We're halfway through our month of less meat and the GOOD staff has already learned to embrace its inner herbivore.
Things are easier said than done, or so the old adage goes, and we couldn't agree more. That's why we do The GOOD 30-Day Challenge (#30DaysofGOOD), a monthly attempt to live better. Our challenge for June? Go vegetarian.
We're now halfway through our June GOOD challenge, an attempt to eat less meat, and things around the GOOD offices are going much better than they were last month. In May we tried to drive less and ended up failing miserably. But a demoralizing defeat might have been just what we needed, as going vegetarian, for the most part, has been going swimmingly.
Not everyone committed to going completely vegetarian, but about 20 staffers pledged to at least try and cut down on their meat consumption. Two weeks later I'm happy to report that the only person who's dropped out of the challenge did so for health reasons. Everyone else, be they pescetarian, "weekday vegetarian," "vegetarian when not in Hawaii," or vegan, has stayed with it and done remarkably well. Some people even sound like they're enjoying it.
"So far it's been incredibly easy," says Senior Product Manager Jack Lyon, who ate meat "fairly regularly" prior to the challenge. "Not eating steak or chicken or whatever has been effortless." He adds, "I don't think I'll ever go full vegetarian, but I do think the net effect of this experiment is that I'll probably end up eating a lot less meat, because I've been reminded how awesome vegetarian dishes can be."
Senior Operations Manager Cara Kitagawa-Sellers said she hadn't planned on participating in the challenge until she realized three days into it that she hadn't had any meat. She then decided to go full vegetarian and, save for an accidental sip of beef broth, hasn't had meat in a couple weeks. "It hasn't really been difficult at all," she says. Though she does miss Jell-O.
As for me, having been a vegetarian for seven years already, I decided to become a strict vegan. I guiltily ate a cheese sandwich last Sunday in a moment of hungover weakness, but I've since climbed back on the wagon and not consumed a single animal product. Only Executive Editor Ann Friedman has remained totally vegan thus far in June, a fact she'll not let me forget.
Tell us how your GOOD challenge month has been going either in the comments or via Twitter using the hashtag #30DaysofGOOD.
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