It's almost 3 months now (will be on the 5th) and I have to say that it has honestly been one of the easiest things I've ever done. If I think about or dwell on it I want to kick myself for not doing this earlier but for whatever reason, none of which I am proud of, I wasn't ready. And I've seriously never felt better physically, and considering I have barely exercised for nearly 3 weeks now (will be remedying that immediately!!), probably being the longest I've gone without exercising for a good couple of years at least, then I am personally completely amazed about how peppy and full of energy I am feeling.
I discovered an interesting site this morning, via facebook actually. It's great having "friended" many of the vegan freaks as it can help lead me to more interesting information and I'm definitely still in the "devouring all the information I can get my hands on" stage at present. I definitely want to do more eventually in terms of fighting for animal rights, but just don't feel worthy yet as I feel there is still so much to learn. What I didn't realise when I first decided to go vegan, was that going vegan is really only the first step and there is so much more to do. Anyway, the site is here and I am quite keen to check out the place in real life when we move to Melbourne and volunteer there and all.
I know it's only been (not quite) 3 months, but I honestly can't imagine life any other way. I really do feel like I'm finally doing what I always should have done. Having decided to stop calling myself a vegetarian a while back even though I didn't eat meat because it felt so hypocritical, I guess I've know for a couple of years that this is what I had to do, but doing it alluded me. I wish I knew more back then, but well, you can only work with what you know, and once you know better, you do better. You can't "unknow" something once you know it, and knowing what I know now, there is just no way in the world that I could ever knowingly eat or consume another animal product as long as I live.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Club Med
The last week was another challenge in my vegan journey. Not like seriously challenging or anything but it was certainly the kind of environment where in the past I would have said, "oh it's just too hard" and probably sacrificed my ethics and eaten products of cruelty. I really tried to plan a holiday that would me lots of fun for all 3 of us, which didn't exactly go to plan, but anyway that's not the topic at hand so I'll leave it at that.
I went relatively prepared, especially for the travelling part as I knew we'd be spending many hours in airports on the way there and back. I had 3 large Tupperware containers in my backpack (such that not much else fit but that was okay - still fit the iPod and that's the main thing). One was full of dried apples and apricots. Another was full of cashews, almonds, pine nuts and seeds and the third had rice crackers. I also took a block of organic vegan chocolate (mint!!) in case of emergency that I am happy to say lasted the trip as no such emergency arose. I just figured (rightly) that none of the desserts would be vegan and that I might feel as though I was missing something, but I really didn't. A couple of times I thought I'd have some when I got back to the room, but I never actually did.
One thing I didn't think about was that Club Med (it was a Club Med resort we stayed at) are French and that the French aren't exactly renowned for their vegan options. All meals were buffet style and really there were enough options that it wasn't a problem at all. They have various oils and sauces available as well as plain rice at all lunches and dinners and there were always plenty of vegetables too. Although it was a little weird to us that the vegetables were almost exclusively served up fridge cold, they were still tasty. So I ate a lot of rice with vegetables and soy sauce, which of course was fine, although I don't think I'll be cooking rice for at least a week or so now that we're home :) I was curious when one of the foods was labelled "French-style peas" only to discover that this apparently means cooked in butter and bacon... Ah, okay...
During the first breakfast I was a little concerned that I couldn't see any soy milk. There were other things to eat but I really wanted some cereal. There was hot and cold cows milk by the cereals and there were 2 separate locations for coffee and tea and each of them had cows milk too, but no soy milk. So I asked one of the chefs and he informed me that it was behind the juice. I was still a little confused at this point as I went to where I thought the juice was as there was orange and apple juice there and no soy milk. So I continued to look and then discovered there was some other juice in another location, there was also yoghurt there and fruit, and yes, the coveted soy milk, yay! Every other day was fine as I knew where to find it then.
