Hunger pangs

Well it’s started the cravings. I’ve been a veggie for over three weeks now and doing OK. It’s been a bit weird. At first I didn’t miss meat at all, I guess because I didn’t each much anyway. This week has been a bit harder though. A couple of times when I’ve been out training I’ve run past places cooking/frying bacon and/or sausages and the smell is really tempting (the houseboats down by the river are quite bad for this). I’ve found in the past that, when running, my sense of smell seems to get better (possibly because I am breathing in more deeply) so smelling any kind of food would make me hungry. So far though I have not given into temptation so that is good. Also I was a bit worried my favourite sandwich (the brie, tomato and rocket baguette in Eat) would turn out to be made from non-veggie brie, meaning I couldn’t eat it. Going and getting one of these for lunch is a favourite activity of mine on a Saturday when I am loading up for the big Sunday run or race. Actually, I have to confess, I forgot to check this out the first time I bought one after Christmas but thankfully, when I did, it said it was suitable for a vegetarian diet so I guess I am OK there for now, unless I go vegan.

I’ve also had to be extra careful checking things in the supermarket; many things that you wouldn’t think had animal products actually do have them. For instance, Flora ultra light margarine has pork rennet in it so I can’t have that anymore. I’ve replaced it with a soy based spread which tastes OK but actually has more fat in it (so I am trying to eat less of it). I also decided, that being a veggie, I should also stop buying leather and animal based clothes. I’ll use the ones I already have as far as I can to avoid waste but anything new will be non-animal. To this end I bought a pair of shoes from http://www.vegetarian-shoes.co.uk/. Everything this company makes is vegan standard. I’d highly recommend it. The shoes are very comfy, stylish (or at least I think they are) and a reasonable price. Customer service was also very good. They have a lot of other stuff on the site so if you get a second it’s well worth a look.