For the entire month of April, I am abstaining from drinking anything other than water.

This means, no soft drinks, no juice, no tea, and definitely no coffee. (devastating since the I just acquired a new Gaggia coffee machine)

Goals:

Possibly a bit of a detox?

this one is a little bit of a mystery, It came to me and i didn’t know why i wanted to do it. I know i dont drink anywhere near the amount of water a healthy person should ( i think it’s meant to be 2 litres per day). But I thought that drinking 2 litres of water a day was a little bit of a piss easy challenge and that i should up the ante and make it about removing something rather than trying to add something to my day. (i suspect it’ll work better and be more challenging).

I also wanted to notice how much water i wanted to drink if i couldn’t just grab some other kind of drink like a soft drink or coffee. I’ve also been told that the more water you drink, the more you need, and I’d like to test that out as well. In just a few short days there has already been a significant impact on my day to day functioning.

I’m going to wait till it settles a bit before interpreting whats going on and writing about it.

Here’s to another 30 days

Cheers.

Although I had no major physical “breakthroughs” from not eating meat. By that i mean, i didn’t all of a sudden have more energy, think i could fly or have an incurable disease mysteriously clear up overnight. However I found that within the first week i was starting to think i may not want to go back, I noticed that no matter how “unhealthy ” or fatty the meal was i never really felt completely dead at the end like you do when you over eat with meat. I also made an interesting discovery in that whenever i went to eat something that would normally contain meat, rather than looking for the vegetarian option, i’d just order the same thing with no meat. I was astounded at how often it tasted pretty much the same. It had me asking the question, are we just eating meat for the texture?

Seriously, go order a subway footlong with your normal cheese and your normal salads and whatever sauce you’d normally use, and the only real difference is that you dont feel as full. Admittedly meat from subway isnt exactly real meat, its some seriously over processed shit, but a large proportion of the meat consumed everyday is over processed crap anyway, so its not a completely redundant observation.

Toasted Philly, Capers, w/poached egg and baby roma tomato in basil pesto

The challenge was a great success in my book. No one moment of weakness, it felt almost completely natural and normal, much to my surprise. I never felt like I’d over eaten, even when I had overeaten (not sure if that’s a positive). It got me thinking creatively when eating out and when cooking in the kitchen. I had a couple of awesome food creation moments. see pics. Having rules to eat/cook by has always driven some inspired moments when creating meals.

For the moment though I have committed myself to going back to full time meat eating just to see how my body reacts and adjusts. It hasn’t been very positive to say the least, but I’ll write about that separately.

On an environmental note, I tried to make some time this month to consider the carbon footprint of my diet. I wanted to at least be aware of different foods and their impact on the planet to produce. I read in the New Scientist that “to produce a kilogram of beef (2.2 pounds), farmers also have to feed a cow 15 kg of grain and 30 kg of forage. Grain requires fertiliser, which is energy intensive to produce.” It seems like there is a lot involved in that 350gram Porterhouse than just what you see on the plate.

Now Im not a huge greenie or anything like that, but i think its a good thing to be conscious of what it takes to get the food to the supermarket that only takes you 30 minutes to prepare 10 minutes to eat, and 2 minutes to throw out the leftovers. This whole train of thought doesn’t just apply to meat, but can apply to everything we consume.

A bloke by the name of Matthew Moore, an American farmer, did an awesome series of time lapse videos that i happened to come across early in the month. They show the growth cycles of different vegetables on his farm, and were displayed on large screens in fresh produce sections of supermarkets to give customers a better insight into growth cycles of the food they consume. I tweeted a link to one earlier this month . I still find it amazing that it took 105 days to harvest for his brocolli!

One of my aims this month was to get some conversation going about being a vegetarian and eating less meat in general, and there were some interesting conversations, but funnily enough, not that many positive ones. Obviously when talking to already vegetarians, or friends and family of vegetarians, all good. I work with a “Vegequarian” or “Pescetarian” as they’re sometimes called, and we had some great convo’s. However for the most part, there was quite a bit of resistance to the idea. The common arguments were:

You cant have a balanced diet without meat.

You cant get enough protein if you don’t eat meat.

You cant get enough iron if you don’t eat red meat.

The 300 Spartans ate meat, and being a vego will make you weak.

I don’t really agree with the first two. I don’t think we need anywhere near the amount of protein that everyone thinks, and the idea of a balanced diet in my opinion, is more of a state of mind based on quasi memories of nutri-facts heard on TV and in conversations (ie. I’ve heard this isn’t healthy, so i’ll only eat a little bit). Throw in a liberal dash of persuasion marketing and VOILA! everyone thinks you need to drink milk to maintain healthy bones or that a Mars a day, helps you work rest and play. Bit of Bullshit, yeah?

