Life without Sushi

This entry was originally posted on LBG’s Living INside Out blog in the end of February. I need to repost it here because it’s so intimately personal.  I’ve spent the month of March pondering to Vegan or not to Vegan. I am still wavering, but April will be the start of my 3rd vegan challenge.

Since attending IIN, each year in March/April I do a 30 Day Vegan challenge. I usually do it with my 2 other healthy chicks, from 3 Healthy Chicks, Jill and Lauren (we all met at IIN). It’s not really much of a challenge for them considering they’re 100% and 99% vegan respectively.  I guess I just need the support system. Don’t we all?

A vegan challenge is pretty straight forward, 30 days, no eggs, meat or diary products.  The meat thing is usually no biggie as far as my cravings are concerned, The challenge is in the husband-guilt; he loves to cook and I feel bad not eating his food. I kicked my cheese addiction after my first vegan challenge 3 years ago. I’ve been feeling a little funky about eggs these days, so I don’t think they will be as much of a problem. I may have trouble kicking my mistress yogurt out of bed.  She’s my breakfast at least 3 times a week:

So why am I blogging about food, diet, and healthy challenges on the Living INside Out blog instead of the 3 Healthy Chicks Keeping it Jersey Fresh Blog?  Really, it could be blogged either place. But I’m writing about it here because this time around the challenge has more to do with my spiritual practice than merely(?) a health practice.

Since I let it all out in Getting a Running Start last week, I’ve continued to be introspective about my yoga and spirituality. (The funny thing is, I haven’t talked to a single friend about this, not even my business wife, Nancy, but here I am blurting it out in a blog). A cyclone of questions have been coming up.

Can you grow spiritually while continuing to eat meat and dairy? There may be sustainable options but are there truly cruelty free options?  If you’re in love with a certain style of yoga, which has veganism as a tenant, can  you truly be a practitioner of the style if you’re not vegan? Yogis in India eat meat, just not cow. They also eat dairy. Does it really matter? Could I actually live the rest of my life without eating sushi again? Without a brie and apple sandwich with honey mustard? Without a scrambled egg and kale wrap? Why are all the questions so self centered? Isn’t there a bigger picture?

It’s a crazy-lot of big questions. Ones that I don’t have the answers to.  If I ask 10 people, I am sure to get 10 different answers. So ultimately it’s up to me to go inside and find my guide. So yet again, I am embarking on a 30 day Vegan Challenge. This time, I’m approaching it differently. It’s not about health or “diet” or weight loss. This time it’s much more. This time it’s about spirituality and it’s about energy. Not the kind of energy you get after you drink a green juice and want to run a 5k, but the energy of living beings.  I want to dig into my own spirituality and see if being meat and diary free makes a difference to me.

Since today is Ash Wednesday and Catholics all over the world are fasting and giving up something in the name of their own beliefs, I’ve decided to start my Vegan Journey today.  I am not calling it a Vegan Challenge anymore because this time it’s not about the physical. This time it is about the spiritual. I think a spiritual journey is going to be more rocky than a physical challenge.  I am going to need all the help and support I can get. I’ll be reaching out to a few vegan guru friends,  fellow 3 Healthy Chick, Lauren, INspiration Nation blogger, Carolyn and my friend Kristy, vegan mom extraordinaire. I’m also looking for guidance from some I-wish-we-were-more-than-facebook-friends; Crazy, Sexy, Kris Carr and Senior Jivamukti Teacher, Kelly Morris.

I don’t know what’s going to transpire, but I am curious to find out.  What about you beautiful beings out there? What do you think about veganism and spirituality? Vegetarianism and yoga? Does it make a difference in your physical practice? Your spiritual practice? Your energy?  I want to know. Help me figure it all out! 🙂