Sunday, February 10, 2013

Successes & Struggles-Deal with it.

This past week, I did a 5 day Shakeology challenge led by Kellin O'Rourke (different clan) from Fitko Health. Rules were:
     -Drink a Shakeology shake in place of one meal.
     -No alcohol or sodas
     -Limit or eliminate process foods
     -Etc...
Basically be the healthiest you've ever been for 5 days. The best part was that I saw results! Oh and did I mention the shakes came VEGAN?! Moral of the story is that vegans can get catered to also :0)

Now lets just get down to the dirty truth. I struggled a tad this week. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I grab a salad from one of our food courts on campus. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I pass the pizza station...the ricotta cheese veggie pizza whispers in my ear things that should not be repeated with perfect vegans in earshot. Oh and did I mention avoiding all the M&M's in my trail mix bag while starving? Life through me some cheap shots right there. But through the somewhat disheartening struggles, a friend referred me to vegan cookies by Lovely Liz. I can't tell you how much this changed by life! They are sold at Harvest Health stores in the Grand Rapids area (and other places as well. Plus they can be ordered.) I will be jumping on that bandwagon a.s.a.p.

Last struggle-consider it a lost battle if you may, but I'm not defeated-I may or may not have had some bread made with butter. Get over it-I did. I mean, as far as I know, it could have been 100% vegan, in which case I'd go out and buy me a years worth of it. But, in my defense, I was at a birthday party (plus-they went the extra mile to make 90% of the food vegetarian friendly). I've got great family. I felt no shame in eating the delicious meal handed to me. Soak in the generosity of friends and family-especially when they go as far as complying with your somewhat choosy-yet-so-worth-every-second-of-it lifestyle.

Last note-From Oh She Glows, I plan to make the peanut butter and jelly bars as a valentines dessert for myself :0) Made the chocolate chip cookies this past week and roommates loved them (as well as I)!

Thursday, January 31, 2013

To quote David Crowder "We're about to get a little bit uncivilized."

18 days since I let go of my sanity and became a vegan. The image of cows in a rarely seen state comes to mind and turns my stomach when I smell burgers yet I salivate anyway. On the plus side, I don’t see myself ever craving the blocks of chicken or ham at the salad bar anytime soon. 

There are definitely ups and downs to the deprive-sounding decision of becoming animal free. I became a vegetarian in March 2012. After a lifetime of denying the fact that a business is behind every factory farm and meat market (money=priority #1), watching Food Inc. has brought those fears to a reality. I’m not dogging on every farm out there. I’m sure there exists some small, local, family owned and operated farms that aren’t interested in mass producing their products. The fact of the matter is that most, if not all, of the meats you see in the supermarkets are brought to you by the one and only factory farms. Business is all about making money. There is nothing wrong with that. It’s how our world and economic system runs. But when we deny animals any humane rights and treat them as products with no feeling (physically and emotionally), it absolutely pains me. 

As a Christian, I always go back to the fact that God put animals on this earth as a resource for humans. I honestly and truly believe this to be true! BUT, it also says in the book of Daniel, that Daniel and his friends had request that for 10 days they were to be served nothing but vegetables and water (Daniel 1:12). They ended up feeling and looking healthier that those who ate the delicious, royal meats served to the other young men. “I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over. (Daniel 10:3)” In barren places where agriculture is simple not a choice, hunting is a necessity and I have no argument against that way of survival. But guess what people. We live in a country where we have a choice of eating anything. Literally anything. We can eat processed food, meat fillers, or strait up, no chaser chemicals. On the other hand, we also have the choice of organic, raw foods,  grains, or anything in between.

Although this is what I believe, you will definitely find me a hypocrite just about every day of my life. As much as I’d like to stay away from anything remotely harmful to my body, I am not free of intense cravings for diet coke, crystal light, Velveta mac and cheese(pre-vegan-ism), french fries (let’s just say I didn’t deny myself a trip to Burger King last night), ice cream, pizza, desserts galore, claimingly fat-free, low-carb, sugar-free desserts, copious amounts of chocolate in general, chips, movie theater popcorn, Aunt Jane’s cherry cobbler (which remains top on my list of what I require to eat as my final meal on this good earth), and the list continues. As most, if not all, things in life go, it’s not about being perfect. It’s about believing in what you’re fighting for and continuing to pursue it. This fight is for bringing all meat businesses up to moral and ethical standards. Animals should have rights, not just the fact that their life should be spared, but also the way they’re treated should be heavily questioned. Food Inc. is a graphic yet factual display of what goes on in the process of manufacturing meat, dairy, eggs, ect. to sell at your grocery store. Vegucated is another documentary that not only uncovers the cruel treatment of animals, but also unravels all the benefits of becoming a HEALTHY vegan. I emphasize “healthy” due to the fact that vegans could literally sit around all day eating soy ice cream, vegan cookies, binge on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ect. It’s easier to fall into the unhealthy category that it seems, especially when the only chocolate in the house is milk or made with some kind of milk fat, the peanut butter jar is the next best thing. And boy did I have at it!

Now that I’ve possibly guilted you into putting down that chicken sandwich you got for lunch, let’s move on to the fun part, finding new ways of living life! Becoming a vegan doesn’t stop at food. It asks to you reevaluate anything and everything you own! Face wash, soap, shampoo, conditioner, hair products, clothing, shoes, toothpaste, vitamins, etc. Animal testing is another element that should be taken into consideration. 

