Thanks to Jeff G. for sharing this article with me in email. Definitely worth sharing on a Vegan (Feast) Thursday. When I think back to when I started eating an exclusively plant-based diet, till today, I realize a lot of this info would have been quite valuable back then. It is entirely true that the foods I LOVE and CRAVE now are not what they were when the journey started. Personally, I have grown to love the foods I eat with a passion and have noticed (5 years into the journey) that I enjoy food more than ever. While I don’t necessarily adhere to all the points she makes (I don’t drink a lot of smoothies, juices or eat a lot of superfoods) it is a really good read for anyone who is considering a plant-based diet as well as for those of us already on one, because we can certainly relate!
Here is the article: by Talia Pollock
There’s a common misperception of plant-eaters: that we all loved kale
and ginger shots and tempeh from Day One. Like we just shot out of the
womb crying for green juice instead of breast milk. Or like when we
endured our first heartbreak we ate a bowl of quinoa instead of a pint
of Ben & Jerry’s.
Umm … no. It took me probably a FULL YEAR being vegan to actually like eating plants. I know, right? It’s really easy when first going vegan to focus all your attention on what NOT to eat (dairy, eggs, fish, meat, pork, poultry). Every meal
becomes a challenge to figure out how to “veganize” what’s already in your normal diet. Breakfast becomes cereal without dairy milk, lunch is a sandwich without the cold cuts and dinner is pizza without the cheese.
It seems much easier to keep as many habits as possible and just make
small tweaks to them, rather than totally overhauling your diet.At least that’s what I did. I spent the first year eating a mostly animal-free diet, which I now know, years later, does NOT provide the same life-changing effects as a real plant-based diet does. There’s somuch I know now, thriving on a plant-based diet, that I wish I had known
starting out. Here are 12 of those things:
1. Pizza without cheese is not dinner.
It’s neither healthy, nor filling, for a dinner to be comprised of 90% bread (even if it’s gluten-free) and 10% veggies. You can’t live off of
cheese-free pizza (and meatless pastas) for too long before you start feeling and looking like crap. Life without a 9:1 carb to veggie ratio is so much better.
2. Plants don’t typically come in packages.
The freeze-dried fruit, microwavable cheese-free burrito, fakin’ bacon and
bag of vegan cookies … those aren’t plants. They might not contain animal by-products, but they are not plants and won’t give you the energy, glowing skin, weight-loss and improved digestion (among other health benefits) that plants will.
3. Smoothies are the greatest. (And you really do need a blender.)
Nothing is more magical than throwing a bunch of fresh fruits, frozen fruits,
vegetables, herbs, spices, sweeteners, seeds, and nuts into a blender and pouring out a filling, nutrient-dense, delicious meal. Smoothies will become a daily (or twice-daily) staple. Embrace this and learn to improvise smoothies without using a recipe.
4. Juices are good, too.
Those expensive juices in the trendy juice bars? They’re worth it. Drink one
in the morning on an empty stomach. Try to phase out the sweet fruity
juices. Go ahead and make this a daily habit, but don’t panic and think
the world will end if you miss a morning or two or seven.
5. Yes, you CAN get enough protein, don’t worry.
Unless you’re an extreme athlete or bodybuilder, there’s no need to agonize over your protein intake. Just try to get some plant-based protein with every meal or
snack. Like protein powder in your breakfast smoothie, nut butter on
your snack apple, beans on your lunch salad, quinoa in your dinner entrée. It’s not impossible or even challenging. Just make sure you do it.
6. Green stuff is easy to sneak into non-green stuff.
Avocados, spinach, kale and other healthy greens that people rave about can be
hidden in some of your favorite foods. Avocados can be spread on bread
in a sandwhich without impacting the taste, spinach can be processed
into pesto without altering the flavor and kale can be blended into a
smoothie (minus its stems) without ruining the texture. Experiment and
you will succeed.
7. You CAN acquire tastes.
When first going plant-based, the bold flavors of the pure ingredients might
overwhelm your dulled taste buds. Give it a little bit of time. The
air-popped popcorn with coconut oil the frozen banana-based ice creams and the collard green wraps will go from being “weird” to being a craving. As crazy as it sounds today, know that it’ll happen.
8. You CAN’T acquire textures.
Seitan, tofu and zucchini pasta might always creep you out. Don’t force
yourself to love them. And don’t beat yourself up that you’re the only
vegan who “hates tofu,” because you’re not.
9. Even though Mother Nature makes candy, that doesn’t mean you should eat it all day every day.
When you start eating loads of plants, you’ll find bananas and dried fruit popping up in recipes left and right. Smoothies, baked goods and ice creams will call for frozen or ripe bananas. Granolas, energy bars and raw desserts will call for dates, and figs galore. Sure, bananas and dried fruits are healthy. But they are also incredibly sweet, loaded
with sugar, and undesirable for your waist if you eat too many.
10. Plants are cheap. Superfoods are not.
Vegan diets get a bad rap; people think they’re expensive. When was the last
time you went to a grocery store and freaked out over the price of an
apple? Or a bunch of kale? Or a few oranges? It’s the bags of superfoods
that makes your jaw drop when you’re at check-out. Remember: You don’t
need all the superfoods all at once. Pick and choose. Start with flax,
chia and hemp seeds. Try some goji berries a few weeks later. Or
spirulina. Save up for some maca or or treat yourself to some camu camu
on a special day. You can thrive on a plant-based diet without
superfoods being a staple.
11. You’re going to spend a lot of time in cookbooks, your kitchen, and the grocery store.
Unless you grew up in a plant-based household, you’re about to venture into
very uncharted territory. And if you want to stay there, you’re going to
have to chart it. Enjoy the learning process! Buy fun cookbooks and go
online to connect with the authors and fellow fans. Play around in your
kitchen, experiment, lick the bowl and laugh at your mishaps. Navigate
the grocery store like a tourist in a new city, do your research, ask
for directions and don’t be embarrassed looking a little lost.
12. It’s going to be worth it.
Eating a mostly or a fully plant-based diet is worth every dollar, spilled
smoothie, bag of goji berries, and yes, pizza without the cheese. Once
you start receiving that endless energy, glowing skin, ideal pant size,
vanishing digestive struggles, alleviation of anxiety and mood swings,
improved sleep and all the other rewards that come with eating loads of
plants, you’ll understand.
So don’t forget to consider a meal or two that excludes animal products today…and every day!
And for those that do indulge in the fancy juices, my friends are proud to announce that their juice, JUICERA, is now available at a bunch of Whole Foods Stores in South Florida! Many flavors…check em out!
