For the past couple of months I have been prepping for for a vegan challenge. It’s kind of weird that I would want to do one because I love eating good quality meat, cheese, and don’t enjoy overthinking my food choices. But, for some reason for about 8 months I have kept coming back to the idea of doing a vegan challenge. So, I examined why this challenge was so appealing? I am a foodie. Hardcore. I’ve read books written by Michael Pollan and am hoping to see him speak in person in April. I care about food equality and believe that Americans have bought the lie that good quality foods have should be expensive. It bothers me how we treat our cattle and chickens. It’s disgusting. Why would I want to eat something that has been mistreated and standing in its own poop for days on end, thus contaminating whatever finally gets to me. I don’t like how people working in those plants are treated. They aren’t paid enough, and the people who work in these plants have a hard time advocating for themselves. Living in Denver, whenever a putrid stench and cold air sweep over the city we joke and say that “It smells like Greeley.” Why do we say that? A huge meat processing plant is located there and if you’re from the Denver/Boulder region you know what I’m talking about. And finally, if I want to be really honest, vegans usually are so fit and seem to have an inner glow of self-righteousness. I want that inner glow and the body that comes with it. Minus the self-righteousness. You have to prep in order to be successful at a task like this. So, a month ago I began eating a hybrid vegan/meat diet. Basically, I would eat vegan Monday through Friday and then eat whatever I wanted on the weekend. Milk wasn’t an issue because I’m lactose intolerant and already drink soy/almond/and coconut milk regularly. Also, I already enjoy eating soy/almond/ or coconut yogurt. Finally, I was a vegetarian for almost 4 years so the idea of not eating meat isn’t scary…even though not eating cheese, and butter was kind of scary. Every weekend I made sure to have something with melted butter and ate a lot of delicious meals on included succulent meat (lamb or beef steak)
So, what is the benefit to complicating my life in this way? Why do this to myself?
- I want to prove to myself that I can successfully complete the challenge
- I would like to prove that a vegan diet costs the same as a meat based diet
- For some reason, a challenge like this just seems kind of fun to do. Like running a marathon, or climbing all the fourteeners in Colorado. I’m looking forward to the adrenaline rush at the end when I finish the challenge.
- Last year I did the Whole Living cleanse and I felt GREAT! The feeling was similar to when I first became a vegetarian. There was a day when I knew when all the meat was out of my system. I felt so clean inside. This sounds crazy, but ask any vegetarian or vegan, they will confirm that this is a very real sensation. You wouldn’t believe how good you feel when your system has no meat in it
- Hopefully I will lose some inches! we shall see.
I get a lot of people saying that they couldn’t be a vegan. Well, yes you could. If you had no choice and the only food available to you was non-dairy or meat free you would eventually get hungry enough to eat it. So, if you set everything in your house to support a meat free lifestyle you will eat what you have.
What are you going to eat? A lot of processed soy stuff?
This is an interesting question considering all of the processed food that the average American eats. Candy bars, microwave dinners, soy products (yes, I included them), and most meals from fast food restaurants. However, it is a valid question. What is the point of eating “clean” but not embracing clean meals? So, I spent a lot of time researching recipes and blogs to find easy, approachable recipes that I could even make for my mom. My mom is originally from the mid-west. She admits that there are just some things that will never appeal to her palate. When my mom comes over to my house I almost always cook for her. So, if the recipe is too crunchified then it’s probably not going to make my regular meal rotation.
I will have some vegan products such as: tofurky deli slices, gardien “chicken” breasts, Sophie’s Kitchen vegan crab cakes and shrimp. Here is the link for Sophie’s: http://sophieskitchen.net/index_f.html . I also found a website for a business supplying and selling Asian vegan/vegetarian products to restaurants in New York City (and the eastern seaboard) called May Wah Vegetarian Market: http://www.maywahnyc.com/. Apparently, the products are fantastic and a lot of them are made out of a product that is popular in Asia called konjac root. Both companies have products made out of this vegetable. This is a good thing because I love soy, but I try not to eat too much of it. Sometimes you need to look outside the box to find a solution to a problem. I did notice that a lot of vegan/vegetarian products were breaded, I don’t eat a lot of deep fried foods so I had to find stuff that wasn’t breaded. Luckily they had “prawns” and “shrimp”. I will give you an honest assessment of the products. By the way, I won’t be eating vegan cheese or tempeh. Disgusting. I just don’t like either product. I lived in France for awhile so I can’t compromise with the cheese!
Lamb was what I had for my last meat meal! It was sooo delicious. Hehe.
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Good luck with the challenge. I’ve heard Steve Jobs was a vegan and that’s part of the reason why he was so smart 😀 Personally I’m not really into veganism myself because I don’t want to make animals go hungry by eating all their food 🙂
I read this comment when I was starving because I forgot to pack enough snacks. I started staring longingly at my friend’s chicken thukkpa (nepalese/indian dish) I talked myself off the ledge. And yes, I’m eating enough veggies that the animals should be afraid that I’ll eat all their food up. I do feel great and I have A LOT more energy. Hopefully, I can handle the next couple of weeks.