Well, I did it. Thirty days came and went without a morsel of meat passing my lips. As I mentioned before, there were times when my will power was tested, but for the most part, it was easy.

I can’t really say I feel that different. My brother said he noticed a change in my skin but I’m not sure I see it. (Perhaps I actually washed my face that day….) I might be less bloated but again, not really sure. I think this experiment was more to see if I could do it. And I did.

Many have said to me, “I couldn’t do that.” To which I always reply, “You can do anything for 30 days.” Which is so true. In the grand scheme of things, 30 days is a blip on the radar.

That got me thinking, as a person who isn’t the best at fulfilling goals for herself, if I can just look at these hurdles in 30 day increments I could do anything!

Not eat candy for 30 days? Sure. Take a walk 4 times a week for 30 days? Easy. Train for the 2014 Winter Olympics for 30 days? Well….

Recently I got some health news that has me a bit shaken. I’m OK but not quite ready to talk about it here. (Although if you follow @princessmikkimo you’re in the know.) I’m sure in due time I’ll blog about it as this little corner of Cyber space has become such a cathartic outlet for me. But right now I need to get my legs underneath me and more information.

One thing I do know, I’ll definitely be using my new, “Just for 30 days…” mantra now and every 30 days for a long time to come.

As for the vegetarianism, I’m going to stick with it. Maybe not with as much vigor as before but if I have a choice between a meal with meat in it and one without, I’ll pick the one without.

Last night, for example, we actually walked through Chili’s doors again. This time, on their menu was now a vegetarian soup and the infamous Black Bean burger that wasn’t there last month. With a smile, I ordered the black bean burger and it was good.

It even tasted like a little bit like victory.

Since I did everything aside from marching right into Chili’s headquarters and bonking them on the head with their new menu, lo and behold they got back to me!  Not only that but now they have added their vegetarian menu download right on the menu page.

The truth is the woman I have been communicating with from Chili’s corporate is really quite lovely.  She has been very funny and responsive.  (Notice how “funny” gets the headliner over “responsive”? We know what’s important in my book) This little experience made me realize that we are all just trying to do our best, right?  Although I don’t regret getting on my vegetarian soapbox and calling Chili’s out on their lack of meat-free choices, I also realized, as with everything in life, if I don’t like it I can just think my thoughts and move along.

Before I hitch my wagons get along little doggy, I wanted to give Chili’s their time in the Princess Mikkimoto sun.  So without further ago (or more terrible cliches)

From K @ Chili’s…

I did want you to know that we do hear you and understand your frustrations with the limited vegetarian menu at Chili’s. We do try our best to create choices for everyone – but it is hard to please all diets, lifestyles, etc… We do actually have vegetarian choices on the menu (Black Bean Burger is the most popular) and it isn’t putting any server or cook out to ask for other options. In fact, we hope you ask! We want people to get what they want. We encourage you to ask, modify or do whatever you want to get what you want. And we do even have a “meat-free” soup, but depending on the restaurant/location, some soups are not actually on the menu – they are considered soup of the day. Those are either noted at the front or your server can tell you the options. The reason – simply to regionalize the offerings. Each restaurant may have soups that do better than in other areas. So we let them make the call. The downside, its not always listed.

We did change up our menu recently where our Guiltless items are spread throughout the menu and that includes some of our vegetarian options. Sorry if those weren’t clear. We are taking the feedback in and seeing if there are some places for improvement. But that is what happens when we change stuff up.

And we do have all of our vegetarian, allergen and nutritional info on our website if you ever need anything. Most restaurants have this info in-store as well, but sometimes you do have to ask for it. I know that is not as visibly accessible, but we try to make it available in places where people are researching their options.

Usually, once your inside, it’s better to ask your server. They should know what they have available at that location and what alternatives they can get you. Like I said, some locations have regional menus and some are even franchised and have more variations.

I hope this gives you a little understanding and tips when dining out. If you have any questions, please let me know… Thank you!

So there you have it.  Like I said I appreciate the concerted effort on Chili’s part and who knows what the future will bring.  Perhaps one day I will walk through those red pepper doors and enjoy a black bean burger, Chili’s style.

