We've Only Just Begun

Where's the meat?  I love meat; I could eat it anywhere:  on a plate, on a bun, or on the floor.  However, for 28 days, I will not be consuming any meat:  chicken, beef, fish, shrimp, pork, and anything else that can breed.  However, I will not be a vegan.  I will be able to eat food that comes from animals like eggs or milk.
Why am I abstaining from meat?  There are a few main reasons.  The first reason dates back a couple of years ago when one of my friends in high school, Alex Donegan, was a vegetarian. I grew up in a rural small town filled with narrow-minded people.  The high school we went to was extremely close-minded, and he was constantly mocked by some of the faculty and students for being a vegetarian.  I always felt bad for him, so I told him that I would become a vegetarian as well.  However, the longest I could make it was a week, and then I stopped because I could not always decide what food to consume because every good child always eats what his or her mother or father cooks.  However, I am in college, and I am now making more decisions on my own, including dietary choices.  Now that I have the freedom to make my own decisions, I want to remake that commitment.  I want to be a vegetarian for at least a month to own up to the promise I made.  I want to practically display to Alex that vegetarianism is an excellent entity not just for outsiders, but for everyone, regardless of religion, ethnicity, or nationality.  I also want to use this experience to prove that I can do something positive no matter the difficulties it might bring.
My second reason for becoming a vegetarian is that it will hopefully make me a healthier person.  There are a plethora of health issues in my family:  diabetes, heart problems, and cancer.  By cutting out the meat of my diet, I will hopefully become a healthier person.  However, that does not mean that my goal is necessarily to lose weight although I could definitely lose a couple of pounds.
My final reason for becoming a vegetarian is an emotional one.  Sometimes, when I bite into a hamburger, I think about the cow that had to die for me, and I then I ponder about how many animals have wept just to be inside of my stomach.  The torture that animals have to go through is quite treacherous, and I don't want to be a reason for their torture.
Today was the official first day of my project.  I did not have enough time for breakfast because of my class schedule and convocation, so I skipped breakfast and would wait until lunch.  When I entered Lee University's cafeteria, I was worried because I was extremely hungry and felt like I might possibly fall for a fulfilling hamburger.  However, as I walked along, I noticed the vegetarian section had something that I really enjoyed, eggplant Parmesan. I ate my fried eggplant with a salad filled with cilantro, lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes.  However, I was still hungry, so I then made myself a peanut butter sandwich because I knew that it had a myriad of protein.  Finally, I rewarded myself with a brownie topped with vanilla ice cream bathed in chocolate syrup.  Maybe being a vegetarian isn't going to be so difficult after all.

For supper, I ate a peeled orange, a toasted, wheat wrap filled with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and honey mustard, a piece of pizza, ice cream, nacho chips, and a grilled cheese.  Although I successfully completed my first day as a vegetarian, I started to realize something very critical to my project.  A vegetarian does not always equal a healthy vegetarian.  Vegetarianism can become very unhealthy, and I have to be somewhat more careful of what I eat.  However, I can conclude that this day was an excellent start to a thrilling project.  Where's the meat?  It is nowhere to be found.