Dear reader, I have a confession. I was tempted into sin by that bright red and yellow sign gleaming in the dark…let me tell you the story.
Long before I decided to try being a vegan for 25 days a girlfriend and I had planned on going to Yosemite in September. This past weekend she, my husband and I went up to Yosemite and had a fabulous time. The park was comparatively empty, the weather was cooperative and we generally just had a good time taking in the sights as we hiked through the park.
I had some worries that I might not find much to eat but was reassured when I took a look at the Ahwahnee hotels lunch menu. I had a perfectly nice roasted vegetable sandwich and the chef withheld the cheese normally added to the sandwich. We decided to not eat dinner in the park in order to give the driver sat least some daylight on the return trip. We left at 6:30 and at 8:00 p.m. we were all pretty hungry. We had passed through several small towns and finally in Oakdale we decided to stop. Since it was comparatively late in the evening and we were so famished we stopped at the first restaurant we spotted which happened to be Dennys. I knew that Dennys had recently gotten some bad press after having added some horrendously huge calorie laden items to their menu but I figured I’d be able to at least eat a salad. However, all the salads I saw on the menu had meat of some sort including those salads on their new fit fare menu. I could have probably asked that the meat items not be included but I was cranky and hungry, the waitress was tired and probably hungry so …I succumbed. I knew not to go whole hog as it were so I stuck to having 2 pieces of French toast. I have to confess it was pretty tasty too. I then went hell for broke and ordered a piece of French silk pie. The pie actually tasted pretty nasty to me so I stopped after a few bites.
I do know how I could have prevented my lapse into vegetarianism. I could have bought fruits, nuts etc with me so that I wouldn’t have gotten too hungry but I was afraid that while we were in the park a bear might take a liking to my snacks and either break into my car or, if I had the food on me, decide I was a tasty snack waiting to happen. So I left the foodstuffs at home. The other thing I could have done would have been to check out one of the many vegan websites to see what their recommendations were for eating vegan at Dennys. It turns out that there are vegan choices at Dennys including a true vegan burger as well as oatmeal, potatoes, bagels etc. However, because I was so hungry I let it get the better of me. I never saw those items on the menu but I bet they are on there. So lesson learned – either keep decent snacks with me or do better research next time.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Saturday, September 03, 2011
Hubby lives - vegan for three days and counting
Both hubby and I have survived for three days on our new “regime.” It was a close call our first night when I made vegan migas (recipe to be found here if interests you http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/vegan_migas.html) but didn’t really follow the recipe closely enough and dang near burned out the back of my throat. A word of warning, the combination of adobo and Serrano peppers, not a good thing. It then continued to be touch and go when I turned to a frozen soy meat analog dish and himself mentioned that I was already eating meat. A little crochety from burning my throat out with the Serrano peppers I kept pointing at the box and shrieking “meatless, see right here it says meatless”. The downhill trend continued when he decided to consume peanut M&Ms in front of me. He, going the vegetarian route can have them but I can’t. Haven’t men learned by now that chocolate is sacred and should not be consumed lightly in front of those who can’t have it?
Both the hubby and I had a few misconceptions before I decided to follow the vegan lifestyle for 25 days so I’d like to address a few of them.
Going vegan is healthy –
Well, yes and no. Remember when I mentioned that Boulder potato chips were vegan? So is a lot of other junk food including some foods aimed directly at vegans. Tofurcky anyone? BTW, purely in the interests of science, I tried a whole foods vegan donut. It wasn’t bad but a bit oily, and definitely not healthy.
If one were to go on a low fat, unprocessed diet that is completely plant-based then, yes, vegan is healthy. One word of caution even here though. If you have a thyroid condition, some plant based elements (goitrogens) including soy and cruciferous vegetables are considered to be toxic to thyroid patients. Not all experts feel this is true but it is something to think about.
As long as you are not eating meat, dairy or eggs you are eating vegan, right?
I certainly thought so and was surprised to learn that many vegans also don’t use honey. Planet Green has a good explanation here http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/reason-vegans-honey.html. I was also surprised when I started reading labels how many otherwise “healthy” foods use honey. So far I’ve yet to find a non pumpernickel bread I can eat. Fortunately Thomas New York style bagels are vegan so I’ll use them for a snack. As an aside, pumpernickel bread, which I love, is very hard to find here in California. I’ve only ever found cocktail sized pumpernickel. Other ingredients I now need to look for on labels are casein and whey which are milk by-products (duh, curds and whey)
Eating Vegan is boring
Okay, I’m not going to lie, for me it probably is going to be boring. Remember I don’t really like a lot of fruits and veg but for those people with more enlightened palates there are tons of recipes out there and if you actually follow the instructions a lot of them look pretty darn good. The internet as a tool offers no excuses for boring. There are tons of recipe sites on the web along with many vegan organizations willing to answer questions so you should be able to eat meals with lots of variety.
Both the hubby and I had a few misconceptions before I decided to follow the vegan lifestyle for 25 days so I’d like to address a few of them.
Going vegan is healthy –
Well, yes and no. Remember when I mentioned that Boulder potato chips were vegan? So is a lot of other junk food including some foods aimed directly at vegans. Tofurcky anyone? BTW, purely in the interests of science, I tried a whole foods vegan donut. It wasn’t bad but a bit oily, and definitely not healthy.
If one were to go on a low fat, unprocessed diet that is completely plant-based then, yes, vegan is healthy. One word of caution even here though. If you have a thyroid condition, some plant based elements (goitrogens) including soy and cruciferous vegetables are considered to be toxic to thyroid patients. Not all experts feel this is true but it is something to think about.
