OT-Goodybye Red Meat You Were Adored.

but http://www.wholesomesweeteners.com/index.html has some excellent organic sweetners, like raw organic blue agave nectar. Great for lemonade, marinades, and just about anything you would add sugar too. You can find it at most stores.

right before Memorial Day. That is like giving up pie the Tuesday before Thanksgiving or slutty nerses on October 29th.

I hope you have strong will power.

But in terms of your Weber, don't give it up completely. Vegetables do very well on the grill, and with the right sauces/marinates/rubs can be a great meal anyway. Pick your favorite Kabob and substitute more veggies for the meat, boom, meal.

Also, random aside, but an AWESOME grill cook book is here: http://www.amazon.com/Webers-Book-Grilling-Jamie-Purviance/dp/0811831973/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274975889&sr=8-1

Weber's Big Book of Grilling, it has awesome recipes for everything, appetizers, chicken, fish, meat, game, salads, deserts, Best Father's Day Present I ever bought my dad

My existence would end without McDonald's double cheeseburgers. Good luck, dude.

Tasty, tasty murder.

Ostrich Burgers!

But I eat veggie burgers quite a bit. I recommend Morningstar Farms Grillers Original or Grillers Prime. In my opinion, they're the best and closest thing to "real" burgers that you can buy at the supermarket.

Boca's grillers are terrible, by the way. Their vegan option is slightly better, but both are far inferior to Morningstar Farms, or even a standard Gardenburger or Bocaburger (neither of which taste remotely like meat).

As a related aside, I haven't seen Food, Inc. so perhaps this has been addressed in the film, but have you considered simply buying local grass-fed free-range beef instead of giving it up entirely?

I have given up fast food and sweets (cupcakes, brownies, cake, candy, ice cream, etc.) for the past two months.  I've lost about 12 lbs. in that time.

I'm trying to think of something to give up for next month.  I don't have that many vices, so it's a tough choice.  I might cut out red meat, although I don't eat much of it, anyway...

Anyway, good luck with giving it up completely.  That would be tough for me to quit permanently.  I still like a good steak or burger every couple weeks...

If you're serious about improving your diet & health, you should read Dr. Joel Furhman's book Eat To Live.  He believes in living a Nutritarian lifestyle.  In a nutshell, a nutritarian is someone whose food choices are influenced by excellent nutritional quality. He/she chooses foods that are high in a wide spectrum of micronutrients per calorie. I’ve heard Dr. Fuhrman call it, “Getting more bang for the buck.”

http://www.drfuhrman.com/

I've lost 40+ pounds and improved all of my numbers (cholesterol, blood pressure, etc...) since starting the diet last February.  It's hard to get started but definitely worth it...IMO.

Edit: In addition to the diet I joined Lifetime Fitness & have been working out 4-5 times a week.  I didn't want anyone to think I lost 40 pounds on the diet alone.

I will tell you that I started the Atkins Diet on Labor Day of last year and have allowed myself the occassional slice of pizza and bread every once and a while and I feel great!  I won't be giving up Red Meat anytime soon, but I do eat a lot of Chicken and veggies.  Seems to me any time I decrease my food intake, I feel better though - regardless of diet...

If you knew the half of the fishing industry, you'd give up fish on your Weber, too. "Wild caught" or "farm-raised", both have serious drawbacks, (though for mostly different reasons).

A friend of mine, and member of this board, gave up red meat for the year just to see if he could do it. At first you could tell it was killing him. I think it still does to some extent, but he seems to be handling it a lot better now.

I will tell you, from seeing it firsthand, that this will not be easy for you at first. Your friends and family will forget about it and take you to places that only serve red meat. You are probably going to have to give up some things that you might not anticipate right now like pizza (or anything resembling a pizza that is desirable to eat anyway) or any flavored beverage.

For your sake, because I like seeing people test themselves, I hope you are able to do this. I'd be interested in getting some periodic C-Rex style updates as well. Good luck!

Let me say that over 2 months I also have lost 12 pounds. I won't say that I have given up red meat entirely as I'll eat a small steak or a burger about once a week or every 2 weks but I do not eat it every meal like I used too. I now eat a lot of chicken and fish. I love salad as well so that has helped. My biggest issue is that I have a physical aversion to most veggies, I've tried to eat them but they make my stomach naseous. There are a few I can eat such as corn, carrots, spinach and any salad leafs so not all is lost.

The biggest problem I used to have is doing this solo but now my wife has also joined in after a breast cancer scare. She now is buying more organic food items and trying to eat healthy as well. Let me add that you have made a great choice and in time you will feel better.

This is why I don't investigate the foods I love.  I don't want to know about where my chicken, steak, fish, etc came from.  Only how good it tastes...