Becoming a vegan is complicated in ways I wasn't expecting.

For instance, everyone thinks you're a freak, or you're part of a collective vegan cult. I'm probably not in the right mindset to write about this today- maybe I'll take another stab on another day when I'm feeling more empathetic.

Right now I'm just frustrated. A lot of people, upon finding out that I went vegan, are literally freaked. Some responses I get:

" Oh, so now you're a vegan?! Come ON, already"

"Oh, geez- here we go"

" What the Eff do you eat?"

" Now I can't talk to you about ANYTHING"

.....really? It's not like I have some sexual hangup that involves carrots.... and veganism is not my religion. I'm just choosing to eat differently, and it's 100% positive. What could ever be negative about trying to reduce my footprint on this planet? What could be wrong with trying to take better care of my own body? What could be wrong about taking compassion on abused animals?

I'll tell you what's wrong. A lot of people who are vegan, are very judgmental. It's their way or the highway. You see, with every lifestyle comes an extreme, if you want to go there. I do not. I did make the change for me, personally. I don't think ingesting an animal is unethical. I do believe the way we have lent ourselves to extreme, disgusting mistreatment of these animals is horrific, and causes more problems than the average person realizes. It's just about educating yourself, really. I was in denial about it for a long time. I had watched some videos of what was happening in the industry and I knew it was only going to take one or two more to compel me to never touch a hamburger or chicken wing again. And believe me when I say, I loved chicken wings.

So, yeah, I made a change for myself. If I had diabetes and said I didn't want to eat cake anymore, would you be as freaked out by my decision? I don't think so. I'm not a member of PETA, I'm not going to toss red paint on you when you walk by, I'm not going to bat the fried chicken out of your hand if you eat it in front of me (although that's a pretty humorous visual).

Some parts of this lifestyle change were crazy easy for me, and some were difficult (cheese, to be exact). But I've never really deprived myself of anything, and I've got the booty to prove it. It's not going to hurt me to give up a few things. It's going to make me healthier, let my blood run easier, protect me from a load of diseases and problems directly linked to consuming animal. You should be happy for me.

So I got a gift certificate for my upcoming birthday, which we will NOT be discussing here. But, I do like a good discount. It was for the Italian chain Zio's. In the past The Husband and I have both enjoyed Zio's a time or two, and enjoy sitting at the bar for fast and excellent service. But dining as a vegan, it seems, is a quite a feat at this meat-heavy establishment.

The Husband slid excitedly into his barstool and by the time I got into mine, I could already see the nervous look in my peripheral vision starting to spread across his gorgeous face. As I began to look over the menu, my heart started to race... where was a dish withOUT meat, or cheese? What dish could I possibly ask them to remove one of these items from? We had already ordered our iced teas. I WISH I had the kind of guts to just pay for our beverages and exit. But, we're too polite. We picked through the menu. Jake finally decided on pasta with marinara, and I ordered the greek pasta- minus the chicken and the feta. We also both ordered the house salad, sans cheese.

Minutes later our salads arrived, and guess what sprinkled minisculy on top? Ah, yes. Parmesan. It almost looked like someone put it on and then tried to pick it off. Again- new vegans- too nice. We picked around the cheese instead of telling them they got it wrong. The pasta was ok, but nothing worth $9. We could have made 10 bowls of pasta at home for that price. It was nice to not cook, but it would also be nice to find something a little more complex. This just confirmed my suspicions (although we ARE talking about a chain restaurant, and we should have known better), that it is going to be hard to find decent vegan faire in San Antonio. We have one vegetarian restaurant (which I haven't gotten to yet), and that's it.

I sort of like the process of a fine restaurant, when everything is timed right, the setting is enjoyable, the wine is smooth. We don't eat out very often, but I sure would like to think we'll be able to enjoy a night out now and again, even with our restrictions.