As long as you are not eating meat, dairy or eggs you are eating vegan, right?
I certainly thought so and was surprised to learn that many vegans also don’t use honey. Planet Green has a good explanation here http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/reason-vegans-honey.html. I was also surprised when I started reading labels how many otherwise “healthy” foods use honey. So far I’ve yet to find a non pumpernickel bread I can eat. Fortunately Thomas New York style bagels are vegan so I’ll use them for a snack. As an aside, pumpernickel bread, which I love, is very hard to find here in California. I’ve only ever found cocktail sized pumpernickel. Other ingredients I now need to look for on labels are casein and whey which are milk by-products (duh, curds and whey)
Eating Vegan is boring
Okay, I’m not going to lie, for me it probably is going to be boring. Remember I don’t really like a lot of fruits and veg but for those people with more enlightened palates there are tons of recipes out there and if you actually follow the instructions a lot of them look pretty darn good. The internet as a tool offers no excuses for boring. There are tons of recipe sites on the web along with many vegan organizations willing to answer questions so you should be able to eat meals with lots of variety.
Thursday, September 01, 2011
Vegan for 25 days
Can a girl who hates fruits and vegetables become vegan for 25 days? Can her spouse survive?
On a lark I’ve decided to try and find out. After all, if former President Clinton, “Mr Fried Foods” can do it then I figure so can I. After all I did become a vegetarian for a year and a half and did pretty well, though I must confess the occasional hamburger was eaten during that time.
I’m curious to see how easy it really is to go vegan. I have no desire to permanently go vegan but all the vegan converts keep talking about how easy it is. However, these same people seem to be well… zealots. I’ve not really heard from the perspective of “I’m an ordinary Joe and yes it really is easy, or no it’s not all that easy and here are the problems” point of view. I hope to represent that point of view.
My ground rules are that from Sept.1 – Sept 25th
1. I’ll not eat the obvious: no meat, no dairy, no eggs, no honey. I will miss you butter…
2. I’ve got to eat like I normally eat, i.e. I use a lot of convenience foods during the week and cook on the weekends. Also vegan does not necessarily mean no junk food. Guess what? Boulder potato chips =vegan. Just sayin’
3. If I go to a restaurant I can’t cheat and eat meat just because I don’t see anything I like on the menu. However, I am also not going to interrogate the staff to determine if my tofu was fried on a grill separate from meat products either. I’m trying this as a possible life style choice and not a religious conversion type of thing.
I’m lucky that I live in the Bay Area. We seem to have, at least, a lot of vegetarian choices on the restaurant menus as well as several stores in the area that have a good selection of vegan frozen foods. In other words, even I may be fairly successful at going vegan.
There are also several websites that should help me in my quest such as http://www.isitvegan.com; eatingwell.com and PETAs website.
For those of you concerned about the spouse, he is not going vegan but he has been “strongly” encouraged to go vegetarian for the 25 days. After all eating a nice juicy steak in front of me could be hazardous to his health.
Finally, you may ask “why only 25 days” and not the widely promoted vegan for 30 days? The answer is that realistically I don’t think I can sustain being vegan after Sept 25th. ON Sept.26th I start my usual training regime for student library clerks and the days tend to be very long. Meals are generally taken in a haphazard fashion and I don’t want to faint in front of a freshman because I haven’t eaten in 12 hours. That tends to scare them.
Wish me luck….
On a lark I’ve decided to try and find out. After all, if former President Clinton, “Mr Fried Foods” can do it then I figure so can I. After all I did become a vegetarian for a year and a half and did pretty well, though I must confess the occasional hamburger was eaten during that time.
I’m curious to see how easy it really is to go vegan. I have no desire to permanently go vegan but all the vegan converts keep talking about how easy it is. However, these same people seem to be well… zealots. I’ve not really heard from the perspective of “I’m an ordinary Joe and yes it really is easy, or no it’s not all that easy and here are the problems” point of view. I hope to represent that point of view.
My ground rules are that from Sept.1 – Sept 25th
1. I’ll not eat the obvious: no meat, no dairy, no eggs, no honey. I will miss you butter…
2. I’ve got to eat like I normally eat, i.e. I use a lot of convenience foods during the week and cook on the weekends. Also vegan does not necessarily mean no junk food. Guess what? Boulder potato chips =vegan. Just sayin’
3. If I go to a restaurant I can’t cheat and eat meat just because I don’t see anything I like on the menu. However, I am also not going to interrogate the staff to determine if my tofu was fried on a grill separate from meat products either. I’m trying this as a possible life style choice and not a religious conversion type of thing.
I’m lucky that I live in the Bay Area. We seem to have, at least, a lot of vegetarian choices on the restaurant menus as well as several stores in the area that have a good selection of vegan frozen foods. In other words, even I may be fairly successful at going vegan.
There are also several websites that should help me in my quest such as http://www.isitvegan.com; eatingwell.com and PETAs website.
For those of you concerned about the spouse, he is not going vegan but he has been “strongly” encouraged to go vegetarian for the 25 days. After all eating a nice juicy steak in front of me could be hazardous to his health.
Finally, you may ask “why only 25 days” and not the widely promoted vegan for 30 days? The answer is that realistically I don’t think I can sustain being vegan after Sept 25th. ON Sept.26th I start my usual training regime for student library clerks and the days tend to be very long. Meals are generally taken in a haphazard fashion and I don’t want to faint in front of a freshman because I haven’t eaten in 12 hours. That tends to scare them.
Wish me luck….
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