Turning-Over-A-New-Leaf Tuesdays (#4)

I'm working through my fourth week of being a vegetarian and I'm loving it! I feel great and have kind of enjoyed the challenge of finding recipes and planning meals to be healthy while also staying meatless. My doctor was intrigued about my decision to just become vegetarian at 27 weeks pregnant but said he has lots of patients who are pregnant and vegetarian.

This week I attempted to turn over a new leaf by cooking dried beans!!! I usually buy canned beans but you can get way more beans for less money if you buy them dried and there's less waste. Did you notice I said "attempted"? I did actually buy and cook the beans...but I opted for the "quick" version and they didn't really cook up just right. They are kind of hard, well, way hard compared to canned beans. I'm not giving up though. I cooked black beans this time but I have another bag of some speckled beans so I'll try those and do the slower version next time! I've always been scared of the dried beans but it doesn't seem that hard...even though I messed them up. I will prevail...at some point!

Turning-Over-A-New-Leaf Tuesdays (#3 Follow Up)

Okay, here's the pic, in all it's cheesiness:

I think with the long shirt it looks okay actually. I do feel like this is turning over a new leaf for me. It makes such a difference to wear something new or cute (and OMG, comfortable!) once in a while. It does make me feel refreshed.

I'm still not sure which shoes to wear, I have black flats, or brown strappy sandals...I've decided to take both to work and switch off!!!

Turning-Over-A-New-Leaf Tuesdays (#3)

Well, this week's turning over a new leaf is actually completely random, but for me it counts as turning over a new leaf. It kind of relates to being healthy in the sense that I'm trying a new look and I'm kind of excited by it and it'll be a healthy mental refresher for me. Today was a beautiful day. I am so excited for the weather to be warming up that I wore a skirt. But tomorrow, I have decided to wear {drum roll, please} leggings.

I know it's random and weird but I am so not a legging girl and I have not bought into the whole legging fad that's been trending for a while now. Tomorrow is the day. (Let's just see if I don't completely wimp out.) I haven't decided which shoes go best with my outfit but the rest of the outfit is planned....I guess I should have worn it today since it's Tuesday...but I just realized right now I was going to make the leap into leggings. It's definitely turning over a new leaf for me. I honestly can't remember the last time I wore leggings...hmm....I guess I did have a pair I wore when I went running a few years ago, but before that it might have been those ones with the loops on the bottom for your feet, the stirrups? Yeah, that long ago. I'll post a picture in the morning if I'm still brave enough at that point!!! This is definitely outside of my box...I'll probably have nightmares about it tonight...

Turning-Over-A-New-Leaf Tuesdays (#2)

Last week I switched from cow's milk to soy milk. So far it hasn't been a problem...although I've just limited it to the milk I drink...I haven't given up ice cream yet. Baby steps. That's my motto.

This week I've decided to switch from being an omnivore to being a vegetarian. I actually started two Fridays ago and it's been a little bit tricky, but overall, not that bad. I thought it would be hard for me to find meals I would like and that would still be healthy for m but I'm doing okay so far. I've tried the MorningStar version of ground beef once, we made stuffed green peppers with that mixed in with brown rice, tomatoes, and shredded cheese. It was awesome. It was really hard to even tell the difference. Last night we had dinner at Big Bowl and I loaded up a bowl full of vegetables that they cooked up for me with brown rice and tofu. That was really good, too! I'm being conscious of trying to make sure I'm getting iron and protein by eating lots of fruits, veggies, and grains.

I have to say I feel super healthy. I completely feel like I have more energy. I wake up rested and ready to go and my body just feels happier. I'm loving it. After reading Eating Animals I have no problem wanting to switch to a vegetarian lifestyle. I feel good morally and physically.

I haven't convinced Chad to switch to being vegetarian yet...although I have influenced him to give up meat for a few meals and that's make a difference. The other day on the radio we heard that Carrie Underwood is a vegetarian and that add a little more fuel to his fire. (The guy loves Carrie Underwood...she's on his "list".)

On the menu tonight we're having chicken taco pizza (made with MorningStar pretend chicken strips)!

Turning-Over-A-New-Leaf Tuesdays

I'm starting a blog series!!! I have never done this before but I'm excited! If you've read my recent blog posts or tweets, you can tell I'm on a health kick lately. I'm excited by it and I'm feeling that it's worthy of sharing.

I've been on a health kick in terms of my own body and also in terms of keeping the environment healthy. Turn Over A New Leaf Tuesdays has stemmed (ha!) from my car actually. I bought a hybrid in November and have become more efficient in my driving so that I'm averaging 47 miles per gallon for every tank of gas. It's amazing. When I first started driving me car it was like a game, the monitor gave me one little, measily leaf to show how efficient I was driving. I had to try and drive more and more efficient to slowly earn more and more leaves. I remember telling Chad how motivating it was for me (albeit somewhat stressful...) and I recently made it to full leaves! It feels great.

Today I turned over a new leaf in my life...I officially have given up cow's milk and made the switch to soy milk. Technically, I bought the soy milk over the weekend at the grocery store...but today was the first day I had soy milk on my cereal. AND, it was good! I noticed the difference on my first bite, but after that it was like drinking regular milk on my cereal. That was the test, and now I'm officially a soy milk girl.

When you hear me ordering my favorite

warm drink at Starbucks you'll hear,

"Can I have a grande decaf

white chocolate mocha

with soy no whip, please?"

My goals for now are to start slowly, to make little changes, baby steps. I don't think I could survive a drastic life-switch but these little steps seem like big accomplishments to me. I'm not going to go into too much detail about why I'm switching to soy milk...I don't want to have to back up what I'm doing or make anyone feel like they need to switch, too. Please e-mail me if you are wondering more though and I'd be happy to chat! Also, please share if you've tried anything new lately...how did it go????