I have always been a breakfast is the most important meal of the day kind of girl, so having several good options at breakfast was more important to me than having more options at the other 2 main meals. I managed to have toast with cooked tomatoes and then asked the bewildered omelette making chef if I could have some mushrooms to go with it. By day 3 though he knew me and just nodded politely as I took my mushrooms.
There were a couple of fleeting (very) moments of coveting pasta with cheese, but I thought of Bob and Jenna and all the Freaks on the forums to remind myself that as much as it can feel like it at times like that, I am not alone and to give in would not be worth it for sooooo many reasons. Not the least of which is that I would feel like utter crap about myself because I'm not just doing this for fun but because I so very, very strongly believe in it being the right thing to do. I thought about the poor calves being taken from their mothers and I knew there was only one thing I could do and that was to have some more rice with soy sauce and veggies, and garlic oil... I've never had garlic oil before but man it was good and just went really well with everything, with the rice and veggies, on a slice of bread for some vegan garlic bread, yummity, yum yum :) And once again, something that some might think is restrictive is actually broadening my palate as I am trying things that I wouldn't have even considered had I not been vegan.
I went relatively prepared, especially for the travelling part as I knew we'd be spending many hours in airports on the way there and back. I had 3 large Tupperware containers in my backpack (such that not much else fit but that was okay - still fit the iPod and that's the main thing). One was full of dried apples and apricots. Another was full of cashews, almonds, pine nuts and seeds and the third had rice crackers. I also took a block of organic vegan chocolate (mint!!) in case of emergency that I am happy to say lasted the trip as no such emergency arose. I just figured (rightly) that none of the desserts would be vegan and that I might feel as though I was missing something, but I really didn't. A couple of times I thought I'd have some when I got back to the room, but I never actually did.
One thing I didn't think about was that Club Med (it was a Club Med resort we stayed at) are French and that the French aren't exactly renowned for their vegan options. All meals were buffet style and really there were enough options that it wasn't a problem at all. They have various oils and sauces available as well as plain rice at all lunches and dinners and there were always plenty of vegetables too. Although it was a little weird to us that the vegetables were almost exclusively served up fridge cold, they were still tasty. So I ate a lot of rice with vegetables and soy sauce, which of course was fine, although I don't think I'll be cooking rice for at least a week or so now that we're home :) I was curious when one of the foods was labelled "French-style peas" only to discover that this apparently means cooked in butter and bacon... Ah, okay...
During the first breakfast I was a little concerned that I couldn't see any soy milk. There were other things to eat but I really wanted some cereal. There was hot and cold cows milk by the cereals and there were 2 separate locations for coffee and tea and each of them had cows milk too, but no soy milk. So I asked one of the chefs and he informed me that it was behind the juice. I was still a little confused at this point as I went to where I thought the juice was as there was orange and apple juice there and no soy milk. So I continued to look and then discovered there was some other juice in another location, there was also yoghurt there and fruit, and yes, the coveted soy milk, yay! Every other day was fine as I knew where to find it then.
I have always been a breakfast is the most important meal of the day kind of girl, so having several good options at breakfast was more important to me than having more options at the other 2 main meals. I managed to have toast with cooked tomatoes and then asked the bewildered omelette making chef if I could have some mushrooms to go with it. By day 3 though he knew me and just nodded politely as I took my mushrooms.
There were a couple of fleeting (very) moments of coveting pasta with cheese, but I thought of Bob and Jenna and all the Freaks on the forums to remind myself that as much as it can feel like it at times like that, I am not alone and to give in would not be worth it for sooooo many reasons. Not the least of which is that I would feel like utter crap about myself because I'm not just doing this for fun but because I so very, very strongly believe in it being the right thing to do. I thought about the poor calves being taken from their mothers and I knew there was only one thing I could do and that was to have some more rice with soy sauce and veggies, and garlic oil... I've never had garlic oil before but man it was good and just went really well with everything, with the rice and veggies, on a slice of bread for some vegan garlic bread, yummity, yum yum :) And once again, something that some might think is restrictive is actually broadening my palate as I am trying things that I wouldn't have even considered had I not been vegan.
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