With regards to the iron, I haven’t got a good answer. I haven’t done the research and if it becomes an issue, i’d likely find a solution one way or another. I’m pretty sure you can get decent amounts of Iron from some veggies, but i’ll look into it further.

As for the spartans thing, I think modern day spartans would be smashing the protein shakes. They probably ate shitloads of meat because a spear and campfire was more readily available than the blender/electricity combo too.

So to Cap it off, i had some goals for this challenge, they were:

- Learn what my dietary crutches are in the absence of meat – These were definitely potato, cheese and bread (not the healthiest of things, but at least i know now)

- Learn some great new vegetarian recipes – I probably conquered the Pasta Al Funghi, with a sauce so incredibly rich, your pants would stop fitting the moment you leaned over the pan to smell it (forgive the ack of modesty, but OMFG it was amazing). Other than that, i found the challenge inspired me to create some weird and new combos that kicked ass. The next time you’re at hungry jacks, replace the meat in your whopper with onion rings and ranch sauce… out of control awesome!

- Experience full time vegeterianism as a lifestyle choice – Nothing of note here, it really was a non event. but accomplished nonetheless.

- Trigger debate and conversation amongst friends, colleagues and family – As I wrote about, definitely big success on this front.

- Give my body a break from meat – Ive only really noticed how much of a break i gave my body when i tried to reintroduce meat back into my diet, this hasnt been a pleasant experience to say the least.

- Notice any health benefits that come from eating a diet much lower in protein and higher in fruits and vegetables – I probably didn’t make enough of an effort to include more vegetables and fruits, but i definitely has less protein than normal and I can say it had almost zero impact on my day at all.

If nothing else, I definitely proved this month that being a vegetarian doesnt mean you have to be particularly healthy.

They are very much separate things.

peace.

There is plenty to read about the devastating effects on the environment and unsustainable practices of the livestock industry, and maybe through out this month i might share a little more of my own thoughts on the situation. However there are some other reasons i think that being a vegetarian (or at least a non-meat eater) is a worthwhile investigation.

I read a book a little while back written by the CSIRO called “The CSIRO Total Well Being Diet” . Without launching into a discussion about the book, it’s basic premise was that a higher protein diet would enable to feel fuller, faster and longer and would allow you to abstain from constant snacking. Actually to be honest, i couldnt help but feel like the book might have been funded by a consortium of meat production associations (but of course the CSIRO aren’t corruptible, right?).

Being of european background, this was good news, no?

So what I notice happens is that the more meat I ate, the less of any other kinds of food  i could be bothered with (ie. fresh produce). Thus starts a cycle of getting plenty of calories, good tasting food but just not the wide variety of vitamins and minerals that keep your appetite and mind/body chemistry in check. Fruits and Veggies are massively important in this.

So on the March the 1st, I stopped eating meat for rest of the month.This includes fish, however I am still eating dairy and eggs (baby steps).

Some things that i hope to achieve out of this:

- Learn what my dietary crutches are in the absence of meat

- Learn some great new vegetarian recipes

- Experience full time vegeterianism as a lifestyle choice

- Trigger debate and conversation amongst friends, colleagues and family

- Give my body a break from meat

- Notice any health benefits that come from eating a diet much lower in protein and higher in fruits and vegetables

Obviously it being Saturday, I’m nearly a week in. At some point in the next few days I’ll share what I’ve learnt and experienced so far this month.

In the meantime if you happen to be one of the 1.2 people per week that read this blog and you know of a great vegetarian recipe or a great vegetarian restaurant in Melbourne, drop me a line.

Photo by Neeta Lind

Some of the reasons I set the goal were:

1. The pursuit of a healthier lifestyle

2. To see more of my neighbourhood

3. To have a goal

4. To find out if walking really does “clear your head”

So what did I learn?

That despite not reaching my goal for February, I actually satisfied some of my reasons for setting the goal in the first place.

I really didnt get that much from walking my neighbourhood, its just not that exciting.

I say that i like all kinds of music, but it turns out I like to collect all kinds of music and I only like to listen to about 20%of what I own. I learnt this because there were times when i didn’t have a playlist setup and I just randomised my music collection. I found myself skipping through mp3′s furiously trying to find something that i wanted to listen to. (I’ll have to make a task of spring cleaning my iTunes collection.)

Audio books and treadmills are a good match for me as I am finding it increasingly difficult to find time to read nowadays (and I love books).

Getting on a treadmill for half an hour with music blaring or an audio book playing in your ears didn’t really do much for “clearing my head”, although going for a walk around the block totally works (its just boring as shit).

