Mistakes Were Made (Veganism is a Learning Process)

In my first vegan-themed blog post I mentioned that my husband and I chose to go Vegan for Lent this year because it was the first year we remembered the idea with enough time to do significant planning and preparation beforehand. Even so, as we near the halfway point of Lent, and despite the fact that one of us is a dietitian, we still find ourselves making mistakes and getting frustrated with our vegan diet.

The other day I heard my husband walk through the door and say "This is vegan?! This isn't vegan. Why did you buy this?"



I came out to see what he was talking about. Turns out I had had a brain fart in the grocery store and bought whole-wheat potato bread, which has both milk and butter in the ingredients. At our favorite traditional Chinese restaurant I took a bite of the complimentary coconut jello dessert before remembering that gelatin is not vegan (it's made with collagen taken from animal by-products). This weekend, my husband and I made the Black Bean and Roasted Sweet Potato Burger from Crazy Sexy Kitchen by Kris Carr and Chad Sarno (it came out really yummy).The recipe points out to use vegan Worcestershire sauce (Worcestershire sauce is traditionally made with anchovies). This was too much for my husband to bear. After walking around the grocery store finding the vegan ingredients we'd need for the next few days' meals, he wanted nothing more than to just buy regular Worcestshire sauce. So we did. Between my non-vegan chocolate chips and little mistakes and moments of surrender like these, we're probably closer to 90% vegan.


I think it speaks to the importance of doing your homework and being super careful to read labels, pre-plan meals and ask about the ingredients used in restaurant meals. I get too comfortable. I need to be more conscientious about what I'm buying and eating. Two resources to help with this include The Vegetarian Resource Group, which has a page titled Veganism in a Nutshell, and the website from The Vegan RD.

That said, our goals for this vegan adventure are far bigger than surviving the 6-ish weeks with a perfect score and we're well on our way to accomplishing all of them:

Discover new foods. Going into this diet I was most excited about experimenting with new foods and cooking techniques. Already we've been working with coconut oil, cashew cream, vegan mayo and seitan and have made Spanish (yellow) rice and black beans from scratch (a first). My husband is excited to incorporate seitan into our furture meals and I think I'll keep the cashew cream around as well as my favorite vegan pancakes.

Break bad habits. I'm very open about my love for hot chocolate. The problem is I drink it more than I'd like to (too much sugar). But while we've been vegan I haven't had any hot chocolate at all (not even with soy milk or some other non-dairy milk). I'm hoping this will break me of my habit.

Decide where we draw the line. Experimenting with veganism has helped us to learn which foods we really can or cannot do without. Before being vegan we were "Vegetarians with Benefits" which means that we primarily consumed a vegetarian diet that included fish, seafood, eggs and dairy but we only ate meat once a month. Since becoming vegan I am realizing that I really don't miss the meat, eggs or milk, but I am just dying to have cheese and fish again. Knowing where we draw the line will help us make more mindful choices later on and to only eat the animal products that we get the most satisfaction from.

Here's to the next three weeks.

Cheers!
Diane


Image: KitchenDaily.com

In my first vegan-themed blog post I mentioned that my husband and I chose to go Vegan for Lent this year because it was the first year we remembered the idea with enough time to do significant planning and preparation beforehand. Even so, as we near the halfway point of Lent, and despite the fact that one of us is a dietitian, we still find ourselves making mistakes and getting frustrated with our vegan diet.

The other day I heard my husband walk through the door and say "This is vegan?! This isn't vegan. Why did you buy this?"



I came out to see what he was talking about. Turns out I had had a brain fart in the grocery store and bought whole-wheat potato bread, which has both milk and butter in the ingredients. At our favorite traditional Chinese restaurant I took a bite of the complimentary coconut jello dessert before remembering that gelatin is not vegan (it's made with collagen taken from animal by-products). This weekend, my husband and I made the Black Bean and Roasted Sweet Potato Burger from Crazy Sexy Kitchen by Kris Carr and Chad Sarno (it came out really yummy).The recipe points out to use vegan Worcestershire sauce (Worcestershire sauce is traditionally made with anchovies). This was too much for my husband to bear. After walking around the grocery store finding the vegan ingredients we'd need for the next few days' meals, he wanted nothing more than to just buy regular Worcestshire sauce. So we did. Between my non-vegan chocolate chips and little mistakes and moments of surrender like these, we're probably closer to 90% vegan.


I think it speaks to the importance of doing your homework and being super careful to read labels, pre-plan meals and ask about the ingredients used in restaurant meals. I get too comfortable. I need to be more conscientious about what I'm buying and eating. Two resources to help with this include The Vegetarian Resource Group, which has a page titled Veganism in a Nutshell, and the website from The Vegan RD.

That said, our goals for this vegan adventure are far bigger than surviving the 6-ish weeks with a perfect score and we're well on our way to accomplishing all of them:

Discover new foods. Going into this diet I was most excited about experimenting with new foods and cooking techniques. Already we've been working with coconut oil, cashew cream, vegan mayo and seitan and have made Spanish (yellow) rice and black beans from scratch (a first). My husband is excited to incorporate seitan into our furture meals and I think I'll keep the cashew cream around as well as my favorite vegan pancakes.

Break bad habits. I'm very open about my love for hot chocolate. The problem is I drink it more than I'd like to (too much sugar). But while we've been vegan I haven't had any hot chocolate at all (not even with soy milk or some other non-dairy milk). I'm hoping this will break me of my habit.

Decide where we draw the line. Experimenting with veganism has helped us to learn which foods we really can or cannot do without. Before being vegan we were "Vegetarians with Benefits" which means that we primarily consumed a vegetarian diet that included fish, seafood, eggs and dairy but we only ate meat once a month. Since becoming vegan I am realizing that I really don't miss the meat, eggs or milk, but I am just dying to have cheese and fish again. Knowing where we draw the line will help us make more mindful choices later on and to only eat the animal products that we get the most satisfaction from.

Here's to the next three weeks.

Cheers!
Diane


Image: KitchenDaily.com