The Cantabrian Reversal!

I think the image says it all, really. But just to be sure, here's the full story behind what I've called The Cantabrian Reversal.

For the next two weeks, my wife and I are embarking on a culinary journey, wrought with unknowns, as we discover what it would be like to go without meat for a fortnight. Yes that's right: there exists in New Zealand a pure-bred Cantabrian (myself) who is prepared to slash all beef, Pork and Chicken from the household budget. And as far as eating out is concerned -- no excuse! Should we find ourselves out for dinner, the whole "no meat thing" still applies. If I have latched on to your attention, then please read on.

There are two reasons why we are eschewing meat products from our diet. The first reason is that we want to, well, save a bit of money off of our grocery bill. As a matter of interest, we both sat down one night and worked out how much money we spend on meat per grocery shop (as any good student of math would do). In the end, we calculated that, based on a grocery shop of X dollars, about one quarter (yes, one quarter of X) of our grocery bill is spent on meat. You don't need to be an accountant to realise that a quarter of a grocery bill is a lot of money to be spending. On the basis of economics, this is the first of two reasons.

The second, however, is for health reasons. To invoke common sense, there is nothing to lose by having a crack at a meat-free fortnight. Secondly, as I am quite sceptical over the health quality of our meat industry (for various personal reasons, of which I won't go into here), I genuinely believe that, over the course of this fortnight, we both will see and feel changes to our health and wellbeing -- for the better. I think that meat is actually an inhibitor, rather than a promoter, of good health. And like any good student of science (of which I am), I wish to empirically test this by proposing myself and my wife as test cases of this.

However, I wish to leave a word with my meat-loving pals. I assure you I haven't lost my mind! Rather, I am keenly interested in how a fortnight without meat intake will affect my health and wellbeing. And let's be honest: there is really only one way to find that out. I actually have to live it. I actually have to scrap meat from my diet, and see what happens with my body (both internally and externally).

If you have read this far, and are still genuinely interested, then stick around for two weeks. I'll let you all know how this experiment pans out. And hey -- perhaps you'd like to give it a go for yourself. I'll at least leave that decision in your hands.