On a MUCH better note, I made some awesome Vegan French Toast this morning. You can find the recipe here. I made it with just a little bit of extra flour. I've been making weekend french toast for my guys for almost a year, and the new lifestyle had me concerned. But on the first try, this was ridiculously delicious, and tasted exactly like the regular kind- almost better if I do say so myself. I highly recommend it. I would say if you are using vanilla flavored milk you can probably nix the vanilla extract. I wish I would have taken a photo, as it looked as good as it tasted.

I'm really enjoying this journey so much- full of discovery and possibilities. It's a challenge but I love it, and every time I think about it and I realize I'm no longer contributing to the corporate greed that is responsible for the disgusting violence and mistreatment toward other living creatures, I know it's worth it. Being a vegan is a lot trickier than just being a vegetarian, but again, it seems almost to defeat the purpose unless you jump in with both feet.

There have been three vegetarian periods in my life. I thought about this today and something really struck me that hadn't before. Each time I have chosen to go full-on vegetarian, it has been during a serious transitional time in my life. I think it's one of those things that has always been important deep-down, and when I know it is completely up to me, it's the first thing I choose for myself. Now I know that the choices I make for me are always important, and I can't shove those things to the side ever again.

So, the first time was at the age of 16, and I was vegetarian for about a year. My parents moved out of town and I was on my own. What was my very first moment-of-clarity adult-on-her-own decision? Go veg. I had no idea how to do it, so I found myself eating a lot of kidney beans, broccoli, and McDonald's french fries. But I maintained it, nonetheless. When my folks came to move me down to Missouri with them, and into a two room apartment, I was jobless, car-less, penniless, and I gave up.

The next time I thought clearly enough to give it a go was during my separation and following divorce. It was, again, one of the first and easiest choices I made. I instantly felt healthier, which is saying a lot considering the emotional shape I was in at that time. It only lasted a few short months as I gave in to the dating world and met my future husband, who- God-love-him- is a fantastic chef. The great thing was, he loved vegetables as much as I did, and had been vegetarian once before. I was weak and in love and let down my "meat guard" :) .

During the wedding preparations I began scanning old emails, sort of reminiscing about the last few years of my life and all of the ups and downs I had navigated, and I found a lot of information that I had stuck just far enough out of reach that it wasn't a daily reminder any more. But once it was in front of me again, the choice was simple. I told my fiance that after our honeymoon I was going back to vegetarianism, for good.

Strangely, over the weeks that followed, something began to stir inside of him, and the more he saw and read and heard about the mistreatment and brutal violence toward animals for the sake of money-hungry corporations, the more he knew he would be making the change as well.

So here we are, hand-in-hand, newly converted vegetarians. There is a lot that we are still working on- some decisions have been easy, others, not so much. For instance, I don't have a moral opposition to the act of eating meat, even though there is now research that could prove we were originally herbivores. And I was a rather picky meat-eater in general. I will miss bacon very much, and sushi. But I understand now the ramifications of eating these things, and funding the companies who are putting them in our grocery stores and restaurants. I have no problem giving up milk and ice cream, but eggs are a tricky thing. I'm still evolving, and it will take some time.

I hope to give a little insight into what it means to be a veggie, and how interesting your choices can be outside of the traditional carrot-eggplant-squash style dishes typical to generic vegetarianism. There are so many choices now, and many ridiculously delicious replacements.

So, please subscribe, and join my journey in whatever way you want- advisor, participant, critic.

Vegetarians are the new sexy.

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here are some things we did:

all the fresh herbs (also notice totally awesome knife):

all the delicious ingredients...mmmm....

tomatoes provencal- watch your recipe for these. some call for WAY too many breadcrumbs. that = powdery mouth. not cool:

This weekend I explained to my son why we prefer to buy from a local farmer's market rather than a big box store. After I explained, we went to our local grocery chain and I picked up some produce. He was a little confused as to why we were buying veggies after I had just explained to him the reasons why we don't want to. Needless to say, San Antonio is lacking in farmer's markets. the closest thing we've found is in Seguin and very seasonal. But every time I read an article like this, it just hammers the idea home even more.

