On being Vegan and Yummy Plant Based Foods

Food, like religion is always a touchy subject. And I've found the subject of veganism to be one of the most incendiary.

Give up smoking or alcohol, everyone claps their hands on your back and congratulates you.

Give up animal products...not so much.

In fact, the only reason I'm writing about it here is that I'm loathe to tell my real family, so know that I am trusting that my Spark peeps will be gentle with me. I'm coming out of the closet so to speak.

Note: I really don't want to hear about the perceived lack of protein. Or how good bacon tastes. I know pretty much all there is to know at this point

I just want a safe space to talk to myself, and to you (if you so desire) about "the lifestyle."

I've tried on and off over the years to vary my diet; toggling between omnivore, vegetarian and vegan, low fat, high protein etc. etc. You know the drill.

But I've never felt Happy or really comfortable or committed to any one decision. And I was highly influenced by other's "success" with one thing or another. Good lord knows I buttered my bacon and just about drank mayonnaise on the Atkins diet through several iterations.

If truth be told, most of my choices had a lot to do with what the people around me wanted. Not wanting to offend my Mom at Sunday dinner. Wanting to please my family's tastes. Wanting to get along.

Finally, let's just face it, anything with bacon or mayo or cheese (or all three) does (or at least did) taste damed good.

But, I've unapologetically transitioned to a much more compassionate, hippy drippy lifestyle in the last year or so. It feels authentically like me. The real me. The happy me. Not the people pleasing me. And during that year, I've seen things about Big Farm and Big Pharm that disturb me. I could not un-see or un-feel those things even as I continued to eat animal products, albeit less and less. But I won't talk about those things.

I will talk more about food. Not the food I'm not eating, but the food I AM eating.

Like the Ezekiel bread with the nut butter and banana I had for breakfast.

Or the spicy bean and rice dishes I concoct with loads of veggies.

And I will wax poetic about the virtues of avocados with cilantro and tomatoes and will sing the praises of hummus jazzed up with beans, carrots and turmeric. And don't get me started about ginger tofu or orzo with olives and fresh herbs.

"The Vegan Lifestyle" has so far been fun. And just a little challenging since I'm on the down low about my change in eating habits. And then again, old habits are by definition hard to break.
But luckily for me the beginning of the year is the time that people decline treats for any number of reasons, so I don't have to give any reasons right now.

So here we go Spark world.

For the purposes of the blog and the whole "Spark Streak thing" I'll say it's Day 1 of Yummy Plant Based Foods.

Let's see where this takes me....