Now, as far as I’ve gotten with this whole vegan life transformation, you can find a silk shirt, a leather jacket, a leather wallet, a down coat, a down comforter, and without a doubt, cosmetics that would dampen my day to find out that I’ve been falsely claiming myself as vegan. Now, to set the record strait, I either bought these items pre-vegan or they were already purchased by someone else and given to me at no cost. I’m in college people. You give me a coat that’s no longer useful to you, before you can get the words out of your mouth, it will be on my body. This is not to say I’m not planning on implementing these changes, because I wholeheartedly am. Once I’m out of what I’m currently using (such as toothpaste, shampoo, and makeup), the newest products to my collection, you better believe, will be vegan and cruelty free! Until then, the lessons we were always taught in elementary about the Native Americans was that they didn’t waste anything. Throwing away an object that sacrificed the livelihood of an animal seems cruel in itself. Hence, my choice of a transition plan :0)

The easiest way of understanding the impact you can make by choosing to go vegan or vegetarian is by using your dollars as a vote for the products you buy. Making a statement in this world doesn’t just come in the form of yelling through a loud speaker to a crowd protesting outside of a manufacturing company. The best way is to simply be intentional about what you spend your money on. Each cent you own counts as a vote. When we spend more money on meat, it tells companies we are willing to pay them for the current condition of their products or that we are “okay” with the way they treat the animals. There would be no motivation for them to stop and think about changing their policies on animal management. If it’s not a priority to their customers, why should it concern them? On the other hand, if consumers suddenly stop buying eggs, milk, chicken, beef, etc., they will start to concern themselves with the reason and implement change. This is simply how our economic system works.

Want to become one of us? Are you doing it because this is your first exposure to where your food comes from and perhaps your dog just gave you those ever-overrated-yet-unable-to-ignore puppy eyes? Perhaps you’re ready to move on to fad diet number 8? Sorry to rain on your parade but my guess is that after a week or two, the cravings of the candy at the checkout line will find their way back into your life. I say this not because I find your willpower ill sufficient. The shear fact that you’ve read this far on a blog post you probably thought would only take 5 minutes to read...But, seriously, I’ve done every diet on the market. Most of them work. It’s the mere fact that MY goal is to cheat them one way or another. I became a vegan because I am very passionate about animals and heir wellbeing in the world. I simply can no longer stomach any food containing animal or animal byproducts knowing what I now know about their treatment and standard of living. I don’t even think about touching the chocolate chips, M&M’s, ice cream, or buttered garlic bread at Olive Garden. They simply don’t appetize me anymore. That’s not to say I don’t miss them but I have to find alternatives-my favorite part!

I love baking and, 40% of the time, cooking. And a good challenge makes it that much more exciting! My first recipe was definitely one for the (vegan) books, until I realized it wasn’t vegan...my bad. Literally, day 2 into my life changing decision, I forgot to look on the back of the dark chocolate chip bag I had picked up (misconception #1-just because it’s dark chocolate, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have milk products). But take a look at these pieces of heaven-http://ohsheglows.com/recipage/?recipe_id=6001726 . They are definitely worth another try. Misconception #2-just because it’s chocolate doesn’t mean it’s off limits :0) I just made a simple granola recipe and realized that I had bought a package of chocolate cherry dessert (still in it’s powdered form) from Holland, MI a few months ago. Scared of what the ingredients might reveal, I looked anyways. NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS! As much of a surprise as it was, I dumped it right into my granola mix. Why the heck not? Due to the copious amounts of dieting I’ve endured since...well , I’ll admit, middle school, I have lost all sense of good cooking. I will literally eat anything. But according to my roommates, it was delicious! Score. My next endeavor is baked banana chips (http://www.asweetroad.com/2011/03/banana-chips.html). My goal is to homemake as much of my food as possible. It’s time consuming, but I enjoy doing it and find it incredibly educational. 

One last thing-if you’re still on the fence about whether you really want to voluntarily depress yourself by watching one of the documentaries I’ve mentioned thus far(you’ve been warned!) but are considering becoming vegetarian or vegan for the health benefits, by all means, BUY YOURSELF A JUICER! Juicing fruits and vegetables in their raw form is the best and most natural way to get macronutrients into your body! Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead is another (let's say it all together now) documentary that saves you the tears and strictly talks about the benefits of fruits and vegetables. I’ve been juicing everyday (2x a day), and I rarely get hungry! I juice for a majority of my breakfasts and replace my ignorant, unnecessary afternoon snacking with juice and I’m satisfied, unless, of course, there is a box of Oreos sitting in my cupboard (which, by the way, are surprisingly vegan). It’s definitely worth trying. (If you buy yours from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and can’t see yourself sticking with it, I believe you can return it at anytime!) 

I apologize for, excuse the explicit imagery, “information vomiting” on my first post. Whether this is read or not, I’d like to encourage myself throughout this process  of being a vegan by seeing where I started to where I’ll be in the future. If nothing else, feel free to read this for cometic relief on a stressful day or be encouraged by the many mistakes I will inevitably make on the way! I life off of great sarcasm. Take everything I say seriously but never personally :0)

Wait! Before you go...know that in no way am I TRYING to guilt anyone into becoming vegan or vegetarian. Thats basically like putting yourself on a diet; the guilt you feel if you eat that last peanut butter cup. Unless you’re truly passionate about stopping these inhumane actions from happening, you will resort back into your old mindset. If you’re interested in the truth behind these factory farms, I highly encourage you to watch the documentaries I’ve included above.