In between being so busy watching my laundry pile grow and ignoring Wordless Wednesday, I wanted to fill you in on my progress as a Herbivore. It’s been exactly a week and so far so good.

Sure there have been some tempting moments but for the most part, I haven’t missed meat. Being a vegetarian again is like riding a bike… except I’m eating not exercising.

One of the hardest times was last Friday when Matt, Ben and I were over at a friend’s house having pizza. They had a veggie one, (not just for me) one piled with meat and one with cheese. Without thinking I almost just grabbed a piece of sausage that had fallen onto the pizza box. (Because I’m classy like that. When would you like to have me over?) But amazingly I actually THOUGHT before I grabbed the cheesy gooey piece of meat and stopped myself.

The other near miss was my now this infamous trip to Chili’s last Saturday. Who knew there were so many defenders of those crazy peppers? I guess being vegetarian means I also have to be psychic and therefore know that Chili’s has a secret and invisible meat free menu.

Since my psychic powers weren’t working that day, I came close to saying, “Oh screw it!” and ordering the “Seasoned Ground Beef” tacos since everything else had chicken or beef as the main ingredient.  But once again, I showed restraint and thought for more than a nanosecond. I realized this gig is only for 30 days and for the love of a tomato, I can have SOME self control for 30 days.

Because honestly, that’s what this is really all about. Yes I want to see how I feel after 30 days of no meat but I also want to see if my will power can be stronger than that of a flea! I’m the girl who wakes up in the morning saying “No sugar today! No sir!” and then grab a doughnut on my way into work while saying “Eh, I’ll try again tomorrow.” So it feels good to have something I can actually stick to.

As far as how I feel after a week with nary a piece of animal flesh passing by my lips? I don’t think I’ve lost any weight since unfortunately Twix bars and Sour Cream & Onion potato chips are meat free, but I definitely feel less bloated and gassy. (It’s truly a wonder I was single for so long. Matt is a lucky lucky man)

For the past month or two I experienced a stomach ache in the morning. That is now gone. My nails seem to be stronger too but that could be my religious application of my “Green Tea nail strengthener” more than skipping the steak in my Chipotle taco.

I haven’t noticed a real difference in my skin. Unless you call the zit on the very tip of my nose an improvement. This sucker gives Rudolph a run for his money.

In addition, since I went to this meat-free lifestyle the “check engine” light came on in my car and I have a toothache. So really, who knows.

Regardless I’m charging ahead and celebrating the beginning of week two by chugging a big glass of V8 and swallowing my B-12 vitamin that’s so large it would make a Clydesdale gag. Bottoms up!

Dear Chili’s,

On Saturday January 30th my boyfriend, son and I chose your restaurant to dine in.  We had many choices that evening but specifically chose YOUR establishment.  (This information will come in handy later).

Our first (this is foreshadowing…) disappointment was that you no longer offer the “2 for $20″ special.  We got over that piece of bad news and carried on like champs.  But you should really recondisder bringing that deal back. It was a good one. 

The second disappointment was your new menu.  You see Chili’s, about a week ago I decided to no longer have meat in my diet.  I would happily go into the reasons why I chose this way of eating but something tells me you won’t really care.  Some like to call leaving meat out of their diet being a vegetarian.  Ever heard of that?  Apparently not since as I looked and looked at your new menu, I noticed you HAVE NOTHING VEGETARIAN on there.  Seriously, NO. THING! 

I asked my boyfriend, “Hey, do you see anything that I’m missing?  Everything on here has meat doesn’t it?”  To which he replied, “They have salads.”  Me: “All with meat.”  Him: “Well what about soup?”  Me: “THEY ALL HAVE MEAT!” 

In case you guys are too busy killing cows and chickens to buy a calendar, it’s currently 2010, not 1943.  People of my kind are plentiful.  In fact in Madison WI, we are everywhere. Damn Hippies!  Rumor has it there are even people who don’t eat CHEESE! OR EGGS! OR MILK!  You might want to look it up.  Just sayin’…

Because I am a good mother and girlfriend and have a New Years Resolution to not throw fits in public, I ordered a side salad and french fries.   It was a very sad and boring sorry excuse for a meal.

