Ch-Ch-Changes: How I went from Meat Eating Ignoramus to Plant-Based Whole-Food Goddess

Ok, that is a little extreme…I am far from a “Goddess,” but I don’t give a shit, it sounds cool.

By now you should have learned about my nutritional past. If you haven’t: CLICK HERE

Up to speed?...Badass.

So in early April of this year I semi-secretly dropped meat and all animal derived ingredients from my food life. The typical human’s view of giving up all things animal is frightening. I know; I’ve seen it. The reactions of people around you can vary from critical through curious right up to downright annoying. Being new to the ‘scene’ can be hard, you get over it. Transitioning my diet just meant finding replacements for my run of the mill animal based nutrition.

Daily Protein Smoothie

Here are common staples from my omnivorous (always said with an English accent) past and what plant based foods I used to replace them.

·         Eggsà Pea/Rice/Hemp Protein Powder

·         Beef/Pork/Chicken/Fishà Tofu, Seitan, Tempeh, Field Roast, Beans, Lentils, Quinoa

·         Cow’s Milk (Previously used only as an ingredient, as I have always found the taste/smell repulsive)à Almond/Soy/Hemp Milks

·         CHEESEà None. Vegan cheeses do exist, but I’d rather just be sans Cheeze.

·         Other various Dairyà Leafy Greens, Earth Balance Margarine 

·         Processed garbage food I shouldn’t eat anywayà Fresh fruit OR specialty vegan garbage food I shouldn’t eat anyway



People know how to make Vegan Garbage Food



 I don’t feel like I’m missing anything. I don’t have cravings for meat or cheese. I feel confident about everything I ingest.

Having the diet based on WHOLE FOODS is what really makes the difference. Since I spend my time eating whole foods it is easy to decipher which are vegan, and which are not. Pick up and apple and try to locate its Ingredient List…Oh what? Can’t find it? That’s because it’s a friggin’ apple. Now do the same with that box of crackers and tell me if they contain animal ingredients…don’t worry, I’ll wait. They could be made exclusively from plants, BUT it kind of doesn’t matter if you only recognize 1/30 ingredients on the label…You probably shouldn’t eat it.



Some foods are not worthy



To increase my knowledge of all things Vegan I use a variety of resources:

·         The interwebz: Lots of searching and reading…anything I want to know—the answer exists.

·         Yahoo Answers: Type in Google.com “Is _____ Vegan?” and chances are the top result is a Yahoo answer. Sometimes they are amazing, other times I get too distracted by all of the speleeng airerz. (ßSpelling errors. Distracting huh?)

·         Read the labels for items that are “Certified Vegan”: If it’s in there and in another product I was questioning, I got my answer.



Pretty good read

  
·         http://yeahthatveganshit.blogspot.com/ Great spot to find relatively simple vegan recipes and links, it is funny as hell.

 ·         http://www.nomeatathlete.com/ This is a great resource for healthful recipes and other awesome fitness related blogness.

 ·         I read THRIVE- The Vegan Nutrition Guide for Optimal Performance in Sports and Life by Brendan Brazier. Kind of a boring read, but like anything it has “take aways.”

 ·         I read FOOD RULES by Michael Pollen. I realize that this book isn’t vegan or even vegetarian, but the concepts are good and readily applicable to everyone. If everyone: vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters alike ate the way this book suggests (Eat Food, Mostly Plants, Not Too Much) we’d all be much happier.

I have experienced very little frustration in the past several months with my diet. I have taken a number of my family’s classic recipes and rewritten them to eliminate animal foods, tried out new recipes and effortlessly reinvented my version of healthful eating. Often people view it as a sacrifice…but for me I am forced to do things I should have been doing in the first place.

1.       Planning ahead and making my own food

2.       Not eating cheese, bacon, sausage, butter, sour cream—Often people don’t have the power to say no; I just pretend I’m allergic and it’ll fucking kill me. (Kind of true in the long run, see “Heart Disease”)

3.       Eating whole foods: like I said earlier it’s easier to tell what’s in an apple than a box of Apple Jacks.



Exit Strategy of Choice



The things that I have not enjoyed exclusively stem from other human beings wasting my time telling and validating why they eat meat. Or declaring their love for X, Y and Z. For the most part I don’t, uh, care, at all. Sooooo, if ya wouldn’t mind shutting up I was actually on my way to the bathroom…

I’ve been a non-vegan. I know what non-vegans think of vegans. I’ve scoffed and written veganism off as senseless…and thennnnn I became a huge fucking hypocrite. I don’t really care. (Best bout of ‘hypocriticism’ ever? I think so.) Eating only plants doesn’t make me any less of a badass. (I know. I’m more badass now than I’ve ever been.)

As I’ve read different blogs and books about people’s changing diets I found there are many paths. I just dropped all of the animal foods. Whether eating out or in I ingest exclusively plant foods. I have read about others who start by doing it at home only, or just at dinner. Any way people change is just that…Change.

I initially started the plant based diet to reduce nutritional stress on my body and increase my capacity to perform in athletics. (Running, lifting, and sailing, expanding to cycling and who knows what else) The removal of animal based nutrition has opened my eyes to reducing my consumption of all animal derived products and ingredients. The food half is easy because food is perishable or gets eaten by others, but that gallon of shampoo I bought will last quite some time. So in my effort to become a real vegan I will change by phasing out and using up the things that remain, or donate them.



I Love Sunscreen

In my transition from regular human being to a plant-based whole-food eating maniac (that seems more accurate than “Goddess”) I have learned a lot about what I consider necessary. It is easy to decide to no longer wear leather and consume certain foods. The most perplexing and annoying issue I have encountered is: having to check things that in no way appear to have any correlation. Sugar, shampoo, sun screen, and almost every chapstick on earth…the list goes on. Finding replacements is not often difficult; there are lists all over the internet of acceptable substitutes for my current products, companies (and subsidiaries) to avoid whom still test on animals, as well as things you may not realize are “Accidentally Vegan.” ***



I Am Not a Hippie, Nor Do I Smell Anything but Wonderful



My family and friends might poke fun at me for turning into some SMELLY HIPPIE, but it won’t stop me from evolving. Nor does it mean I now feel differently about the poorly trained dog/cat/child that is crapping on the carpet. I regard humans and animals similarly: I may not like you, but it doesn’t mean I want you tortured or killed. Like you or not, please don’t drop a ‘numero dos’ on my carpet.

***IMPORTANT : Please see the disclaimer at the bottom of the linked page***