A Year of Veganishness
By Jenn (TinyChoices.com) | March 30, 2010
My gosh, I am flabbergasted that it’s been a year since I first posted about making a trial run of going vegan. A year, people! Time is flying.
My impetus at the time was the Meat Out event, which encourages folks to “kick the meat habit (at least for a day) and explore a wholesome, compassionate diet of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.” I’d also been reading the Vegan at Heart newsletters, which “is a free e-mail coaching program for people who are vegan at heart but not necessarily in practice.” Well, that summed me up perfectly! I’d had years of vegetarianism under my belt, but though I knew the cold hard realities of the dairy industry were just as horrific as those of the meat industry, I was in no way ready to give up cheese. Or ice cream. Or cheese.
So, I tested the waters. I’d do it for a month and see how things went.
All of a sudden I found myself at the three month mark, and I wrote an update post where I noted the positives and negatives, what was easy and what was hard, and where I was finding myself on many issues. That was where I came to classify myself as a veganish, which is where I still find myself today- most of my food choices are vegan, and my home cooking is all vegan. But if I want a regular cookie I eat the regular cookie. If I want few slices of fancy cheese at a party, I eat the cheese. My life isn’t about depravation, it’s about abundance! I generally don’t want to be eating animal products and so I don’t- but if I decide that I do, then I do. It seems like a happy way for me to live, though it does confuse family and friends, who never quite know what I’m going to be eating. I think it makes it much easier for people if we can be classified- she’s a vegetarian, he’s a Buddhist- and I realize that my -ishness is sometimes confusing for others. But it works for me just fine!
I also wrote a post around the 6-month mark, in which I noted that I was finding it harder to be a healthy veganish than a healthy vegetarian, which I no longer think is necessarily true. Yes, I do put more forethought into my meals now, and make sure to cover all the bases when I cook (which is why I’m such a fan of rice cooker meals- bean, grain, & green all in one pot!). But what I thought was “healthy vegetarian” I no longer find to be so- where I was eating lots of cheese and eggs for my dairy/protein intake, I’m now replacing that with greens and beans, which are zero cholesterol and as low-fat as can be. And even if I’m not balancing everything perfectly- far from it, probably- I can’t help but feel that plant foods are just inherently easier for my body to digest and a cleaner source of fuel than animal-based foods.
I also realize how easy it is to modify vegetarian recipes to be vegan- there are egg substitutions, butter substitutions, & milk substitutions. The only reason most recipes have dairy in them is because it’s the default in our society, not necessarily because they taste any better. Muffins can use bananas as a binder just as easily as eggs can be used, but it’s seen as an “alternative” only because our country relies so heavily on eggs, not necessarily because they’re better in any way. And because we have a very powerful Dairy lobby helping the government to make all kinds of decisions.
Plus, by removing most animal-based foods from my diet, my mind is eased about my participation in factory farming & animal confinement and torture. I still agree with Dr. Jeffrey Moussaieff, who said: “There are many good reasons to be vegan that have nothing to do with animals, but for me, the strongest argument is that I simply don’t want animals to be slaughtered.”
So, I guess that’s my year update! I eat what I want, when I want it. If that includes a few bites of meat once a year, ok. If it includes a cookie containing dairy here and there, no problem. This is about positive change & tiny choices- which, as we all know by now, have a cumulative effect on our lives and the lives of those around us.
What’re your current food choices, and do you see any changes coming your way?
[Image by AllAboutGeorge via Creative Commons]
Topics: Food | 2 Comments »
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Hooray for you! My boyfriend and I are pretty much vegan these days, and have been since at least the beginning of February, the only exceptions being (a) when we are at an event/family party thing, forgot to eat in advance, and there is nothing else to eat and (b) when we accidentally eat something we thought was vegan but isn’t. When we started, I got a whole bunch of vegan cookbooks (thank goodness for Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero!!) and ended up learning to cook and bake way more than I ever did before-and I’m still learning!
Also, some awesome non-dairy things I’ve discovered: coconut yogurt and coconut ice cream (made from coconut milk but not necessarily coconut flavored), flax seed (it’s magical!), almond milk (delicious), Daiya (dairy-, soy-, egg- and nut-free cheese alternative that is AWESOME on pizza), scrambled tofu (yum!).
“My life isn’t about depravation, it’s about abundance!”
I love this!