridge full of fake meat products.

I fell off the wagon because I let myself get overly hungry. I'd had too much coffee and not enough breakfast. I'd gone out to do a few errands and was trapped by the gravitational pull of McDonald's as I drove by, stomach rumbling. One McChicken sandwich opened the floodgates and I began craving meat. I overdid it for a few days, but that's what the holidays are for, right? Now I'm finding some balance. I'm eating more soy and less red meat than before. When I do eat meat, it's frequently of the lean variety.

I accept that I'm omniverous by nature. I wish I didn't like meat so much, since it's less environmentally friendly than soy products. I can't say that I condone the factory farming techniques which produce much of our meat. I may eliminate non-kosher meats from my diet, since kosher meats must comply with strict humane-treatment standards. I'm not Jewish, so I may not have all my facts straight. My wife is Jewish, but she's a veggie, so she probably can't help me out much here, either. Either way, my goal is to eat better for me and better for the environment.