Well well well, I never thought I'd be a vegetarian. I like eating meat and fish, who doesn't? (Except the vegans. 😄) However I have a serious enough health problem that needs to be addressed.

At first I just tried drinking Sambong tea (Blumea balsamifera, one of our native medicinal plants). I bought a pack and boiled it to drink twice a day. However when I was already drinking it, I thought it's not enough.

Eventually someone online told me about another natural medicine. I bought that natural cream/alternative cure to help reverse this illness. Aside from applying it to the skin, one must change the diet too. The user has to avoid eating meat, anything sugary and malansa (fishy or kinda foul smelling or something) while using it. That includes eggs.

At first I didn't want to do it at all. I thought, hey I should still eat like I do! However after a few days of applying the cream and drinking the tea, I decided otherwise. There's nothing wrong if I do it anyway, right? I'm the one who will benefit from this.

_{Clockwise from top left: Boiled Malunggay leaves, Langka fruit, turmeric rice w/ adobong Kangkong, sambong tea, sambong leaves, Kaymito (star apple), fried langka seeds, Indian mango.}

And so because it's also the Lenten Season, I decided to finally try becoming vegetarian. I bought some vegetables and fruits and thought I could suddenly go cold turkey on meat. Turns out I can't do it at all. 😆 For some reason I always feel hungry if I don't eat anything with meat and rice.

Haha, I dunno why I also stopped eating rice when I ate only veggies and fruits. Anyway I am back to eating rice again plus some meat too! It's too sad to feel hungry all the time you know. I don't want to lose weight, I just want to get rid of the health problem I have. Hopefully it will disappear after two months of doing this.

So that's how I am now eating very little meat just once a day. I might eat fish but as little as possible. For now I am really just eating more fruits, legumes, tubers and veggies plus nuts. It's been a week since I started and I'm almost getting used to this.

🤔 What Do I Eat Now?

When I abruptly started this, I had no idea how to be a vegetarian. I didn't do any online search or watch any video tutorials at all. How hard can not eating meat, fish, seafood, eggs and dairy, etc., be, right? 😆 Hah, turns out it's one of those easier said than done.

For one day I tried not eating any kind of meat and boy I felt like I was on a super strict diet. Yeah okay maybe I am but I'm not doing this to lose weight you know. Food is love, why would I starve myself? Something was definitely wrong with me eating just fruits, nuts and vegetables. It felt like I was unjustly starving myself. 😤

Even if it's Lent, I cannot fully give up meat at all. And so I decided to eat at least one full meal a day with any kind of meat. When I started doing this I felt way better than before. That "always starving" feeling disappeared. haha.

👉 Apparently I'm Now a Flexitarian

Yep, yesterday I just started checking what's the difference between Vegan and Vegetarian. That's how I found out the term for semi-vegetarians like me. Hehe.

Since a week ago I've been eating more vegetables, nuts, tubers and fruits than I used to. I don't know if there's any major change in my body yet... 🤔 The only thing I notice is my poop doesn't smell bad at all. And I think I even poop twice a day sometimes, probably from all the fiber I'm eating. 😂

I rarely bought fruits before, just bananas sometimes. As for green leafy veggies, I only bought them occasionally but it's not the majority of what I ate. All that has changed now. Haha.

Do you wanna know what exactly I've been eating lately? See below.

🍌 What Meal Plan?

I don't have any kind of weekly menu. All I do is cook the food I bought from the wet market last week. It should all be good for a whole week. There's even some instant oats. Haha. Maybe I should buy some milk, I dunno.

My goodness. I don't want to bother with making a meal plan. Whichever vegetable, tuber, whatever needs to be cooked, that's what I cook on that day. If being a flexitarian doesn't do me any good then I dunno what else to do.

To give you an idea what I've been eating... Yesterday this was what I ate:

Breakfast:

• 1 Indian mango, unpeeled
• Some Guyabano (Soursop)
• 3 pcs Langka (Jackfruit)
• 1 Latundan banana
• Boiled Malunggay (Moringa Oleifera) with sambong leaves (from the tea I made the other day).
• Sambong (Blumea balsamifera) & Malunggay tea, some time after the meal
  
  

Lunch:

• 1 1/2 cup turmeric rice
• Monggo w/ Sigarilyas (Mung beans w/ Winged Beans)

Snacks:

• 1 small sweet potato
• 1 Indian mango, unpeeled
• Some fried jackfruit seeds
• Sambong tea

Dinner:

• 1 cup Turmeric Rice w/ sliced tomato
• Adobong Kangkong (Water Spinach)
• 1 teaspoon of leftover boiled dulong (silver fish)

What do you think, is it flexitarian enough or still too vegetarian? 😆 The other day I ate a bit of chicken and pork for lunch. Good thing I am always at home so I don't need to spend too much energy.

🤔 What Now?

Actually I never planned on writing about this. I just thought I should make a blog about it. Haha. Doing this makes me feel like I will grow some roots soon enough. 😂

It's my first time to really be a flexitarian. Nobody in my family have done this. Well, I have a cousin who was once a vegetarian but eventually started eating meat again after a few years of that.

I plan to just do this for 2 months. This is my version of Lenten fasting. I have never done the water fasting or Muslim Ramadan fasting at all so perhaps this is enough for me. Food is life. Haha. (Of course I cheat for a little bit sometimes too.)

If my health condition does not improve after the said timeframe I might extend it, but let's see. I'll cross the bridge when I get there.

How about you? Have you ever been a vegetarian, vegan or flexitarian? Maybe you have some advice or tips to share. 😅


XOXO,
@artgirl

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