Becoming Pescetarian

As of April 26, I am a full blown pescetarian. I never really thought I would be one of those people to put eating restrictions like this on myself because I typically love steak and chicken and pork and bacon and all of it, really. My stomach, however, does not. The effect of eating livestock and poultry has been cramping and nausea at the worst of times. Very rarely did I get out of a meal without side effects.

So here I am, eliminating it from my diet. The good news is that I’m living on the Delmarva peninsula, surrounded on three sides by fertile fishing and crabbing ground. The bad news is that I am really going to miss chicken wings. Still, I am sure this change of diet will be good for me.

Not only have I had a lot of stomach trouble the last few years, but my weight has steadily climbed without reaching a plateau. Maybe my diet is less to blame than factors like exercise and medication, but it IS part of the equation. Cutting out red meat and poultry will force the focus of my diet more on healthier proteins like fish and meat substitutes like tofu (which I have learned to love lately).

I have been a lazy pescetarian for the last month or so to see if it had any real effect on how I felt. I have decided that it has. So I am entering a new chapter of my life both as a home cook and an eater-- no meat. The strangest part is how different my grocery cart looks at the end of the trip. I have never bought so many veggies at one time in my life.

What this means for Eating Normal is that the recipes and the food featured from restaurants will change. You’ll see more fish and more vegetarian options here. We started trending toward this the last tme I was active, featuring one vegetarian meal a month for the failed Cookbook of the Month (which is coming back).

Here’s to a healthier me!

​