Whew. I finally got to blog. I haven’t been totally out of commission though… I’m still giving Plurk its much-needed attention 😀

For the past two months, Marc and I had been eating nothing but meat. I think the only vegetable part of our daily consumption were tomatoes. Sometimes we have lettuce, pechay, kang-kong, corn and string beans, but not on a regular basis. The experiments I did in the kitchen were mostly of beef or pork—rarely of fish.

Last week I was already getting fed up with eating meat… Somehow, I feel “unhealthier” than I used to. Receiving emails about animal slaughter and abuse (I’m subscribed to Philippine Animal Welfare Society’s mailing list) doesn’t help either—they made me more inclined not to want to eat meat. I don’t think I can go fully vegetarian, but I can cut off meat completely. Question is… Can my husband?

I haven’t been married long (we just had our first year anniversary last November), but I’m now beginning to realize how married life can also affect the little things like food preference. Between the two of us, I’m the one who cooks, and that gives me control over the food we eat 😀 But the thing is, Marc does have special food requests at times so going semi-vegan is something that we both need to decide on.

When I brought up the idea of starting to eat healthy (instead of the usual meaty menu we both prefer), he totally agreed. But the thing is, he admitted not being able to go cold turkey. Marc’s not one to handle abrupt changes like that, you see. It has to be gradual change for him. Unlike me. The total opposite.

I need to go cold turkey or I’d lapse back to my old habit. That’s how I quit smoking. I decided I wouldn’t smoke, and that was it. I never puffed or lighted a cigarette since October 26, 2007. I didn’t go through the gradual “cutting down” of weekly smoking consumption like others usually do. Because if I did, I’d just be tempted.

That’s my problem with gradual change of habits—temptation. I’d much rather take in the biological effects of withdrawal symptoms than torture myself with little doses when I used to have a lot. For me, that’s like threading in dangerous waters. I make sure to do things that I set my mind into like changing habits, but it takes every inch of my willpower to do so. I don’t think I’d be able to handle it if I didn’t go cold turkey on something I would like to eliminate.

You see the problem? Marc needs gradual change, I need to go cold turkey.

The only solution we could think of is to alternate our preference. Today he gets his meat on our main dish, while I get stuck on yesterday’s non-meat left-overs. Tomorrow it would be the other way around. There would definitely be more temptation for me to lapse back into my old meat-eating habits, but that’s the only thing I could think of that would make it work. I’d just need to have a bit more willpower than I used to.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to make it seem like I’m such a giving wife 😛 Far from it, really (hehehe). My husband spoils me a lot already, so I thought I’d give way this time for him. I can’t force him to go cold turkey if he really can’t. I have more willpower than he does (LOL) especially when it comes to changing habits, so I thought it would be easier for both of us if it was me who adjusts. You can’t force one to have the willpower to change habits through cold turkey, but you can add just a little bit more to one who already does 🙂

How about you? How do you change habits? Cold turkey or gradual change?