February Goal Summary:

1. Was a healthier lifestyle pursued? – Check

2.  Did I see more of my neighbourhood? – Check

3. Did I have a goal? – Uhh, Check

4. Did I find out if walking really does clear your head? – Check

Goal Completed: No

I had initially thought that i would get in a few BIG walks at the start and then be cruisy for most of the month, however it hasnt turned out that way. It’s now 6 days in and I’ve walked 2.5 km.

25,500 meters to go – just sayin’

January is a popular month for resolutions and goals. I’m bucking the trend and setting an ambitious target for February which is to walk 28 Kilometers.

It’s incredibly simple. It’s 1 Km per day for a month.

I wont be including the day to day stuff like walking to and from the car to the office, or the steps between the petrol bowser and the cashier. They’re going to be fair dinkum “walking” kms.

Walking is a great opportunity to get out and get some fresh air, catch up on podcasts, find some walking partners or maybe even take some interesting photos…

If you’re interested in catching up for a walk sometime this month, have any suggestions for walks or things to do while walking, leave a comment

Cheers,

Nick

For example Alan Long, Research Director @ Hitwise Asia Pacific, writes about the online perspective of climate change

You can read about Efficiency Vs Sustainability in climate change at Ross Hill’s Blog, but if you’re after a hard hitting list of actionables to tackle climate change, check out Eman’s article “enough lecturing: here are the real solutions! “ .

From me, i did what most curious cubicle warriors do when they’re procrastinating and i went youtubing:

So a salute if you will, to those who help break up the day and provide a few chuckles Here’s a quick collection of the some my faves  for 2008 (and one from 2007):

“you know you are using too much trackpad when your index finger gets too smooth to work properly” – 3:03 PM May 13th, 2008 via @nedwin

“Looking around the office I wonder who would get eaten first if we get snowed in and run out of food.” – 7:42 AM Feb 2nd, 2008 via @freshbooks

“okay. my parents’ understanding of twitter now is that it’s a cult. this is progress.” – 7:18 AM Apr 5th, 2008 via @echuckles

“@shelisrael I hate talking at conferences. Audiences in Australia are 93% dumber than US audiences. It’s been clinically tested.” – 3:33 PM Apr 14th, 2008 via @cameronreilly

“60 minutes on the bus there, 75 back? This meeting better have blowjobs. Blowjobs and cake.” – 10:17 AM Jan 24th, 2008 via @cleversimon

“eBay could really take it to the next level if they charged a premium for exclamation points and CAPS.” – 2:39 AM Jan 9th, 2008 via @hotdogsladies

“It’s always nice to craft an error message: “The internetz have pwned your rqst within this adaptrix”" – 3:23 PM Apr 16th via @samotage

“Light travels faster than sound. That’s why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.” – 4:18 AM Jun 23rd, 2007 via @christingom

Twitterific:

being a card carrying member of the twitterati obviously requires constant access to twitter. Twitterific does almost everything i could want in a twitter client. Admittedly, I’d love a ReTweet button as that would make life a lot easier and maybe some filters would help also. Having said that, twitterific is the pick of the bunch for me.

Jelly Car:

next to youtube, this is one the most fun ways to kill time and numb your mind at the same time!! I am yet to work out what your car is meant to be made out of, but there are a myriad of levels to choose from without having to unlock them, really easy to understand tutorials on how to play the game, zoom in and zoom out and the best part is ITS FREE!!

WordPress:

I’m very impressed with the interface and its integration. Expect at least one or two posts on this blog to come from my iPhone courtesy of this app. You can easily blog text and pics on the go and upload them to your blog, NO MUSS NO FUSS

Facebook:

I use this app a fair bit, however there are some limitations that have been really pissing me off in the last week. No access to facebook apps (namely mob wars), facebook chat is shit enough on the website, it gets even worse on the iPhone and even worse still if you’re on 3g rather than wireless. Having said that, its not easy to encapsulate the entireity of facebook’s functionality inside of a iPhone app. These guys have done a great job compared to most

Magic 8 Ball:

its is simple as it sounds, settles disputes, helps pick up women, taunts younger siblings predicts the future all in one handy shake em up iPhone app.

NewsNetwire:

I’ve recently been put onto this as an rss reader. however its main cool thing that it does is syncs what you’ve read from your iPhone to your mac (yes i use mac). I’ve always been annoyed that you’ve got either one side or the other showing a shitload of feeds as unread when you’ve read them elsewhere. BAM and the problem is solved!

PacMan:

an oldskool fave of mine which was destined to make the list. I still suck at this game as much as i did back when it was an arcade game (actually i think i have gotten worse). It’s still one the most recognised games out there and everyone wants a turn. It’s one of those apps that i like to pull out if i want to convince someone to buy an iPhone (that and google maps).

So what apps am I missing? which ones should i know about? leave me a comment

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