VeganISH

Oprah's Vegan Challenge <-- YouTube Video

I've come to the realization that I can handle being veganish, as Oprah states. As much as I agree with vegans and all the information available out there about animal rights, I am finding it extremely difficult to be a completely disciplined vegan. Kathy Preston went to hell and back with her health, so I can see how she slipped into vegan eating perfectly. However, my health hasn't taken a dramatic down turn like Kathy's because I eat fairly healthy for the most part. But I'm coming to terms with the idea that perhaps vegan eating isn't going to be my way of life every single day.

I get a free meal at work, and that's a nice little perk.

 Sometimes, I want New York Style pizza.

Sometimes, I want pesto in my marinara sauce for my spaghetti.

Sometimes, I want a croissant. 

Sometimes, I want scrambled eggs with buttered toast.

*sigh*

I love animals. I know that when I eat anything that comes from an animal, I fail as a human being because I don't have as much compassion as vegans do. Vegans are very admirable people because they really can't live with hurting innocent creatures for their taste buds pleasure. I applaud them. I think these people are stellar examples of ultimate compassion, so I am disappointed in myself that I can't commit to the club. 

But what is reasonable for me? I have drastically cut down what I eat that comes from animals. I limit myself to only eating burgers when I'm at work, if I opt in for the free meal. I usually eat vegetarian when I go out, and it's a bonus if I'm feeling sacrificial that day and decide to eat vegan instead. We don't buy meat in our house. I use animal free products in my bathroom. I've made some really positive changes in my consumer habits because I do care up to a certain level.

But can I ever be a true vegan? 

I dunno.

Perhaps, one day I can. But for right now, it isn't working so well for me. I'd call myself a vegetarian if it wasn't for my burgers that I eat at work occasionally. But ya know what? Screw the labels. If I'm mostly vegetarian, and sometimes vegan, then that's pretty good in my book. I know a lot of people that wouldn't even think of being vegetarian for a week or even vegan for a day.

It is what it is, my friends. But just because I'm veganish, doesn't mean I want your chicken pot pie or your filet mignon. I just can't be a perfect vegan is all I'm admitting to, but I try my best and forget the rest!

Tofu is Bad

If you're wondering where to get organic, non GMO, gluten-free tofu, here is the website:

Organic Tofu <-- click it

They sell this at Costco, and that is where I purchase it.

Not all tofu is equal, and there is nothing wrong with eating it if you eat the right kind.

Check it out. Look at the ingredients for yourself.

I do the same with soy milk. Always, always organic. That's the best way to eat anything!

I am really seeing how people like to tear you down when you eat really strictly. They will pick apart any little part of your diet just to make themselves feel better for the crap they eat. Just know that ahead of time, and don't let them get all "pesticide on your veggies" on you. If they do, just let them say it. At the end of the day, your veggies, fruits and horrible soy are keeping you leaner than 90% of everyone elses diets anyway. Yes, I went there. This is a safe place for me to vent about others who are constantly poking at my diet in some way or another while I sit there in silence and just nod my head to keep the peace.

One lady even went as far as telling me, "Ron needs to not eat so much soy. It will give him man boobs."

Not strangely enough, thirteen years later, Ron does not have man boobs and is in much better shape and looks younger than most people his age. What study was this? And for how long was this study conducted? And what kind of soy was being consumed? Yeah, they NEVER know the answers to those questions.

Fucking people.

Oh well!

Let 'em poke fun and continue on with your delicious tofu cookings. I've dropped a solid 10 lbs and I am feeling much happier now than I was when I was eating crap that I enjoyed in my mouth for a whole twenty minutes with all the terrible after effects of an overly full tummy, being bloated, not able to lose weight, feeling sluggish, not sleeping well.

Now? My body is tired when it should be. I sleep uninterrupted. My body is transforming. I enjoy what I'm eating more now because the after effects are all positive. I'm not bloated. I don't feel grossly full. I'm not up at night trying to sleep. My stomach feels cleaner because I'm pooping twice a day, nice big ones! My size is slowly but surely going down.

It's taken a while for me to train this way, but it is so worth it now. Now, I see that eating to enjoy food really wasn't an enjoyment at all. It's eating to enjoy how I feel afterwards that is really the enjoyment for me now. It's the after effects that are pleasing. So, again, I emphasize that when people are determined to give you a piece of their diet knowledge, just know first hand the benefits of what you are doing feel 1,345,678,234,035,434 times better than whatever the hell they're doing. I know this because I crossed the fence. I was on the other side at one time, and the grass really is greener on this side.

Ha, yes, ironically GREENER!

Dairy Relapse

Whoops. I wasn't exactly dairy free the last few weeks. Ron and I went out to Happy Hour in Hillcrest and ate fried mac and cheese balls. Then at work, I put some creamer in the coffee on the days that I did not bring my own pre-mixed coffee blend. I am also starting to wonder about eggs and if there is a problem with eating eggs, knowing they are not fertilized. 

However, as I sit here and think about it some more, the way I am trying to eat is about not promoting farmed animals. So if I do buy the eggs, then I am still supporting the farm that slaughters animals for food. The point of plant-based eating is to be independent of animals. But I wonder, if I have my own chickens to lay eggs, is that wrong? Then I really know it's truly organic and harm free. I do not even need a rooster so that I know for sure the eggs are unfertilized. Hm. Food for thought...

