Why Vegan? Why now? Part 2
- E. A. Spain
- Jan 29, 2018
- 3 min read
Since my previous post about changing my dietary and health habits, I have made some legitimate progress! I would like to personally share my accomplishments thus far in regards to transitioning into a vegan lifestyle and also recommend/suggest some foods that you can find at your very own neighborhood grocery store.
To start off, I began increasing the amount of water I consume on a regular basis. Being vegan doesn't just mean that you decided to forgo all animal products. It means that you are making a conscious effort to do better by your own body and treating it with the care and respect it deserves. I have came to realize that our bodies really are our temples. Your physical body is your vehicle and shelter for your true being. You wouldn't set off on a road trip cross-country without getting an oil change, a full tank, and decent tires for the road. It is the same for your life. You have to take care of your body to ensure you have the best quality of life while you are here in human form. Besides, why would you not take care of the gift that God gave you? That's like riding your brand new BMW until the wheels fall off (with no concern) that your parents gave you for Christmas. It's just some thing that you don't do if you are in your right mind. Anyways, so I decided to drink more water than any other liquid. And not just any water, but distilled in particular. In short, it's the most pure and naturally charged water that works best with your body.
The next step for me was to start eliminating different meats from my diet. One by one, I have been able to quit eating pork, beef, and chicken. Letting go of pork had to be the hardest for me. I love bacon bits in my salad, breakfast sausage, brats, and pepperoni's on my pizza. I thought I wouldn't be able to live without these things, but in reality, I was already becoming tired of eating the same heavy/greasy things anyways, the new venture began to show itself as a very exciting challenge. Besides, trying all the different vegan products that are to be used as substitutes has been really fun for me and Cody. It feels good knowing that we can prepare meals that taste great and are also great for us. Some great brands for vegan meals are: Morning Star, Gardein, Quorn, Boca, Daiya, and Simple Truth. Boca has really good veggie/vegan burgers, Quorn has delicious spicy chicken patties, and Simple Truth carries everything organic that you could ever need and distilled water!
At this point, the only meats we are still eating is fish like tuna and salmon (occasionally). Now that we aren't eating meat, our diets mostly consist of organic fruits and vegetables, soy proteins, wheat, pasta, and nuts. Salad has become my favorite thing to eat honestly.
The next item on the agenda to cut out is going to be dairy. But I will have to admit that I am not too stoked about the idea. Even though there are products that are dairy free and made to substitute for cheese and yogurt (especially the brand Daiya), I am terribly scared that it won't be good enough. I am not totally sure if I want to give up dairy entirely to be completely honest. Maybe being vegan isn't for me. Maybe I can just be a vegetarian and go really light on dairy products. I know I sound conflicted (because I am), but I am not sure if I can go without cheese or milk. Although, I do like organic milk more than regular. But another thing I definitely meant to point out is that the organic and healthier foods at the grocery store are going to be more expensive. With that being said, don't be too surprised when you go to buy a gallon of organic milk for $6 dollars when you are used to paying only a dollar and some change for the regular kind. It's not fair- they want us to be so unhealthy and poor. I try to budget our money out so that we can afford most of the healthy stuff, but there are times where we have to settle for the dollar gallon milk because $6 can get ridiculous real fast. My next goal is actually to find a place where we can buy these items for less. If anyone knows of any places please feel free to comment below. We usually shop at Kroger for all our live produce, but we may switch up and go to Walmart for all the frozen meals. As soon as I try the fake cheese, I'll be sure to update you guys!
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