In my last post, I wrote about my word of the year – balance – and why creating balance has become an important part of my life. In this post, I’d like to talk a little bit about my food philosophy, and how that has changed and evolved somewhat recently.
Speaking honestly, I have been a little reluctant to post this. I don’t feel like I’m an authority figure on any kind of diet plan, and I didn’t want to be the girl singing praises for the new thing she only just started yesterday… So here I am, several months in, writing this post to remind myself why this is important to me on days when it might be hard.
Through self-examination and a lot of long conversations with friends and family, I transitioned to a vegetarian diet during the fall, and am now in the first stages of transitioning to a vegan/plant-based lifestyle.
For years, I’ve struggled with finding a diet that works well for me. I’m from a meat-and-potatoes kind of family, but I’ve always had a lot of moral quandaries when it comes to eating animals. For one, I consider myself an animal advocate in all aspects in my life. I have two dogs and two cats that we’ve gotten through rescue groups in our area, (Did I mention that we added two kittens to our family in December?) and animal welfare is something that has always been important to me. At an old corporate job, I was notorious for running late in the mornings because I was always picking up stray dogs or helping turtles cross the road.
Additionally, I can’t claim ignorance when it comes to the ways that food is produced. Sure, there are a lot of local farmers doing a great job of giving their animals a great life before ultimately going to slaughter, however, the vast majority of corporate farms are not as concerned with the welfare of the animals they are using for profit.
Buying meat at the store brought up a lot of those same moral quandaries for me. Do I buy the very expensive, locally produced meat at the local butcher store, and feed my husband and I for one meal, knowing that there were at least 20 other meals per person that I’d have to balance as well? Or do I buy the less costly, non-local brand that may or may not be as concerned as I am about the happiness of their livestock?
For years, I felt like these were my two options. I had tried a vegan diet when I was much younger, but I only lasted about a month and immediately caved after one trip to a Saltgrass Steakhouse. I had several cards stacked against me at that point: I wasn’t very well-versed in the kitchen, I didn’t really enjoy cooking (I’ve always been more of a baker.), and, on top of all of that, I was not buying my own groceries. (I mean, I was 14… What do you expect? Haha)
So, almost 14 years later (am I really turning 28 this year? Whoa.), I’m finally giving this a second go.
I feel like I can be more successful this time around for a lot of different reasons. Most of all, I am the one making the vast majority of the grocery decisions in our home. My husband works a full-time job, and I do freelance work. Sometimes this means that we’re both working full-time, but other times it means that I am working part-time, or on a per-project basis. (Sometimes it means I’m not working at all, which happens to be the case at the moment.) Even when I am working, we are constantly trying to cut costs and save as much as possible at the grocery store. Vegetarian and vegan cooking has actually helped us save quite a bit at the grocery store, while simultaneously helping us to lose a bit of the extra weight we both gained after getting married.
I’ve picked up a lot of cooking skills since I was that 14 year old, begging Mom to make tofu instead of eggs (and Mom looking helplessly over at Dad, who would back slowly into the other room like he’d been confronted with a rabid animal). In fact, my mom actually calls me for recipe help now. What a world we live in!
Another thing that helps is having my husband on my side. He has been a big supporter, and, while not currently on the road to vegan living himself, has acclimated his diet and his choices to support mine at home. It really makes a big difference to have someone cheer-leading for you and your successes when you’ve embarked on such a big journey.
So, how is this post in any way related to balance?
I really believe that internal harmony can only come from living a life that aligns with your own values. You may not relate to my journey and my passions, and that is completely okay. It is so important for you to find the things that mean most to you, the things that trigger an emotional response in your soul, and to cultivate a lifestyle that honors those values.
For me, that meant digging deep and realizing what was really causing my past diet failures and working to find ways to overcome those issues. For me, I had a lot of cognitive dissonance with the way I was acting and the way I was cooking – saving animals in the morning and eating them at lunch (Okay, not the exact same animals, but you know what I mean!). Creating a diet that sits well with my soul has been an important part of cultivating internal balance in my life.
I’m looking forward to sharing some of the vegan recipes that my non-vegan husband and I have developed and enjoyed through the past few months. If you have questions about anything, feel free to post a comment below!
Until next time,
