Monstahlicious, the Real World, and what it means to be all in

Being all in means putting yourself out there. This week, Monstahlicious is my all-in inspiration. Check out the rest of his videos on his youtube channel!

Monstahlicious in The Real World:

All In for Pescetarianism

One month and one PETA video ago (if you want me to sympathize for a cause, show me a video--I'm a total sucker for the visual) I decided to go pescetarian. (It really should be vegetarian, but I'm not ready to make the leap away from sushi quite yet). I've been toying with the idea for years, but lacked the gumption to actually make the change. As it turns out, this veggie/fish thing isn't as hard (so far) as I thought it would be. Granted meat has plagued a few of my dreams, but on a day to day basis choosing the veggie option yielded little resistance.

What helps?

Full Buy-In

This is a lifestyle change I want to make for several reasons. First, I am bothered by the unethical treatment of animals and am uncertain about how I feel about raising a living being for the purpose of food. Second, for me it seems like a healthy option. I know it's not for everyone-- some people feel better after eating meat and getting that protein and iron in their system. But for me, I'm discovering that I can live just fine without meat based protein and iron.

Support

I'm lucky to have family, friends, and a partner who support me in all areas of life including my relationship to food. A good portion of my friends are vegetarian, so veggie options in social situations are usually abound. It also means they know great recipes for the veggie crowd which I will be trying and posting as time goes on.

Challenge:

A couple night's ago, a meat loving friend came over for dinner, so we cooked up some burgers. It's tough when your partner is great in the kitchen, and adds delicious looking ingredients (onions, homemade bbq sauce, garlic) to the halal beef burgers he was baking (yes baking, not frying) , while I flipped my veggie burger on the skillet. From the drooling and multiple helpings of the meat eaters it was plain to see that on the deliciousness scale, the meat version won. That said, I woke up the next day knowing that I stuck to my guns.

It's been a month now and I feel pretty darned good, not just about removing land-based meat from my diet, but ultimately about sticking to a conviction. I went all in, I'm still all in, and man, is it ever worth it.