After our dinner I said to our very nice waiter, “Excuse me, do you realize you guys have no vegetarian options on your menu?”  He smiled and said “Yeah sorry.  There isn’t much.  But there is a Black Bean burger.”  I looked at him confused as did my boyfriend.  We picked up the menu on our table and showed him that in fact there was no Black Bean burger on the menu.  “Weird,”  he replied.  ”Well there is a Sweet Corn soup that has no meat in it.”  Again we proved him wrong.  No corn soup on the menu.   Clearly even your servers aren’t aware of your fabulous new menu.

So dear Chili’s, even though you were once a favorite of ours, we will not be returning.   You have the choice to not put vegetarian options on your menu and I have the choice to not be your customer.  

Also you should also know I am one of those annoying “Mommy Bloggers” and I will be cuting and pasting this letter on my website.   I’d be thrilled to post your reply to my site too if you are so inclined to write little ol me back. 

Until then Chili’s, you can keep your Baby back Baby back Baby back ribs and stick ‘em where the sun don’t shine.

Veggie love from me to you,

Becky princessmikkimoto@gmail.com

**I tried to send this letter to Chili’s via email. They have no email address on their website. I tried to fill out the form on their contact page but after many attempts it never was submitted.  So my only hope was to direct the link to this post on Twitter and their Facebook page.  Customer service fail… again.

Wednesday night I stayed up to watch my girl Oprah. I have to get in as much O before she leaves me in 2011.

She was doing a show called Food 101 in which she talked about what America is really eating these days.  They discussed how horrible the animals are treated (some chickens NEVER see any light. Ever. In their whole little lives!) and how chickens, cows and pigs are raised in the US with so many antibiotics pumped into them they are in turn being pumped into us.

“A prime example of this is chicken—an animal Michael (Pollan) says has been re-engineered through breeding and diet to produce the breast meat consumers want. Compared to 50 years ago, chickens are now raised and slaughtered in half the time and grow twice as big.”

None of this is a secret to people like my brother and sister-in-law who have been vegans for years.  And I know I’ve heard this information myself before but the reminder last night really woke me up.

After Michael Pollan (a food expert featured in Food, Inc. and the author of “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual”) Oprah had Alicia Silverstone talk about her vegan diet.  Don’t worry Mom and Dad, I’m not going vegan but just listening to Alicia got me thinking. She explained that after going vegan…

“she sleeps like a baby, doesn’t worry about her weight and has tons of energy. ‘I used to have all those white marks on my nails and they were very brittle, and now they’re so strong I cannot bend them,’ she says. ‘My eyes got really white, and I feel like I look less puffy.’

Strong nails and a less puffy face without having to take a magic pill?  SIGN ME UP!  I can’t possibly go vegan as I need milk, cheese and yogurt like Heidi Montag needs plastic surgery, but I am going to give up the meat. For 30 days.  And see how I feel.

Before I had Ben, I was a strict vegetarian for seven years.  No fish, chicken, or even chicken stock crossed my lips.  However, the minute Ben was more than just a twinkle in my eye, the caveman was ignited and I was dying for meat.

I was out to lunch with a friend to tell her I was pregnant when the waiter came up I said to my friend “I’m pregnant.” and to the waiter, “I’ll have the chicken tenders.”  She was more surprised that I ordered chicken than the fact that I was pregnant.  And single.

Therefore dear Internet, today begins my Vegetarian Journey, which lucky for you, you’ll be along for the ride.  If after 30 days I feel no different then I will eat, breathe and bathe in bacon for the next 30 days.  (I miss you already Bacon!)

However, if I feel healthier, less gassy (don’t pretend you don’t know what a good blue cheese burger does to you…) with better skin and more energy, I’ll be saying goodbye to the meat for good.

Damn you, Oprah. Between this and my pledge to never again text while driving, I’m turning into one healthy buzz kill.

So help me lady, if you air a show about how wine makes you grow another nose, well then bring on the extra Kleenex while I uncork my bottle of Chardonnay.