#Veganuary

I am a vegetarian with a severe case of cognitive dissonance. You see, I discovered some time in high school that the more dairy I consume, the more acne I have. I can't tell you if dairy is truly linked to skin problems,[1] because I can only speak from my own experiences, but I can assure you that for me, dairy and skin problems go hand in hand. You'd think I would have given up dairy when I figured this out, but for some reason, I'd rather have acne or itchy skin than give up cheese.

When I started my vegetarian journey, I probably had cheese at every meal. Unlike meat, which disappeared from my diet without me even noticing, cheese was a major player in every meal. Breakfast: cheese grits, cheese in my omelette, egg and cheese biscuit. Lunch: cheese on my salad, cheese in my quesadilla, cheese on my rice... Dinner: cheese on my broccoli, macaroni and cheese, lasagna. I honestly didn't know how to make a meal without adding cheese. During this same time I was having a lot of trouble with me skin so I decided to finally back off the dairy products.

Most dairy products weren't hard for me to give up. I have a food aversion to milk, which means the taste and smell of milk actually make me nauseous. This means I can't do melted ice cream or milk shakes. I'm basically a one scoop, kid's size, for all dairy desserts. I only used milk to cook (which mean I wasted a lot of money buying the smallest container of milk I could find for 1/2 cup to bake something). When I discovered almond milk, coconut milk ice cream and yogurt, and vegan butter, I switched to using these products immediately. The skin trouble I had minimized significantly, but it didn't go away. Probably because cheese was still a part of every meal.

These are actually all vegan!

For the past three or four years, I've been slowly removing cheese from my diet. Last year, I attempted to do one week each month where I only ate plant-based. A lot of times I forgot, but when I remembered, I succeeded. So this year, I decided to participate in Veganuary. It's a month to raise awareness for veganism, and encourages people to eat a plant-based diet (and buy plant-based products) for the month of January. I think the goal is to show people how easy it is, and hopefully convert people to veganism.

Did I make it? With the exception of two days I made it the entire 31 days without eating anything that comes from an animal. One day I had a breakfast bar that was actually marked Kosher dairy, I'm not sure if there was actually dairy in it or if it simply came into contact with dairy during the packaging process. The other day, I went to a work function and ate a fruit dish that actually had cream hidden under the fruit. I was actually pretty proud of myself for managing to only slip up twice, especially since there were 3 events at work that had free cake.

The East Part

Since I'm already vegetarian and use substitute dairy products for most things, it wasn't that noticeable that anything changed. To me, ice cream and yogurt made from coconut milk is better than the original, so that's not an issue at all. I can't tell the difference between vegan butter and regular butter. Almond milk, especially if you get vanilla flavored, has a slightly different taste and smell that you have to get used to, but it isn't that much different either. Substituting these guys out in my every day recipes wasn't hard at all.

The Hard Part

Vegan cheese does not taste like real cheese. Period. I had vegan cheese a couple times throughout the month to curb my cheese cravings, but it wasn't as satisfying as real cheese. Also, eggs are a breakfast go-to of mine. When I wake up late and didn't prep anything, fried egg whites or scrambled eggs with spinach is super easy. I also found that many of the breakfast bars I usually eat aren't vegan, so breakfast suddenly became hard. In general, our society isn't set up to accommodate plant-based diets so this lifestyle requires forethought and meal prepping. Most of the food can be made vegan, stores just choose not offer vegan versions, which means you have to make your own.

Noticeable Differences

Ok, so the real question is was I converted to the plant-based life style and what did I notice health wise this month?

Health wise, I feel pretty much the same. I took a B12 supplement every day since B12 deficiency runs in my family and I primarily get my B12 from eggs, which were struck from my diet. My skin did improve and I don't have any acne at the moment. Unfortunately I still caught a bug the last week of the month due to the weather shift, so as I write this I actually feel pretty crappy. However, since the only real change in my diet was the consumption of cheese and eggs, I expect the difference should have been minimal.

Veganism isn't just about what you eat, it's a lifestyle about protecting animals and the planet. It encompasses much more than just what we eat. I'm all about protecting animals, of course, having grown up on a family farm where the chickens are not treated the way they are in factory farms, I don't feel any guilt about eating the eggs from home. Therefore I don't think I'll be 100% vegan any time soon, but you never know what the future holds.

