Lesson Learned

Our beautiful halal truck.

I can't remember how long we've been going there but several co-workers and I have developed the habit of visiting a halal food truck about a block from our office. With 47 reviews on Yelp, they have a 4.5 star rating. The food is plentiful, cheap, and delicious and the the men who prepare and serve it are very friendly. They know us and what we'll order. I always get lamb over rice with white sauce and no hot sauce. It's the first place I've ever been a regular.

We get halal when someone needs to be cheered up or when we're celebrating. There have even been jokes made about the stars aligning for halal - one was even posted on our quote board for a while. Trips to the halal truck are sometimes delayed a day because we want to make sure everyone who loves it is included in the trip. Other times, we've just gone two days in a row. We like it enough that we walk right past another halal food truck on the way.

My regular order - except I don't get hots.

Unfortunately, the halal truck doesn't have any readily available vegetarian options. I considered asking them to piece together various parts of other meals to make a vegetarian meal for me but, instead, I decided to have one last halal. I thought, "Hey, you didn't know your last halal was your last halal. One last time will be okay."

Boy, was I wrong. After two weeks of no greasy meat, the giant (super-delicious) tureen of lamb and white sauce I ate left my stomach terribly unhappy. For the rest of the afternoon, I was groggy and my stomach hurt. I could probably re-acclimate to greasy meat if I wanted to but I'm going to take it as a sign that my body prefers to avoid it. Though meat tastes so good, I'm beginning to think I feel better when I avoid it.

I don't want to give up the hall truck but I may have to become *that* person who asks for something special - I think I'll try rice, pita, salad, and white sauce for a start - and daydream that in years to come my "special" will catch on and be added to the menu.

What foods have you given up that made you almost regret making healthier choices?