vegan-ish

hi friends!

at the beginning of 2018, i went on a strict vegan diet so that i could more directly commit to both following the First Precept (don't kill!) and to helping the earth (a vegan diet is the best diet for the planet, possibly). what i learned was that a vegan diet is effing tough for someone like me, who has limited cooking skill and desire. i kept it up strongly for three months, kept it up half-assedly for another three months, and then recently gave up in order to reset and begin the struggle again.

during that second set of months, i was diagnosed with diabetes. conventional wisdom is that the best diabetic diet is one in which a person consumes few carbohydrates. my vegan diet in the first round was largely made up of heavily processed foods, and my diet in the second round was very carbohydrate-heavy. so, as you can see, my personal ability to maintain a vegan diet while eating in a way that helped keep my diabetes manageable was somewhat limited.

i'm in the process of considering going strictly vegan again, and focusing on whole foods. not like Whole 30-style intense, though i would love to, but focusing on these vegan foods reproduced from the Meatfree Athlete. i mean, this seems like it gives a lot of options, and i know i like all of those foods except lentils (sorry man, lentils are gross) and black beans (too much like little cockroaches, sorry again). i think these are doable: the difficulty i encounter is that a lot of vegan foods beyond these staples are quite expensive and a pain in the butt to deal with. these staples are versatile and cheap! which is what i'm looking for.

this vegan grocery list, courtesy of vegainstrength, is another healthful and reasonably cheap list. there are delicious foods that can be made from all of that! the difficulty, again, is that cooking is not something i'm particularly good at or interested in. i did briefly entertain the idea of food prepping, but that didn't last long. i struggled to keep up.

i do have some ideas, though. breakfast is maybe the most important meal, and one that is simple to prepare for. what i was most successful with was very simple peanut butter toast. it takes almost no time, it's got protein and healthy carbs, and it kept me from getting too hungry before lunch so that i could make good lunch choices. another successful breakfast food i enjoyed were what i called purple protein smoothies. they consisted of ice, blueberry, red berries, bananas, peanut butter, pea protein powder, almond milk, and water. they were purple and delicious! i might have to try those again.

i've found moderate success with keeping basic lunch foods at work, like spinach wraps and stuff. right now i am using a lot of meat and cheese, but could transition to cooked rice, sauce, and tofu, with vegetables. that would be fairly easy. also easy are spinach salads, which for me are spinach, a cut up apple, and mixed nuts.

dinner is more difficult, especially if the goal is to avoid extra carbohydrates. i suppose i could do vegan chilli and chips (i friggin' love chips), spaghetti with tofu meatballs, stir fries, etc. i'm not sure about good dinners.

anyway, in writing this post i'm starting to feel like i can in fact do it again, and now i want to. i'll talk it over with my lovely partner and we'll see if it's something she thinks is wise to do or not. i think healthy vegan is more important than low carb, but i'm not a doctor or a dietitian so it's hard to say.

in conclusion, i think being vegan is the best choice for me, but it's hard and i'm not always successful. i may very well try try again!