I went vegan for two years and that is already documented on this blog. I still enjoy vegan food as a delicious, healthy cuisine and think people should incorporate vegan cuisine into their diet for a few reasons.
- Vegan food is light although be careful with carbs if the cause you to bloat.
- Fruits, vegetables, and grains usually are more sustainable than cattle.
- The U.N. and China have been trying to reduce meat consumption worldwide due to sustainability issues in a mass population.
- Vegan food offers great alternatives when traditional foods cause problems like allergies, indigestion, heartburn, etc.
Steak was the most difficult thing to give up for me when I went vegan, everything else was simple. I never liked milk or eggs and I still avoid cow milk although I won’t turn it down if it is offered in a social setting or someone messes up my order. I guess it’s part of being polite when you are always meeting new people.
So that takes me to why I stopped being vegan and now just eat vegan food as part of my overall diet. As I’ve met different people, including hunters, I’ve learned a lot about different ways to care for the environment. Surprisingly, the hunting community does a lot for sustainability, the environment, monitoring migration, population growth, and protecting endangered animals. I’m not endorsing them in lieu of veganism. Both lifestyles have their merits and there are obvious contrasts with each other.
Besides hunters, I’ve met ranchers and farmers. Free range and grass fed beef is turning into a huge industry, and suppliers have listened when the consumer said they want less hormones in their meat. While in the midwest, I met employees from the largest employers in the town. The company hires felons, pays everyone more than minimum wage, is involved in the community, and generally admired by everyone in town. Their main product is pork, bacon, and ham. Five years ago, their employees made over $15 per hour on average in a town where a two bedroom house had an average mortgage of $700.
I’ve visited the East coast and thought it would be a little rude leaving without trying one of their signature lobster rolls they are famous for worldwide. Similarly in Hawaii, I couldn’t leave without trying some of their BBQ pork. Something I had not really eaten since 2008.
During my time as a vegan, many people shared that over the course of 15 or 20 years, they had switched back and forth between being vegan and eating a standard American diet. Over the last five years, the amount of milk available to vegans has increased to the point that Starbucks now offers almond and coconut milk in addition to Soy.
Soy is a hormone imbalancer and it is not recommended for people to eat more than 1 oz or 30 grams per day. It’s perfectly fine to eat a pound of soy, just not if it is a everyday staple of your diet. The expansion of grain based products in alternative meats, and a variety of nut based milks has made vegan cuisine not only popular but a viable diet that is no longer dangerous for an uninformed person to experiment with.
Many food guides in 2010 consisted of tips like Oreos are vegan, plain Lays are vegan, salad is vegan, McDonalds french fries are vegan. While some of those statements where true, a diet of junk food and salad is not balanced enough to be healthy.
For the time being, I’m hoping to eat vegan at least three times a week. Places like Pasadena and Santa Monica make easy to find vegan food but it is still a challenge to find vegan food on the go. Proper brain function has a higher priority than starving for a good cause. Until I’m able to have my own kitchen and time to use it, I don’t see a possibility of being a pure vegan.
I will be posting everything I’ve learned and possibly some good vegan recipes. Hopefully vegans don’t take it offensively and keep in mind that gay rights have expanded because of straight allies that believed they have a right to thrive and live without judgement.