being "that guy": restricted eater edition

I got invited to dinner by a friend who I hadn't connected with in a while. Great! "Sure," I said, "sounds good." Then I got a text message: "What are you not eating right now?"
"Shit," I swore aloud to myself. Suddenly realized I was that person: the one with special requests, needs, restrictions. Suddenly, I'm picky. When it comes to food that's not usually the case, which isn't to say I don't have standards; I just love food. Normally that includes meat.

Update: October 22, 2010
Now, more than a month later the challenge so far isn't not eating meat; it's maintaining a variety of vegetables and "unmeats" in my diet. Aside from straight up tofu, I've thus far foregone getting fake meat products at the grocery store. Instead I've picked up fresh produce, and beans. I'm not against tofurkey or any of that, it's mostly a budget thing. At this point packaged spinach nuggets are too expensive for me.

The lay out: I'm not eating meat, that includes fish and seafood. I'm not eating eggs, but I AM eating dairy products. Also, it's hard to cut out eggs since there's so much that they are involved in -baked goods, etc. I'm not completely strict but I have not eaten meat in over a month, nor straight up eggs. I'm also not taking in caffeine. Though I'll admit I had one can of Coke two weeks ago.
At this point I must not sound very committed to you reader, but take something that you do all the time, every day without thinking and take it out of your routine for a week. It's difficult simply to become aware of something you don't normally have to think of, for no other reason than - just because.

Or you can try what this guy did: eat nothing but potatoes. He wanted to prove the nutrient-rich properties of the old spud.


You know those commercials featuring beautifully sad looking children of a third world country alongside a healthy, white westerner - the ones soliciting your dollar a day to bring rice and basic staples to children in need? A couple years ago a couple embarked on a 30 day experiment, and obvious challenge, of living off one dollar a day each in the United States. Since then they've received much press and even wrote a book.
This is the start of their effort in September 2008. As I said since then they've been propelled forward.