{"id":1216,"date":"2016-02-16T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/?p=1216"},"modified":"2016-02-20T16:42:44","modified_gmt":"2016-02-20T21:42:44","slug":"wasting-away-again-in-dallabridaville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/2016\/02\/16\/wasting-away-again-in-dallabridaville\/","title":{"rendered":"Wasting away again in Dallabridaville"},"content":{"rendered":"

Midway through February, Veganuary<\/a> is so over. But it is not a distant memory.<\/p>\n

People ask me: What did I learn from a month without refined sugar, alcohol and meat of any kind? Do I feel different? And what did I eat and drink when it was all over?<\/p>\n

The last question is the easiest. I went to Eighth and Union<\/a> Kitchen in Wilmington with a few friends, intent on ordering wine and some sort of non-plant-based protein.<\/p>\n

\"Unknown-2\"<\/a>Before the main course, we ordered appetizers to share, among them a plate of spicy cauliflower. Along with a few florets of cauliflower, I picked up a small, dense cube with my chopsticks, hoping for a nibble of cheese.<\/p>\n

But instead of a dairy product stolen from an exploited cow, I tucked into tofu, the much-loathed bean curd that was my culinary nemesis throughout Veganuary. Yes, TOFU. (TO, pronounced “TOW,” and FU as in “F-U, lady! Take that, you carnivore!”)<\/p>\n

My first foray into flesh and booze was a nicely grilled salmon served with a glass of pinot noir. Make that two glasses.<\/p>\n

The sole physical difference I perceived after a month-long cleanse was that I lost four pounds. Weight loss was not one of my goals, but I’m OK with it. Since then I’ve lost two more pounds, likely because I gave up sweets for Lent. (Although it could be argued that I should have gotten 31 days’ credit for Veganuary.)<\/p>\n

I also saved money. Tofu costs about $1.50 a pound, about one-third the price of fish and one-quarter the cost of beef. My wine and spirits tab was zero. And since I am firmly off the wagon, I’ve enjoyed several rounds on friends who had waited an entire month to buy me a drink.<\/p>\n

So what did I get out of giving up things I enjoy for a month? I truly believe that challenges are good for us. That setting a goal and sticking to it is an exercise in character building. It’s also helped me to recalibrate. I’m more thoughtful about what I eat and drink. I’m consuming far less sugar, meat only sparingly and a little less wine.<\/p>\n

Veganuary reminds me of the great wit Dorothy Parker’s observation on writing: “I hate writing. I love having written.”<\/p>\n

I hate Veganuary. I love having Veganuary-ed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Midway through February, Veganuary is so over. But it is not a distant memory. People ask me: What did I learn from a month without refined sugar, alcohol and meat of any kind? Do I feel different? And what did … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31,32],"tags":[639,83,638,640,537,82],"class_list":["post-1216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eat","category-shop","tag-eighth-and-union","tag-pinot-noir","tag-salmon","tag-tofu","tag-veganuary","tag-wine"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2zjZK-jC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1216"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1221,"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions\/1221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithreports.com\/eatshopgo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}