If you asked me a little over a year ago if I’d ever be vegan, the answer was a super Hell No! I love bacon! And a nice juicy steak! But like so many other things in my life, I evolve and change and try new things. So I don’t eat meat anymore, and I am sorta kinda vegan. But I won’t call myself a vegan.
The definition of vegan is “a person who does not use or consume animal products.” So right away I cannot call myself a vegan because I am not making sure that I never use an animal product. I have a wool-lined jacket that is my favorite. I own one or 2 pieces of leather. Now, I am not jumping at the chance to wear fur but I am not throwing away anything I already own.
There are several things I still eat. I am definitely not strict. If I go out to eat and have beans that were cooked with animal fat I am not going to say no. If a friend cooks something that has bacon in it, like green bean casserole at Christmas, I’m still eating it. And the one thing I am never ever giving up is pepperoni pizza. I tried eating vegan pizza and it was like my world was crumbling around me. Pepperoni pizza brings me happiness. Like, it literally makes me smile and have a good day. So I will continue to eat it. I still eat butter on my toast. If someone brings a pie to a get together and it was baked with eggs, I’m still eating it.
Besides the occasional pepperoni, I don’t eat meat anymore. And that’s a huge change for me. It is an easy and a hard change. It’s easy because I like carbs and veggies so I just eat everything I would eat as a side without the meat. It’s hard because meat used to be such a staple. The convenience of grilling a bunch of chicken to reheat throughout the week is gone.
And then the carbs. That’s been a hard change for me but mentally a bit more than physically. When I first tried eating vegan while I was doing my yoga teacher training, I was eating so many GD carbs and I wasn’t doing the working out I am used to. So I gained weight. I thought that I would never be able to eat vegan if I was going to get fat. When I got home and returned to my usual exercise routine, the weight fell off and I was back to normal. So I just have to be mindful of making sure I continue to exercise while consuming mass amounts of beans and rice.
One of the reasons I still eat butter is because of the ingredients. A few years ago I started to eat clean and look at labels. It became normal for me to only eat things that had a couple “real” ingredients in them. So when I look at things like plant-based “butter” that are full of ingredients, yes they are plant based but there is still a long ass list, I just can’t do it. I cannot go against my clean rule and eat something full of stuff. And I know, I know, dairy products are full of shit from the animal that we don’t think about but we’ve seen on the Netflix documentaries, but I’m okay with having some butter and cow puss over a long list of things I can’t pronounce.
I also don’t eat too many fake meat products. The main reason is because I limit my soy intake. Soy is not good for people, especially women, and I’ve already had side effects in my past while consuming small amounts of soy. So I steer clear. That part is easy because I hate tofu. Tempeh is okay, and I don’t mind that as a filler, but I am the kind of person who is just better off not eating something than trying to fake it. I would rather just skip the cheese than eat the fake stuff that is usually ground up nuts and a bunch of things to make it sorta kinda taste like cheese. I’m just not about that.
I did decide just this week that I am occasionally going to eat eggs again. I love eggs. And we have chickens so I know where the eggs are coming from and what my girls are consuming.
Now I know about now there are hardcore vegans who are screaming at me because I am not really a vegan. Uh, hello, I said that in the beginning. And here’s the thing about me; I do what I want. And you know what? I don’t give a shit what you do. I am not an advocate type person. So if you tell me that you’re going out hunting to kill a deer and feed your family, good for you. You do you. I am not going to go with you and I am not going to eat the meat, but if that’s what you’re doing that’s cool with me. My husband still eats meat and I cook it for him. My daughter still eats meat and that’s okay.
Back in September when we (I say “we” because my husband was on board at first) first started, we were really limiting my daughter, too. But she’s 10 and it’s hard to teach a 10 year old new tricks. I know a few people who are raising their kids vegan and I think that’s amazing. But I think you HAVE to start kids out young or it’s going to be hard. I am her parent but in the grand scheme of things, I am raising her with TOOLS so that when she grows up she will have all these ideas and all this knowledge to make her own decisions. Our daughter has already changed so many things since we started eating clean, she’s going to do great in the health department as she grows up.
Part of the reason I decided to write this is because I have a lot of friends who are just not sure what to do when I come around. Around the holidays some of our friends were scared to invite us over to eat. But we went and ate what worked for us. And I am so thankful that those friends kept our eating habits in mind. The other day I visited a friend and met her husband for the first time. He knew I was a yogi and then she asked, “Are you still vegan?” The look on his face was priceless! He was like, “Oh no! You’re one of those.” We ended up going out for pizza. I ate cheese but had a veggie pizza. Part way through lunch he was like, “I can’t figure you out. But you don’t give a fuck.” That is probably the best thing anyone has ever said about me. Because it’s true. And it’s not at the same time. I am who I am. I don’t hide anything. But it’s true, I don’t give a fuck. If what you’re doing does not affect me in any way, I don’t give a shit what you’re doing. Just like eating vegan or not. I am choosing to not eat meat, just like I choose not to drink soda, but I am not going to stop being your friend if you eat meat, or drink soda. I feel like I am kind of going in a different direction now, so I’ll end here.
My point is, I hope you do what makes you feel good. And I hope you make choices because you WANT to and because you have done your own research and come up with your own opinions about things. And if you decide to eat vegan or plant-based and at some point start to eat meat again, that’s totally okay. There is no RIGHT way to live. We all have to go through this trial and error thing called life and do what we feel is right for us.