I'm sure most of you know by now that I am a vegan, with the odd fall off the wagon into a delightful pillow of spongy mozzarella, but that is very, very infrequent. I have no issue with people consuming meat it's a personal choice and I don't carry around my pulpit of vegan-ism.
I get asked a lot about my diet. What do I eat? Where do I get my protein? Do I miss meat? Why for the love of God would I stop eating meat?
Let's start with missing meat...no I don't. I thought Thanksgiving or Christmas would be hard but really there are so many other things to eat I still manage to roll myself to the couch. There is the odd time I smell a hamburger and my saliva glands shed a tear but other than that its pretty smooth sailing.
What made me give up meat? That's an easy one..Skinny Bitch. If you haven't read the book I highly recommend it (http://www.skinnybitch.net/) it very entertaining and informative, I also watched Food Inc (http://www.foodincmovie.com/) and read Fast Food Nation and it was a done deal. In fact I was on a plane reading Skinny Bitch and was so disgusted by the chapters about the food industry I stopped eating meat that very minute and haven't looked back.
Where do I get protein? Vegetables have protein, as do grains, legumes etc. People rave about meat protein vs plant protein, you can live a very healthy life without animal products. There are lots of resources out there (http://www.vegsoc.org/index.html) and (http://www.vegansociety.com/) to help you out. A dietitian is a great source of information as well.
And what do I eat? There is a wide variety of options for vegans and vegetarians. There are hundreds of different types of vegetables, grains and legumes...there are only a handful of different kinds of meat.
My usual day starts with a vegan protein shake (1C Almond Milk, 1 scoop Vegan protein powder, 1 Banana and 1C frozen berries). Lunch is usually homemade soup, veg chili, veggie wrap, etc I have a mid-afternoon snack of a piece of fruit and some almonds and supper options are endless. I don't eat after 8pm and I only drink water, no coffee, no tea, no soda (diet or regular), no alcohol. I know I should be locked up.
For great vegetarian meal ideas a few of my favorite cookbooks are Rebar (http://www.rebarmodernfood.com/cookbook.html) and Veganomicon (http://www.theppk.com/nomicon.html). It's not all tofu, Eye of Newt stuff. I make a three bean taco that my husband swears is better than anything he's had in a restaurant, sweet potato and black bean enchiladas YUM!, tomato and navy bean soup, mushroom and black bean burger...shall I go on?
Great blog Regan!
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