My new thing for today was going vegan for the day. I had to survive the entire day on a plant-based diet. No meat, no dairy products, no eggs, no honey...nothing that came from animals.
I've tried being vegetarian for a while now. I love animals and I love the environment but find it very hard to give up meat. I'm like the guy who loves the girl but cannot commit fully and wholly. It's not like I need meat everyday, in fact we eat vegetarian food most of the days at home but I do love my meat when I eat it. Just when I'm ready to renounce meat, I get a mad craving for a mince pie or chicken wings and then I'm back to square one.
I have friends who are vegan, some by choice, some by compulsion (owing to food allergies) and I've had many discussion about its merits and demerits. I personally have no objection to it but just think it makes thing a bit hard and inconvenient Just like anything idealistic, I feel veganism is great in theory but hard in practice. I went on the Vegan Society website to learn more about the merits of going vegan and here's why they think it is awesome:
1) It's a healthy choice - plant-based diet so rich in vitamins, fibres, low in saturated fat.
2) It's compassionate - no blood is shed, no animals are raised solely to land on your plate later.
3) It's better for the environment - apparently someone on a "normal" (i.e. meat-based diet) baggage of carbon dioxide is 1.5 tonnes more than someone on a plant-based diet.
4) It's delicious - vegetarian food can be yum and everything can have a vegan substitute - pizzas, burgers, even steaks!
5) Why not? there are so many advantages of this vegan diet...so why not?
Out of all five reasons, the last reason stuck out for me. If I can find food that is healthy, environmentally and animal friendly and delicious, then why not give it a go. I have nothing to lose (except calories maybe) and a lot to gain, according to this vegan society. It was for a day anyways. May as well try something new and help my animal friends and ozone blanket a little more.
Like I said, we eat vegetarian most days so I didn't really miss meat much today. The hard bit was going dairy-free. I so wanted a cup of coffee, not a long black, but a good ole flat white but that I couldn't do. Neither could I add honey to my green tea. Nor was I allowed some cheese on my toast in the morning which is a part of my daily staple diet for breakfast. I had to substitute my usual in-between snack of oreos with a trail mix of nuts. Dinner of lentil soup, rice and aubergine was vegetarian and delicious but I could have done with a little helping of greek yoghurt on the side! The highlight of my day was when I found out that I could actually eat chocolate as a part of the vegan diet. Apparently the Whittaker's 62% cacao blend is vegan diet friendly, that just made my day! Any diet that allows chocolate consumption is a good one! :)
Final verdict: being vegan for a day wasn't that hard. I could definitely be vegan/vegetarian for at least 3 days of the week. I just need to keep discovering delicious substitutes and satisfy my cravings (in limited consumption) for all things unhealthy and environmentally unfriendly on other days of the week!
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