References

1. Wendy Marcason RD. "Milk Consumption and Acne—Is There a Link?". Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Volume 110, Issue 1; pg 152. January 2010

Why I Became Vegetarian

Before I kick off my series on tips, struggles, and misconceptions about being vegetarian, I want to tell you why I'm vegetarian.

Introduction

Some people become vegetarian for religious reasons, others for moral reason, but I actually became vegetarian on accident. I know, it sounds crazy, but that's really what happened! One day I was eating lunch with a friend who asked if I was vegetarian (because she had never seen me eat meat). Initially, I said no, but as I thought about her question, I realized I hadn't had meat in 4 months and prior to that it had been another 4 or 5 months since I'd had meat. What was more, I didn't miss it; the times I'd had meat in the past year had been when I went home where vegetarian options aren't plentiful or when my parents had come to visit and I'd cooked meat for them... So I changed my answer to yes.

In order to sustain a lifestyle change such as diet, you have to have a reason that motivates you—especially if you actually enjoy the taste of meat! In my case, there are actually 4 beliefs/ideas that motivate me to stay vegetarian (now that I know I'm vegetarian).

Motivation

Religious

If you've read any of my posts on the dietary law, you know I believe that the dietary law from the Old Testament was never revoked and still stands. Unclean meats such as pork and shellfish were banished from my diet long before I became a vegetarian. Conviction from the Holy Spirit is my motivation not to consume these particular meats. Although the Bible is clear that we have permission to eat clean meats like chicken and beef, it can also be seen that God's perfect design did not include the slaughtering of animals. I noticed that during the Exodus, the Israelites complained about the lack of meat, which means the manna God fed them was vegetarian! Furthermore, in Heaven, there won't be death, which also means we won't be killing animals. So, in short, I think it's perfectly fine to eat clean meats, but I think God would prefer us to eat as little meat as possible to preserve life.

Preservation of Life

Speaking of preserving life, could you kill an animal to eat it? Most of us buy meat from the grocery store without ever having come into contact with the animal. Those who don't cook might not even see it raw and bloody. This makes it easy to disconnect the fact that an innocent animal had to die for the meat we consume. Out of sight, out of mind. However, having grown up on a farm and spending time with these animals, cows in particular, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that I would not kill an animal to eat it. If me and one of my family's cows were on a desert island with no food, I do not think I would be able to kill the cow for food. At the end of the day, I feel like if I'm not willing to get my own hands dirty, I shouldn't be eating the spoils.

Animal Rights

So, animal rights kind of goes hand in hand with the preservation of life. However, it goes deeper than why an animal's life ends. When I say I couldn't kill an animal for food, I'm talking about a happy, healthy animal. The animals kept on factory farms are neither happy nor healthy. They are subjected to harsh environments and cruel treatment simply for our gluttonous pleasure. That's not OK. I refuse for my money to fund these industries' horrible treatment of animals. If you want to see some of this for yourself, there are a host of documentaries on Netflix.

Taste

Photocredit: Brenda Godinez

I guess taste is what really helps me stay vegetarian. If I'm honest, I was never the kid who had to be told to eat her veggies. Often it was a chunk of meat that was left on my plate, either for my dad to consume or placed in the fridge for me to eat later. I just don't enjoy meat, or the heavy feeling I get after eating it. When many people become vegetarian, they use meat substitutes to fill themselves up, as well as, combat cravings. The only problem is that meat substitutes taste less like meat the closer the taste of real meat is to your short term memory. This can make it really difficult to stick with it. For those who actually enjoy the taste of meat who are thinking of becoming vegetarian, I offer this as a suggestion: think of your favorite meat dish, is it actually the meat you enjoy or some type of sauce? For instance, steak was my go to celebration meat, but what I really enjoyed was the A1 sauce. Smothered chicken was go to dinner, but I really wanted the mushroom gravy I would create while smothering the chicken. Once I realized that, I started creating vegetarian dishes that feature those sauces and/or seasonings. You can also try marinating your meat substitutes in these sauces or seasonings as well.

Next in the Journey

Why is nice and all, but how is really what a lot of people want to know! Stay tuned for feature posts which will feature answers to some of the frequently asked questions I get about being vegetarian, how I broke the news to my family, and how I deal with it in areas that aren't vegetarian friendly. If there are specific questions or topics you'd like to read, feel free to leave a comment below of use the contact page to send me a message!