We’ve completed two weeks of our vegan month challenge, and it seems like for the past three weeks all we have talked about is food – what we are going to eat, what there is to eat, what we need to buy, etc. Now, finally, halfway through, it feels that our pantry and refrigerator is stocked pretty well and vegan friendly.
To be honest, I have really mixed feelings on the experience thus far. The main reason we wanted to do it was just to challenge ourselves, and on that we have succeeded. We’ve been using different ingredients than usual, and trying a lot of meat/dairy substitutes we would have otherwise probably not be drawn to purchasing. We have saved money by not eating out as much, and the few times we HAVE eaten out it is less expensive just because we are not buying the expensive items – usually just rice or guacamole or black beans or somthing.
I definitely turned a corner this weekend when it comes to my protein cravings – probably because we made an effort last week to add more to our diet. We’ve added more beans and tried soy sausage (good) and rice "sour cream" (not as good). I made seitan last night and David will make something with that tonight.
I have not, since we started, craved beef or chicken once. Chicken I had already gone off, mostly, so that was easy. Eggs themselves were easy to give up, though it has been a pain finding things that do not contain eggs. We got Veganiase and that is a pretty good substitute for mayonnaise, which we both like.
Dairy and fish have been the hard ones for me. I adore sour yoghurt, and cheese and herring tend to be my "go to" snacks. I don’t crave them anymore, but I have really been at a loss most of the time over what to SNACK on. We’ve filled in the gap with Whole Foods rice crackers and rice sticks and some pretzels, but I still feel very unsatisfied with these. I just end up feeling all carbed up and bloated.
That brings me to one of the supporting reasons I wanted to try this – I was really hoping that by cutting dairy alone out of my diet I would shed a couple pounds, or at least just FEEL better. I have not found this to be the case. I dare say I’ve GAINED weight, which I realize is not helped by my recent lack of regular exercise, but still. In fact, I FEEL WORSE than normal. I am lethargic, grumpy, and I even got a ZIT. OK, it went away by the next day, but still. My tummy feels swollen and I’ve had – er – female issues. Several people told me I would feel GREAT, which is why this comes as a surprise. Am I going through some sort of detox phase? I don’t get it. Lillet, help!
I have also been doing a lot more thinking over the animal industry concerns that helped bring me to the decision to try going vegan for the month, instead of, say, going on a detox diet of some variety. Surely it is widespread knowledge at this stage that beef, pork, and chicken production is a nasty business, dirty and – in addition to being cruel to the animals – dangerous to workers. Now, whether or not people decide to make choices based on this knowledge is a different issue, and I am certainly not going to judge anyone on their choice. I just personally have a hard time reconciling that knowledge with my own decision to eat beef – TASTY TASTY BEEF. Also, the hormones in American meat products scare the bejesus out of me – I don’t need anything in my body that might send the signal to it to get bigger – my boobs are out of control as it is. So, I suspect that I will come out of this eating little to no meat or poultry, unless purchased at Whole Foods and local and all that business.
The dairy and egg thing is a little harder. Again, there are industry issues here. But on the whole? I do not think there is anything inherently WRONG with eating dairy and eggs. For me, eating these animal products seems really RIGHT, in fact! I mean, I would love to have a chicken coop and gather eggs feed them and watch them run around the coop and give them names! And if I could, I would totally keep a cow and a goat and pet them and take care of them and make DELICIOUS DELICIOUS CHEESE from their milk! We’d rely on each other and I would name them Lou Lou and Chou-Chou and we’d be best friends. Now, I realize this is a dream world. I am not going to make my own dairy anytime soon. But I am quite sure I will not give up dairy. I’ll make a huge effort to stick to local farm stuff, as well as delicious Frenchy gooey stinky cheeses, which are the ones I like best anyway.
I’m a little more disturbed by my thoughts on fish. And I kind of think this makes me a terrible person, and Lillet may surrender her bridesmaid role upon hearing it, but… I just can’t get all worked up about fish rights. I mean, I don’t want dirty farmed fish. I do not support that. But… a herring? Nope, I just cannot get emotional about it.
This really bothers me though – why can I happily boil a lobster, but the idea of slaughtering a pig makes me so uncomfortable? There is no biological reason to separate these creatures, but mentally I do it anyway, and I cannot seem to force myself to put them on equal ground. It may seem a small thing, really, but this is a disconnect I never imagined in myself. I have always prided myself on my complete sense of equality – rights based on the simple fact that we are all living beings with FEELINGS, no matter the race, nationality, sexuality. Except not fish, I guess. And this makes me sad to see this in myself, because if I feel this way about a form of life, how can I possibly criticize people for their anti-Middle Eastern, anti-gay, anti-Mexican, anti-animal rights attitudes? Isn’t it all the same, really?
