Last year in August, I made what seemed like a split
decision to become vegetarian much to my sister’s chagrin as she was cooking up
nice cuts of New York steak for dinner at our girl’s weekend trip to her
property in Lyle. Although it seemed
like a snap decision at the time, it was really something that had been
weighing on me since seeing part of a video of how poorly some pigs were
treated at slaughter. They were kicked,
their tails were ripped off, and they were scared; it was awful. Right after I watched that video, I stopped
eating pork and then made the transition to being a vegetarian soon after. To my joy, my daughter also decided to try it
out and we were doing it together, which seemed to make it easier.
As I started what I was sure to be a difficult journey to
not eat meat, I found that there are some really great choices out there in
terms of food (Morning Star, Gardein, Amy’s brand foods) and the transition
wasn’t as hard as I initially thought.
You just have to do your research about the restaurants you eat at
(READ: no McDonald’s fries because they
fry them in some sort of meat concoction, but really—it’s not healthy food
anyway so why even put that in your body?) and scrutinize your labels because
even something as innocuous as stuffing isn’t necessarily vegetarian because it
has meat stock or some meat by-product in it.
Sure, some things I loved fell off my list of things I could eat, but I
found other options to replace them.
The non-food side of things is where it got a bit
interesting. For some reason, there’s a
stigma attached to people that have chosen a lifestyle of vegetarian or
vegan. You get called a “vagatarian” or
people look at you sideways when you want to make sure something you’re ordering
has no meat in it whatsoever. You also
get scrutinized by people on where you eat (“that doesn’t appear to be
vegetarian”) although there are vegetarian items on the menu. It’s almost as if you’ve opened the door for
the peanut gallery to comment on every little thing you put in your body by
choosing the lifestyle. Needless to say,
I just rolled my eyes and continued on with life because I knew I had made a
good choice for myself.
Recently, on a trip to Portland with my daughter (who at
this time is no longer a vegetarian--she stopped in March because she missed
chicken strips), we tried a vegan restaurant for dinner one night. While we were waiting for the restaurant to
open for dinner, she voiced that she was thinking of becoming vegan. At this point, I was still happily existing
as a vegetarian and truly didn’t think I could give up all dairy because I love
cheese and eggs. But, if she was willing
to make that leap, I knew I would probably try it with her, too.
My hopes of doing the vegan thing with my daughter were
dashed when we actually ate the food. We
ordered the vegan cheese plate (the cheese is made of nuts), which I actually
really enjoyed. Nyah, not so much. She ordered a vegan burger, which I also
thought was good and she wasn’t a fan because of the cheese. She couldn’t get beyond the fact that the
cheese tasted too sweet and that it smelled like some facial product she had bought
from Lush.
So, I ended the thought of becoming vegan…until about two
weeks ago. I had been thinking that it
hadn’t been so hard to find meat substitutes so why couldn’t I try to find egg
and cheese substitutes? Especially since
I liked the cheese that had been made with nuts. I looked online to see what type of vegan
cheese people liked and gave that a try.
It seemed fine and adequate as a dairy cheese replacement, but I was
curious to try the cheese made of nuts. So,
I went to the store and found the small vegan offering and chose some cheddar
and mozzarella-type cheese made from almonds and I have to tell you, I feel
like I hit the veritable jackpot of taste.
It was just what I’d been looking for and I was happy to have found a
replacement for cheese. At this point, I
was still eating eggs, but knew it was time to try to find something else.
I did some more research and learned that silken tofu (or
tofu in general) can make a nice egg substitute and I already had some in the
fridge so why not give that a try? So I
did…and was happy with the choice. Milk
was no issue, either, because I already drank Silk Almond Milk. So here I am, about a week in as vegan and I’m
really happy with the choice. Although I
really have to scrutinize labels and have lost even more items off my “to eat”
list, it hasn’t been that hard and I’m enjoying looking up and trying new
recipes.
Now I can tell you that becoming a vegetarian or even a
vegan is not for everyone, but it was for me and here’s why. When I eat vegan, I feel great. I am not bloated, I am not retaining water,
my body is not inflamed or swollen, and I’m satisfied after every meal. I’m not starving and I feel healthier. I’ve even lost weight (always a plus!). I am happy, really happy. And not just because of how my body feels,
but how my soul feels about doing what I feel is right for the animals (who I
consider friends and family members and why would you want to eat your friends
or family members?).
So there you go. That’s
why I decided to make a drastic change in how I feed my body and soul and all
that really matters is that I’m happy with that decision. Here’s where it gets interesting with the
whole stigma thing I mentioned earlier.
If others make a conscious effort not to tease those of us that have
chosen not to eat meat or try to push their ideals about eating meat, I will do
the same. I’m not here to convert people
to veganism, but I’m happy to share my journey and why I’ve chosen the
lifestyle. Like I said before, it’s not
for everyone, but it is for me.