From GirlieGirlArmy:

Top 15 Fruits and Vegetables to Buy Organic and WHY

We all know that eating organic produce takes chemicals (some seriously dangerous suckers) out of your diet and keeps all the delicious, healthful vitamins and goodies in. Organic produce is more nutritious, not genetically modified, tastes better, and is much better for the environment - it’s an easy sell. Pesticides cause cancer, damage to your nervous system, and reproductive effects. One may say it’s not worth the risk to go conventional at all! Ideally we would all eat everything exclusively organically, but not all of us can afford to go entirely organic. There are a few items you can get away with eating conventionally. Thicker skins that hide the goodness from the chemicals like bananas and grapefruit are usually safe. The vegetables and fruits least likely to have pesticides on them in numerous studies have been onions, sweet corn, asparagus, sweet peas, cabbage, broccoli, eggplant, avocados, pineapples, mangoes, kiwi, and bananas. HOWEVER; Make sure to eat these items below ONLY organically.

Not to be consumed unless organic.

1. Peaches: Non-organic peaches contain carcinogen iprodione, methyl parathion, an endocrine disruptor, and organophosphate insecticide. Methyl parathion kills bees and birds. According to Consumer Reports, single servings of peaches “consistently exceeded” EPA’s safe daily limit for a child.
   
2. Apples: Non-organic apples contain methyl parathion and chlorpyrifos. Chances are, if you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn’t be putting it into your (or your families) bod.
3. Pears: Come nosh ready with methyl parathion, as well as the OP azinphos-methyl, which is fatally toxic to freshwater fish, amphibians and bees.
   
4. Winter Squash: Dieldrin, a chlorinated, carcinogenic insecticide and heptachlor showed up in conventional squash analyzed in labs.
   
5. Green Beans: According to the Green Guide; “Green Beans can contain acephate, methamidophos and dimethoate (three neurotoxic OPs), and endosulfan, an endocrine-disrupting insecticide, which showed up in baby food, too. Acephate disorients migrating birds, throwing them off course.”
   
6. Grapes: Contain methyl parathion and methomyl, a carbamate (an insecticide listed as an endocrine disruptor) and imported grapes contain dimethoate. Consider drinking only organic wine which is sulfite-free (so your hang over will be ten times lighter) and much tastier!
   
7. Strawberries: The fake red color of non-organic strawberries comes from the fungicide captan, a human carcinogen that also is highly toxic to fish. The lethal soil fumigant methyl bromide has harmed California farm workers, and depletes the ozone layer.
   
8. Raspberries: Contain captan, iprodione and carbaryl, a suspected endocrine disruptor that has also been found in baby food. Only feed your baby organic baby food. That is an expense worth taking on.
   
9. Potatoes: Contain dieldrin and methamidophos, and aldicarb. Yum.
   
10. Tomatoes: High in chlorpyrifos and numerous other pesticide residues.
11. Cantaloupe: High in chlorpyrifos and numerous other pesticide residues.
12. Cherries: 91.4% of all non-organic cherries tested had toxic, incredibly high levels of pesticides.
    
13. Celery: High in carcinogenic pesticides when eaten non-organically.
    
14. Peppers: Sweet bell peppers was the vegetable with the most pesticides detected on a single sample (11 found on one sample), followed by celery and lettuce (both with nine).
    
15. ALL Leafy Greens: Permethrin and dimethoate and DDT have been found on leafy greens.

Who knew (conventionally) that these could be dangerous for you?

Click here to download this guide in a handy lil format (to bring with you when you shop or to keep in your wallet). We believe that one day organic produce will be the same price as conventional, but til then, prioritize your groceries. Buy in bulk (when possible), join a CSA, and relish in the joy of a Whole Foods. Make a choice to cut out some things that you don’t nesisarily need for what you truly do (non toxic food!).

Trade this for a big bag of organic apples.