Veggie Man

Shawn used to be so Yin to my Yang. For years, he was a manly man, Fred Flintstone, Atkins Diet meat, fat and protein eating garbage disposal machine. I would load up the house with pot roast, steak, chicken, salami, pastrami, pepperoni, Boar's Head turkey (whatever non-honey or non-barbecue coated flavor was on sale at Fry's), chicken salad, parmesan, romano, mozzarella, bleu cheese crumbles and, occasionally, some spinach. Spinach was the only fruit or vegetable he ate for years. He lost a ton of weight eating this way and has kept it off. Back when he started he even had a haircut that sort of looked like a portobello mushroom but that had to go - too carb-like. I was so grossed out most days as a vegetarian (except for fish, but pescatarian just sounds so weird, doesn't it? ) and even got to the point when I could no longer buy uncooked meat, but I was still really proud of him. He was committed. He rarely cheated. There was one problem, though. Since he never ate any fiber (even though Dr. Atkins recommended several "safe" options) he went through tons of what I lovingly referred to as "Colon Blow"- a pretty white and green bottle full of capsules to help things move along, you know. I would stock up to limit my exposure to embarrassment, but usually that just backfired, resulting in numerous conversations about flax seed and other natural remedies with my flower-shirted friends at Trader Joe's. Anyway, Shawn finally got sick of it all. Maybe Dr. Everythingwillbealright even realized that this may not be the way to a healthy long life after all. So, for two whole weeks now, he has been on my team. He's suddenly off all meat. He's been steaming and sautéing and chopping and blanching like crazy. He's been ordering all kinds of new things at the Thai, Indian and Chinese places we frequent, even doing okay with salads and fruit and cheese plates brought in from the yummy ladies-who-lunch Arcadia Farms joint a couple of times a week. We haven't been to old Sunday night dinner faves Houston's or Village Tavern since the switch, that might just push him over the edge, but for now, things are good. No more Colon Blow, no more drippy raw chicken in my fridge and he's even said he lost a pound or two.

Rock on, Veggie Man.