Veering to Vegan
My best friend is a very successful professional wrestler. He's also been a vegetarian for about 10 years. Recently, he made the jump to full-on vegan. This means not consuming products made from animals (dairy, eggs, etc.). The reason he switched was a film: Forks Over Knives.
He told me a bit about it -- enough for me to know that if I watched it, I'd likely be drastically changing my eating habits. So, when Kate was out of town, I punched it up on Netflix Streaming. And guess what? I was right.
I am from Wisconsin, "The Dairy State." While others have shunned milk in their adulthood, I’ve stayed a believer. That may not have been my best move. I’m not going to get too preachy, but it seems dairy isn’t that great for you, and meat isn’t that great for you. Processed foods aren’t that great for you, but most of us knew that already. They advocate a plant-based, whole-foods diet. I think that term was used a few dozen times.
So I want to switch. I want to not only stay as healthy as I am, but get healthier. Maybe my physique will be more ripped. Maybe my recently-returning asthma will go away. Maybe I’ll live to 125 like I always joke about doing.
I’m fortunate I live in LA. There are at least a handful of vegan-friendly restaurants within walking distance of us. There’s a farmers market on Sundays a mile west, one on Tuesdays a half-mile east, and one on Thursdays near the gym. Then there are health-food stores such as Rainbow Acres and Samosa House.
We hit the Mar Vista farmers market yesterday, which is very close to our old place. We grabbed the last pluots of the season, some honeycrisp apples, sugar peas and some hummus - typical for us. Then we hit Rainbow Acres. I snagged some avocado, saitan (a sort of meat substitute), and Ezekiel split-grain bread (which has zero flour). Their dried-good section was insane, but I’m nowhere near that fancy/ambitious, and I may never be.
I have a lot of non-vegan food in my house. And I also live with someone who I don’t want to push my new choices upon, accepting as she is about most things. I grew up in trailer parks; I don’t like to throw away good food. So I’m taking it slowly. The Tupperware with (organic, free-range) chicken thighs will be eaten. So will the Trader Joe’s cheese tortellini, the boxes of Fiber One bars, and the can of turkey chili.
However, I’m trying to ration them. Since Kate and I split that Pesto Pizza last night, I kept from having one of my two remaining yogurts. The rest of the day, I ate granola w/almond milk, oatmeal and dried cranberries, sugar peas and split-grain bread with vegan curry hummus, and black beans with tomato and shallots over brown rice.
I ordered some plant-based protein powder from Bodybuilding.com (at an awesome price), so my worries about getting enough muscle-building protein will be allayed. And who knows? Maybe I don’t actually need as much protein as I think.
I’ve never been about labels. Some call me straight-edge, but I don’t like that term. I don’t think I’ll ever use the terms vegetarian or vegan - even once I’m all-in - in part because of the connotations they inspire. I’m just a guy trying to do what’s best for me and my health (and maybe a little for the planet). And of course there’s the chance I’ll abandon this after a month (or less). I’ll keep you posted.
He told me a bit about it -- enough for me to know that if I watched it, I'd likely be drastically changing my eating habits. So, when Kate was out of town, I punched it up on Netflix Streaming. And guess what? I was right.
I am from Wisconsin, "The Dairy State." While others have shunned milk in their adulthood, I’ve stayed a believer. That may not have been my best move. I’m not going to get too preachy, but it seems dairy isn’t that great for you, and meat isn’t that great for you. Processed foods aren’t that great for you, but most of us knew that already. They advocate a plant-based, whole-foods diet. I think that term was used a few dozen times.
So I want to switch. I want to not only stay as healthy as I am, but get healthier. Maybe my physique will be more ripped. Maybe my recently-returning asthma will go away. Maybe I’ll live to 125 like I always joke about doing.
I’m fortunate I live in LA. There are at least a handful of vegan-friendly restaurants within walking distance of us. There’s a farmers market on Sundays a mile west, one on Tuesdays a half-mile east, and one on Thursdays near the gym. Then there are health-food stores such as Rainbow Acres and Samosa House.
We hit the Mar Vista farmers market yesterday, which is very close to our old place. We grabbed the last pluots of the season, some honeycrisp apples, sugar peas and some hummus - typical for us. Then we hit Rainbow Acres. I snagged some avocado, saitan (a sort of meat substitute), and Ezekiel split-grain bread (which has zero flour). Their dried-good section was insane, but I’m nowhere near that fancy/ambitious, and I may never be.
I have a lot of non-vegan food in my house. And I also live with someone who I don’t want to push my new choices upon, accepting as she is about most things. I grew up in trailer parks; I don’t like to throw away good food. So I’m taking it slowly. The Tupperware with (organic, free-range) chicken thighs will be eaten. So will the Trader Joe’s cheese tortellini, the boxes of Fiber One bars, and the can of turkey chili.
However, I’m trying to ration them. Since Kate and I split that Pesto Pizza last night, I kept from having one of my two remaining yogurts. The rest of the day, I ate granola w/almond milk, oatmeal and dried cranberries, sugar peas and split-grain bread with vegan curry hummus, and black beans with tomato and shallots over brown rice.
I ordered some plant-based protein powder from Bodybuilding.com (at an awesome price), so my worries about getting enough muscle-building protein will be allayed. And who knows? Maybe I don’t actually need as much protein as I think.
I’ve never been about labels. Some call me straight-edge, but I don’t like that term. I don’t think I’ll ever use the terms vegetarian or vegan - even once I’m all-in - in part because of the connotations they inspire. I’m just a guy trying to do what’s best for me and my health (and maybe a little for the planet). And of course there’s the chance I’ll abandon this after a month (or less). I’ll keep you posted.