My difficult, but enlightening journey to transition from being vegetarian to vegan.
I have been a vegetarian on and off for the past six years. My stance for being a vegetarian is one of health and kindness. I want the reward of a healthy body while knowing that my meal choices are not contributing to the abuse and slaughter of animals.
After reading a fairly new cookbook written by Alicia Silverstone, (the woman has clearly done her research and cites her many reliable sources in the back of the book...she's not so "Clueless" after all ;o) called The Kind Diet and a phenomenal book called Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, I've decided being a vegetarian is simply not enough. I'm now going to embark on a more considerate and freeing journey; I'm going vegan!
To be a vegan, you must eliminate the consumption of all animal flesh AND animal byproduct. This means no meat, no dairy, no eggs, no honey and many other foods made with animal byproduct. I'm sure there are many foods that I believe to be vegan and are not, so it will definitely take me some time to get adjusted. Like I said, I'm just in the beginning process of my journey. I have a lot to learn and I am sure to make mistakes and give in to cravings early on. As of this weekend, I am in what I'll call my "transition phase". I have made the choice to become vegan for a more compassionate and healthier life and now I will continue to slowly eliminate these unhealthy foods from my diet.
The change in my diet has opened up a whole new and exciting world on so many levels. For example, I really enjoyed doing my grocery shopping this weekend. It was fun rummaging through the health-food and organic sections, reading the labels and analyzing the nutritional value behind each natural ingredient that was foreign to me. It was a lot of fun and I learned so much simply by being mindful of my selections. I have officially eliminated milk, butter, sour cream, mayonnaise and eggs from my diet. I have replaced regular milk with a product called Rice Dream, butter with Earth Balance, sour cream with Tofutti (cute name!), mayonnaise with Veganaise and replaced real eggs with a product, appropriately named, Egg Replacer. I've already tried the vegan milk, butter and Veganaise. The Earth Balance and Veganaise were surprisingly tasty and the milk was....well, different. It actually tasted really yummy for the first couple gulps. It's sweeter than milk and would be great for making vegan ice cream, but it was a little too sweet to drink all by itself. I guess I'm going to have to give up milk cold turkey (lame pun intended...I can't help it, I'm my father's daughter).
My next and I assume more difficult omission from the dairy family will be cheese. I went out for some drinks with my two brothers the other night (alcohol is on it's way out of my diet too) and I ate several slices of this amazing tasting pizza I had been wanting to try. It wasn't until after I was full and staring at what was left of the slices (which were few), that I remembered that the ooey, gooey, melty, deliciousness which smothered the pizza was in fact...CHEESE! I had forgotten that I wasn't eating cheese anymore and I inhaled this dairy product like a cokehead inhales his first line of coke after being released from prison. It was ridiculous. It was a mistake. It's going to happen. The important thing is that I get back on track and avoid the temptations which derail me.
I'm looking forward to being able to call myself a vegan. I believe there is more energy and happiness in my future. I'm hoping to find as much support as possible in a world that is not yet so accepting of the life I am choosing to lead. Wish me luck!
http://adriennetroxell.blogspot.com/