I just want to make sure I am doing the right thing for myself and what is best for the planet and all creatures inhabiting it. I'm not sure that I even want my own chickens because I have been told they poop everywhere. I don't want my nice patio being chicken pooped on everywhere, and then I'll have to feed them and coop them up. But if they are being cooped up, they aren't cage free then are they? Goes back to the whole farming thing...

You know, it just becomes less conflictual for me if I simply don't eat animal products. I don't have to worry about the suffering behind it if I just stay organic and plant-based. However, I am not perfect by any means. I still mess up sometimes by not having the alternate dairy option readily available for where I am in that particular moment. I don't always make the right choice to abstain from an appetizer that someone else bought. I'm still learning how to be completely independent of animals. This is a journey. However, I am proud to say I got the meat part down. It's easy to deny that now. 

Sounds like I'll actually need a purse now for my snacks while on the road. I dislike purses, but if it means the difference between choosing poorly out of convenience than to choose clean eating, I guess I will just have to find a way to embrace it. 

Think a Vegan can't have spaghetti? WRONG!

Spaghetti is absolutely one of my favorite comfort foods that I was determined to find an equally delicious alternative for because I wasn't about to give that up! 

See that? That's a noodle better than most pastas you would buy anyway. All you gluten free people can have this too. Costco has it all.

My choice of meat alternative is the Italian Style veggie sausages. You have to play around with the meat alternatives to find the one you like best, but this one has a lot of flavor already that I can work with, so I opted for this one. I took two out of the bag and grated it in my food processor for a ground beef texture.

To spruce up my sauce, I sauteed half an onion and a few tablespoons of garlic (I love garlic) in olive oil first and seasoned with salt and pepper. Then I added my grated veggie sausages and combined a jar of marinara sauce. I also chopped up a few basil leaves from my garden and added it into the sauce.

Oh, and of course I topped it off with some dairy free grated parmesan. 

Mhmm. We don't have to miss out on a thing these days!

Thoughts Over Banana Peanutbutter Chocolate Yums

 So first, I diced a banana and slapped some organic peanut butter in the middle of it. I froze it for an hour, took it out and dipped it in melted dark chocolate. Put it back in the fridge for 20 minutes and wa la. A truly vegan delight of my three favorite sweets, peanut butter, chocolate and banana all together in one. Mmm-mmm.

As I was preparing this delightful treat, I was thinking a lot about brainwashing and how it effects people deep to the core. I've been thinking about how slavery was once accepted as a normal thing here in the States, and I have not met a person yet who would say that they believe slavery was okay. Reading a few articles from a vegan perspective, I really had to challenge my thinking on this concept of enslaving animals for our use. 

Some say, "Animals were put here for us to use." In other words, to abuse for our use because it isn't natural to enslave other creatures. Even predators don't do that. I never heard of a Tiger trapping a group of Buffalo into a specific part of the forest, building fences around them to keep them from roaming free and eating from the land, only being fed by what is brought to them from the Tiger. Huh?! No! So what we are doing here isn't natural, even from a predator standpoint. 

Since the idea of enslaving humans was solely based off the color of their skin was once considered normal and we moved on from that, I believe we will some day get past the idea of the enslavement of animals too. Yes, they are different from us, but so are different races of people. Some people have blonde hair, some have brown. Does that give me the right to abuse you because you are different from me? If the answer is no, then why is there a boundary drawn for any living creature? Enslaving the living is not an act of respect nor kindness. It is an act of control, an abuse of our power. It robs us from compassion and kindness. 

Some say, "Well, we're at the top of the food chain." A friend of mine brought up a great comeback for that. "You go to a grocery store, therefore, you are physically removed from the food chain." Plus, if this is the attitude you want to maintain, then how do you expect us to thrive on this planet acting as if there are no consequences to how we change the natural order of things on earth? 

As stated by the vegan society:

It’s better for the environment.

"Switching to a plant-based diet is an effective way for an individual to reduce their eco-footprint. Vegan diets can produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than meat-based diets. A University of Chicago study found that the ‘typical’ US diet generates the equivalent of nearly 1.5 tonnes more carbon dioxide per person per year than a vegan diet. The livestock industry is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire transport sector (which produces 13.5%), including aviation.

Plant-based diets only require around one third of the land and water needed to produce a typical Western diet. Farmed animals consume much more protein, water and calories than they produce, so far greater quantities of crops and water are needed to produce animal ‘products’ to feed humans than are needed to feed people direct on a plant-based diet. With water and land becoming scarcer globally, world hunger increasing and the planet’s population rising, it is much more sustainable to eat plant foods direct than use up precious resources feeding farmed animals.

Farming animals and growing their feed also contributes to other environmental problems such as deforestation, water pollution and land degradation."

We have the power to act on kindness, compassion and love. We don't have to do what we're doing. There are other ways to live and ensure the survival of not just ourselves, but those who are to live after us. We do have a responsibility to keep the earth clean and free of harm because we live here. Earth is our home. I promise to do my best to be a respectable tenant on this earth, and I will share with you everything I learn on the way to natural living as much as possible.