Blog #198: My Diet

First of all, I want to preface this post with the disclaimer that when I say my "diet," I don't mean a short-term, weight-loss oriented, restricted eating type of diet. In general, someone's diet is simply what they consume, and so in this post I will talk about my diet in that sense.

My diet has undergone some major transformations lately, from going vegetarian to cutting out gluten and trying a lot of different things in between. The diet I've settled on that makes me feel good and that I have enjoyed so far is a vegetarian, dairy free, and gluten free diet. I wrote a post about challenging myself to eat this way for a week, and even though it may not have seemed like it would be the case when I wrote that post, this actually stuck.

I've been veg/dairy-free/gluten-free for over a month now, and I've actually really come to like it. What I initially thought would be a horrible and impossible task, eating this way actually became a sort of exciting challenge and adventure. It got me more excited about cooking than I've ever been, and I found myself feeling much better after each meal.

Although it really hasn't been that long since I've adopted this diet, I feel like it's already become a part of my identity, or even a "way of life" for me. I know this sounds a little bit ridiculous, and it probably sounds even more ridiculous to those who have diets similar to mine not out of a personal choice like I do, but I still kind of feel this way. (To be honest I finally understand why vegans are always telling people they're vegan... It's kind of a big and important choice and I think people are excited to share that!)

Anyway, it's crazy, but the longer I go with this diet, the less I feel the temptation to falter on it. Even when pizza sounds really good, it doesn't even cross my mind to order Domino's, because I simply don't eat anything a pizza is made out of. Again, it's not a temporary diet, it's a way of life now. I'm vegetarian and dairy-free and gluten-free.

All that said, I don't know how this will go now that the school year has started. It was super easy to be vegetarian in India and Chicago where I went grocery shopping every week and cooked almost all of my own meals, but now that I'm forced to rely on the school cafeteria once again, maintaining this lifestyle is going to be incredibly difficult. A lot of times, it may actually end up being a less healthy option.

Virtually my only options in the cafeteria are sautéed vegetables, bananas and/or apples, a "salad bar," or cheerios (which are gluten free!) with soy milk. This is not a wide range of foods, and doesn't satisfy all my nutritional needs. Additionally, there aren't really any plant-based protein options, just animal meat. Welcome to the Midwest. Especially now that I plan on joining lacrosse, I will need a decent protein intake, and there simply aren't options for that if I'm relying solely on the caf.

So, what am I going to do? I haven't decided yet. Eating the same iceberg lettuce every day doesn't sound enjoyable, and it's not healthy either. Still, I really don't want to return to eating meat, at least at this point in my life. What I've considered is buying plant-based protein supplements to ensure I have a decent protein intake, but these are also really expensive. Plus, if I'm already paying for a meal plan at the cafeteria (which I'm forced to do), I should have healthy options available to me that don't force me to 1) eat something I don't want, or 2) pay extra for food that I can/need to eat.

I guess as the semester goes on I'll see how my dietary needs change and what I can do to make the best out of the cafeteria food. It's not something I'm looking forward to, but it's something I'll have to do nonetheless. Wish me luck!

This was my dinner the other day, to which Ally said "That salad is the saddest thing I've ever seen."