A Vegan Update

Hello everyone! I hope you are all staying warm and filling up on soup and hot chocolate (with vegetarian marshmallows) this winter and keeping up with any resolutions you have.  I thought it would be a good time to update you on how my quest to veganism is going.

I started by attempting meat-eggs-dairyless Mondays, and that lasted...one week. Even for just one day, I found it extremely hard to get out every single animal product from my diet.  I also was ill prepared.  I was making my lunch to take to work, and I had absolutely NOTHING to take.  I ended up bringing an apple and peanut butter for my lunch, and a bowl of soup for dinner.  I was still hungry at the end of the day since I didn't have any substantial vegan food in the house.

So the first thing I learned was: get prepared.  It is impossible to make a dietary change without having the new diet available to you.  How can you say "I am going to eat healthier" and then look in your fridge and its full of junk?  I needed to stock up on vegan items, and do some research to find vegan food staples, brands, and recipes to have on hand.

I still found giving up every animal product for a full day to be hard.  It just seemed overwhelming and daunting.  I decided what was a better place for me to start was making better choices.  Make food choices with less eggs and cheese.  Now when I go out to eat I try to pick more vegan options, with out completely eliminating dairy and eggs all together.  Recently I went out to a burger place with my friends, and they had a veggie burger option and a vegan burger option.  I could had chosen either, but in trying to make better choices, I chose the vegan one.  Normally I order cheese on my veggie burgers, but I left it off.

After a few months I found that I would be having dinner, and I realize that the meal I am eating was completely vegan and I didn't even try! It just came second nature. The longer I do this, the more I find myself wanting to choose the vegan options over the vegetarian.

I might not be a vegan, or even able to spend a whole day eating vegan, but I find myself eating 2-4 vegan meals per week!  Which is more than I planned doing vegan Mondays.  I am buying more food brands and meals that are vegan (I have a few new products to post about soon!).  Just like when I gave up meat, the same principle of supply and demand applies.  If I am buying a vegan product over a non-vegan one, that's one more saved chicken or cow.  And it makes me feel good!  I feel good when I eat a vegan meal or buy a vegan product, and that's really what all this was about to begin with.

How did your traditions to veganism and vegetarianism go when you first started?

Bye from the Veggie Side!