Vegan verdict

Conclusions on vegan diet…

For my last day as a vegan a little reflection on the last month is in order. What has this month taught me?

I do feel incredibly healthy and positive in both mind and body. I have a little personal turmoil at the moment but that’s for another post.

Throughout the last month I’ve managed fairly well to stick to a predominantly vegan diet. Unfortunately I’ve not managed to be a 100% vegan…

Chris and I visited a local pub for dinner one evening. There was no vegan option and the only vegetarian option was mushroom risotto… I’m not keen on mushrooms or risotto so decided to have fish and chips.
During my recent trip to Oslo with my vegan daughter Zoe, we were able to follow a vegan diet without too much difficulty. The hotel had a massive choice of breakfast enabling me to have soya milk on my cereal, beans on toast, smoothies etc. Oslo has several excellent vegan restaurants including Nordvegan and Funky Fresh Foods. However on the last night we set out to look for something to eat but at 8.30 pm on a Sunday most specialised vegan restaurants had closed. We found an Olivia restaurant but the only vegan option was a bowl of olives! So we had to get a vegetarian pizza…

Lessons learned:

I have no issues with preparing vegan food at home; there are thousands of tasty vegan recipes and I never get fed up with curries and soups. I don’t miss meat at all.
Many restaurant chains now have specific vegan menu’s which is great. However this doesn’t apply to all and going to the two restaurants mentioned above has meant breaking my vegan pledge.
Having discussed veganism with my daughter Zoe she now refers to herself as having a ‘plant based diet’ rather than calling herself a vegan.

Conclusion:

Following a vegan diet throughout April and March’s vegetarian lifestyle have encouraged me to think carefully about my approach to food and eating.

Giving vegetarianism some careful thought I don’t feel its much more ‘animal friendly’ than people who eat meat. It could even be considered worse… I am not an expert but I would assume that killing a cow for its meat means the animal suffers less than a cow who is milked for its entire life. Therefore if someone decides to become a vegetarian and as a result consumes more cheese rather than eating meat, are they in fact being more harmful to cows?

I also believe that a predominantly vegan lifestyle is a healthy lifestyle choice and that eating meat isn’t really necessary.

Taking all things into consideration this is what I am going to do from now:

I will cook vegan as much as possible at home although I will revert back to having fish occasionally.
I will order vegan food as a priority if it’s available on restaurant menu’s. If it isn’t I’ll go for the most healthy choice.
I’m not keen on the way animals are used to produce milk (which is meant for baby cow’s) so I will continue to have oat milk or coconut milk rather than cow’s milk. And have occasional cheese but try to get vegan cheese where possible.
I might very occasionally have chicken but only if it’s free range and organic. And the same applies to eggs.
I won’t eat pork, lamb or beef again. The only exception would be if I am invited as a guest and someone has kindly cooked it for me without realising my food preferences. This would be extremely rare and might occur less than once a year. However I wouldn’t want to make a fuss or offend my host.

So following my vegetarian and vegan months and discussing the terminology with Zoe, from now I am going to follow a primarily plant based diet!

Vegapril starts tomorrow

“The number of vegans in Britain has risen by 360% in 10 years” says the Daily Telegraph.

This means that over half a million people or over 1% of the UK population has turned to a vegan diet, a choice more popular with the younger generation. The Telegraph suggests the main factors driving this trend are healthy eating and a growing awareness about the way animals are farmed.

My month as a vegan is starting tomorrow, 1st April which also happens to be Easter Sunday. And happens to coincide with a visit to my elderly parents-in-law.

My in-laws live in Norfolk which is a two hour drive and means we don’t get to see them as often as we would if they lived closer. So when we visit they usually book up a restaurant and the four of us go out for dinner which saves them any work and we can maximise the time we have with them.

Unfortunately my father-in-law hasn’t been too well and isn’t feeling up to going out so my mother-in-law is going to cook for us. She has kindly offered to cook a chickpea and aubergine curry which sounds delicious. However, with my father-in-law being unwell I don’t want to give her anything else to have to think about. So I haven’t actually told her that I am starting a vegan month…

Similar to my thoughts as mentioned when I started my March vegetarian month, I don’t like to put people to any trouble, particularly as she is elderly and cooking for us and looking after my father-in-law.

