![]() ![]() Most of your meals will be one-dish wonders.īelieve it or not, this has been the toughest part for me - I lost a lot of my interest in cooking when I cut meat and then dairy out of my diet. I now know there are a handful of hard-to-get nutrients on a plant-based diet you should think carefully about supplementing with, to protect your long-term health.ĥ. And as I got around to doing research, nearly every vegan doctor was pointing towards a need to supplement other nutrients like the DHA/EPA omega-3s and vitamins D3 and K2. Then I learned (through a deficiency of my own) about Vitamin B12, and how difficult it is to get through plant foods. When I first went vegan I had the bulletproof mentality - the diet is crazy nutrient-rich, why would you need a supplement? I’m sure you’ve heard the adage by now: “Pay for it now, or pay for it later.” The money we spend on the healthiest food possible is an investment in our future health that will pay off down the road. Going vegan led me to learn more about food, to the point that I’m scared not to be hyper-selective and skeptical about what I buy. I shop at farmers markets and co-ops and Whole Foods more than I ever did before I was vegan, and I pay extra for organic. Why? Because being vegan has led me down the ultra-health-foodie road. So if you just replace it, say, with beans that cost a dollar per pound, you’ll bank some serious coin.Īnd yet, I now spend one and a half times or twice as much as I used to on groceries. If you do the math, eating vegetarian or vegan shouldn’t be more expensive than eating meat.Īt three, five, or eight dollars a pound, meat is one of the more expensive items you’ll buy in the grocery store. Being vegan doesn’t have to be more expensive, but it will be. Now, vegan pizza is just pizza in my mind, and I haven’t lost a thing.Īs it turned out the key to giving up that last bit of cheese - which I clung to for months - was simply deciding to do so.ģ. I quickly found that cheeseless pizza wasn’t nearly as good as the real thing, but it did the job, and over time, I came to tolerate (and even like) Daiya. But it didn’t take long to discover that when I replaced the cheese with nuts or crackers, these foods were just as satisfying for their saltiness between sips, and I felt a lot better ten minutes later. I thought I’d miss cheese as an appetizer, with a glass of wine or a beer. ![]() ![]() Life without cheese takes some adjustment, especially if you rely on it as an essential part of the few vegetarian dishes you can order in “normal” restaurants. I’m not saying that losing the cheese is easy. Giving up the cheese isn’t nearly as hard as it seems. Laugh them off, or take the opportunity to explain how important your diet choices are to you. “Want me to throw a steak on the grill for you? Oh, that’s right … hahaha!”Īn uncle once presented me with a single piece of iceberg lettuce on a plate and announced, for everyone to hear, “Hey Matt, look. My dad’s favorite line, when he tries some of our food: “This would be great with some meatballs!” It’s a joke, of course, and the fact that he says it so often has itself become a joke.īut just about every family or friendly gathering yields a joke from someone who must think they’re the first to make it. So get used to them, and understand that they don’t necessarily indicate a lack of respect. So whenever they give us the promised time machines and jetpacks and I get the chance to go back and talk to that guy, here’s how I’ll help him prepare: Years later, now that this once extreme lifestyle now feels familiar, I have just enough perspective to wish I could go back and give my pre-vegan self (or someone else in my shoes) a few pointers. But when the time was finally right, there was no question about it. In the end, it took two full years before I completely cut out eggs, milk, butter, and cheese. The commitment to officially say “ I’m vegan” (after going vegetarian two years prior) was a decision I deliberated about for a long time. I knew that I wanted to quit eating animal products but just couldn’t imagine making it work. I had even tried a vegan diet for a month, only to learn in the process that I wasn’t ready. Even after I became vegetarian, I turned this question over and over in my mind.
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