New Year's resolution - vegan for one year

Thanks Sarko15!

sarko15 wrote: »

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Vegan/vegetarianism/pescatarianism/etc is a spectrum, a journey, and there isn't one ultimate dietary lifestyle that is better than the other (though weirdly enough, I've met quite a few meat eaters who are much more aggressively pushy about their food "agenda" than vegans), so I think it's awesome that you're willing to give it a go even temporarily! Take this as an opportunity to learn more about the meat/dairy industry, nutrition, etc. At the very least you'll return to eating meat/dairy more informed. I never judge anyone based off of if they eat meat or not, but I think it's part of our duty at the top of the food chain to really know about where our food is coming from, whether it's animal- or plant-based.
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I could not agree more. I was a part of the food production system in a minor way in my youth and teen years: my earliest jobs were in small and medium scale commercialized farming, mostly poultry (broiler and layer farms, and some involvement with turkeys), including chicken catching (yes, a real thing!), swamping (a related real thing), and egg collecting (in non-mechanized barns, pushing a cart for hours and hours past tightly caged birds), and also some equipment installations on hog farms.

While the poultry industry is populated with less of the more dramatic animal harm issues associated with livestock farming, poultry farming (and especially battery-cage egg facilities) are rife with systemic and persistent animal hardship. Hence the reference to needing karma points in my original post!

My eating choices in the past represented a compromise: while I generally would eat beef, pork, fish and poultry (and as much cheese as could physically be shoved onto a pizza), I decided to only buy cage-free eggs and refrained from eating certain animals - not from a taste perspective, but an animal welfare issue. So no veal, lamb, goat or wild game. And no rabbits, not even in France where that is available more frequently than in Canada. And I steered a wide berth on vacation in Iceland last summer past both whale and horse which was on the menu in the occasional restaurant.

But I am no longer comfortable with that compromise position for myself, and am interested in seeing whether a vegan diet approach will work for me (particularly from a nutrition perspective - I may have some iron/anemia issues), so I am keen on learning more and seeing where the year takes me.

Independent of the goal of remaining vegan for one year, I am also committing for 2017 to cooking more and eating way, way less tv dinners and fast food. I work downtown - theoretically 5 days a week but practically speaking, often 6 days a week - and almost everyday have something fast and awful from one of the three food courts I am close to or from McDonalds or the three Tim Hortons that are all located quite close to my work. Often two, and on disappointing occasions, 3 OR MORE meals per day.

I am pretty sure I have already paid for a second pool or an third Maserati for that Clown at McDonalds.

Goal for the year is to try to eat mostly what I prepare myself, plus try a new recipe and a different restaurant each week. I am defining "success" as being compliant with this goal more often than not. I am defining "wildly improbable/possibly impossible success" as 52 new recipes and 52 different vegan-accomodating restaurants at a rate of one each per week over the course of the coming bacon-deprived year. Oh, and also buying myself a Maserati or two with all the money I expect I will be saving.

Kicking myself for forgetting Nuba, a Lebanese restaurant many of whose dishes are vegan.

Week 1:

My first week consciously not eating animal products went easy-sneezy. Averaging 1809 calories per day, which were weighted more heavily toward carbohydrates (average of 82 g over the MFP default macro target for me), but close to my macro targets for fat and protein. Totally crushing my daily targets for fibre and iron.

Although a vegan approach is not technically a weight loss strategy (especially since sitting down with a pail of sugar and a bucket of soft drinks would be entirely vegan-compliant), I am anticipating that a vegan approach based on healthy choices will be a super-helpful partner in my goal of finally dumping a lot of excess weight. Down this week 5.6 pounds (237.2 to 231.6).

New restaurant this week:

CHOMP Vegan Eatery. chompveganeatery.com/ Tried the CHOMP Sliders (white bean based patty and potato bun with nice dressing) and the Sweet Potato Pesto Wrap (awesome). Super tasty and very pleasant owner/operator.

New recipe this week:

Curried Potato and Lentil Soup (Minimalist Baker: minimalistbaker.com/curried-potato-lentil-soup-1-pot/).

Goal for coming week:

Work at increasing diversity of food: relatively narrow range of food eaten this past week (weighted heavily to chick peas, pasta, tomato spaghetti sauce, raisins and blueberries). Looking forward to diversifying more widely.

Week 2:

My second week went well. First real craving yesterday (hypnotized by the golden arches) but otherwise not experiencing any particular challenge eating animal product free. Did experience a day of feeling quite spacey, which I think may have been related to weight loss related issues.

Down 4.2 pounds this week to 227.4, total of 9.8 over first two weeks. I typically lose a fair bit on the first couple of weeks of a new diet - I call them my "see ya soon" pounds, 'cause I know I will be seeing them again within a couple of weeks.

New restaurant this week:

Indigo Age Cafe, indigoagecafe.com/ukrainian-food/#. Specializes in Ukranian vegan food. Owner is big into raw food, which is not an issue of any particular interest either way for me. Small operation, restaurant opens up just below street level - very interesting set up. The place smelled unbelievably good. Chatted briefly with the gracious but busy owner.

Had the Ukranian Feast - pirogues, cabbage roll, borscht, and a raw, vegan key lime pie that smell exactly right, looked really close to the real thing but whose texture did not work for me (probably the psyllium husks).

New recipe this week:

I intended to cook more this week, but was very busy and only wound up making Crispy Tofu (http://minimalistbaker.com/quick-easy-crispy-tofu/. Pretty good - seasoned with chilli powder and cumin powder, fried in coconut oil.

Goal for coming week:

Continue to work at increasing diversity of food - made some progress this week, including introducing quinoa in place of pasta and broadening the nuts and beans consumed, but a lot of room for improvement.

Thanks Jenny, that is very kind of you!!

jennyi27 wrote: »

I live in Wisconsin, and the only other "food" that maybe comes before cheese is beer.

lol! yep, I expect surroundings can certainly make adopting a plant-based, animal-free diet easier or harder. I believe Vancouver (BC, not WA) is quite vegetarian and vegan-friendly compared to other cities in Canada and compared to many cities in the States, and I expect that makes it easier for me to find both vegan-friendly restaurants as well as some of the new ingredients I have been discovering since adopting a vegan diet (broader range of oils and nut butters, tempeh, etc.)

I recall a number of years ago when a musician from the Cdn province of Alberta (with its significant cattle industry) began promoting vegetarianism and animal rights. Her music was essentially banned from a number of country music stations, and the provincial minister of agriculture became involved to express that it was "extremely unfortunate" and a betrayal that she had "decided to side with animal rightists."

In Vancouver, our mayor Gregor Robertson (dubbed "Moonbeam" by some, unfairly) is publically supportive of vegetarianism, including the annual vegan Veg Fest festival.

Best wishes with wherever your eating direction may go. For what it may be worth, I was pretty sure I would not stick with plant-based eating for long, but it has proven surprisingly easy (so far).