Lets see how things go tomorrow…

In addition, I’ve just checked on the wine situation for vegans. Apparently most wine does contain small amounts of animal by-products. I’m not sure I want to give up wine as well for a month so on the basis I only usually have about 3 – 4 glasses of red wine a week, I’ll continue to drink the odd glass of wine on my vegan month but will make a point of seeking out vegan wine.

I’ve been having oat milk on my breakfast cereal for over a year and I now prefer this to cows milk. The only milk I do have is in coffee which means I’ll need to drink black coffee from tomorrow. I think I’ll miss having milk in my coffee…

I’m going to try my best to follow a vegan diet by removing all meat, fish, dairy and eggs and will try to substitute these for healthy options where possible. And the odd glass of wine…

And I’ve discovered that vegans eat dark chocolate! Hurrah!

Conclusion on a vegetarian lifestyle

Today is the final day of my month as a vegetarian and tomorrow I switch to vegan.

I’ve spent the whole of March on a diet which has excluded all meat and fish products which according to the Vegetarian Society is a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. This is the term used for vegetarians who eat dairy products and is the most common type of vegetarian.

Firstly I can say I found it very easy to lead a vegetarian lifestyle which is probably because my husband has been a pescatarian for a number of years, that is, someone who doesn’t eat meat but who does eat fish. He also occasionally has chicken but it has to be free-range organic chicken.

Rather than cooking separate meals, I’ve also tended to follow this diet too. So the main difference has been the lack of fish or chicken for a month.

As I mentioned in the previous ‘mid month‘ update, our dinners have contained meat substitutes such as Quorn which I still have mixed feelings about due to it being processed. Also, if you substitute lean meat such as chicken or turkey for say a cheese flan or cheese pasty, this has to be the more unhealthy choice too.

My conclusion?

In my view a vegetarian diet is easy to follow although, unless you limit the processed meat substitutes, cheese and pastry, I can’t really see the health benefits.

In addition, I would think there is greater suffering for cows if you consume larger amounts of cheese and milk. Rather than being slaughtered at a young age, cows have to go through multiple pregnancies throughout their lives to meet the demand for human consumption of their milk. So which is worse?

As mentioned, I’m starting ‘Vegapril’ (instead of Veganuary) tomorrow to experience a month as a vegan. Although the increase in people choosing a vegan lifestyle is rapidly increasing, I’m anticipating a few more challenges…

Preparing for my vegan month

Throughout our year of travels in 2016, my husband Chris and I got a real taste for vegan food. It can be difficult to stay healthy while on the road long term particularly as we mostly stayed in budget accommodations. Often breakfast would be a piece of cake and a coffee! We discovered many vegan restaurants, often in unlikely places, and always offering delicious healthy food!

For example, the above picture was of a delicious meal served in the vegan Cafe Vida in La Paz, Bolivia. As mentioned in our La Paz blog post, this delightful little cafe was, according to Trip Advisor, the then number 1 of 324 restaurants in La Paz! Incredible for a country well known for being large consumers of meat.

We found other amazing vegan cafes and restaurants in places such as Peru, Prague, Thailand and Cambodia. They were all able to create delicious vegan masterpieces without the need for a single animal to be involved.

So, while I already have a taste for lovely vegan food, I haven’t yet committed myself to trying a full month of being a vegan.

I’ve missed Veganuary, a concept which has a website with loads of information to help people to try a vegan lifestyle in January. There are recipes and a list of popular restaurant chains who offer vegan food as part of their menu which will be really helpful.

I’m planning to try a vegetarian month in March, then a vegan month in April. I’m really looking forward to both!

Roll on ‘Vegapril’

Pondering… why become a vegetarian for a month?

For the last few years I’ve gradually eaten less and less meat. The more I see awful videos of the abuse suffered by animals the more I’ve gravitated towards a semi vegetarian and vegan diet. I’ve also been influenced by my husband Chris, who has only eaten organic chicken (rarely) and fish since I’ve known him. And my daughter, Zoe, who became a vegan in 2016. Zoe has a point when she says “there are so many alternatives so why do you have to eat an animal?”

Many people become vegetarian for health benefits although as Harvard Health explains, you could eat a diet full of pizza, ice cream and cakes which is still technically vegetarian but not the healthiest!

So I have decided to try a vegetarian diet for the month of March just to see how things go and to consider whether this is right for me. Will I miss eating fish? Are there plenty of alternatives? Will I end up eating too much cheese and gain weight? Will I be sick of vegetable lasagne by 1st April? Will report back in due course…