If you could think of the worst time of the year to give up meat, what would it be?  Early summer before all of the cook outs?  What about before an annual fish fry?  Or…How about a couple weeks before Thanksgiving?  Well, that’s what I’ve done.  And actually, it’s not awful.

A few weeks ago I started watching a few YouTube videos and found myself watching Gary Yourofsky’s “Best Speech Ever”.  I heard him talk.  Cried for half an hour and decided I couldn’t eat animal products.  Then I cried for another half an hour when I realized we hadn’t had dinner yet and I had no idea what to make.  I was internally freaking out.

I declared it a “snacking” dinner.  We just got a bunch of small things and called it good.  I think had a bagel and some grapes.  Not an awesome meal, but I realized there are things available that really don’t include meat or animal products.

The next day I dug in with research.  I watch lots of YouTube “what I eat in a day vegan” videos, read blogs, poured through recipes.  I went to the store and came home with a trunk load of vegetables, some Earth Balance (amazing vegan butter substitute), bread and pitas.  I joined a couple Facebook support groups, listened to podcasts and found some helpful iPhone apps.  I tried some new recipes, then some others.  I started to experiment with tofu, tempeh, vegan cheeses, agave, and nutritional yeast (or “nooch” as the cool kids call it).

I started to feel absolutely incredible.  My face started to noticeably clear up almost immediately.  I lost a little bit of weight.  My running didn’t suffer at all.

I’m not ready to commit to this for life, but right now life is pretty good.

Now I just need to survive Turkey Day. 🙂  I’ll keep you posted.