Thursday 18 September 2008
The Vegan Food Blog
Okay, to go along side this blog - I've made 'The Vegan Food Blog', where I'll be logging my favorite recipes and adding anything from my cooking experiments as well as this I'll be adding thoughts and ideas on vegan food, restaurants, shops etc etc. If anyone is interested in helping out with this then please get in touch!
The Dreams
Well for the third night in a row now, I've dreamed about eating dairy. It's actually quite amusing.
It's been Muller Rice, Milk on cereal and custard, I've been half way through eating them and then realised "AAAH! I'm eating cow juice!" sort-of-thing.
Although I do have a theory as to why - I recently got to the point where I'm not checking the back of everything, because I'm kinda getting to know what I can and can't eat and I'm just getting the soya milk out of the fridge on auto-pilot and not having to consciously remember not to use diary milk - and sometimes, I'll be half way through some musli and have to think weather I used soya or dairy because I don't actually 'remember'.
I guess that's a good sign though - I'm not always thinking about what I can and can't eat, I'm starting to just 'know' and get on with it.
Also - my hands are starting to go pretty dry, which is strange. One of my friends said that someone she knows is vegan, and he said that it made his hands go dry - to which I thought was pretty weird and couldn't really be down to not eating animal products, but my hands have also gone quite dry. Strange.
Other than that my health is pretty spot on, considering I've been going to bed at stupid o'clock most nights and drinking obscene amount of alcohol! I havn't really had a hang-over since being vegan, and have had alot less of the 'meh' morning feel.
Not really losing any more weight though, probably due to this and the fact that I descovered certain buiscuits are vegan.... and some Walker's crips. *Makes a mental note to cut those out*
Speaking of unhealthy food, I made onion bhajis the other night, they were pretty good, although I only had one onion to spare and they needed much more spices and seasoning than the recipe says. I did attempt to make a second batch a few days after, with more onion and spices... only to find out that we don't have a chip pan any more - so the mixture is in the fridge until we get a deep fat fryer.... hopefully we'll get one before it starts to grow fur.
I'm getting annoyed with places that don't sell vegan lager too - Beck's Veir, at one point, was taking over the world and now it seems that nowhere sells it anymore. Wetherspoons have loads of lagers, none of which are vegan. grrr, but in their defence shorts are pretty reasonably priced, so whiskey and coke it is.
Downside to Beck's Veir is, it seems that the lines need to be cleaned more than most lagers otherwise it tates like crap - after the lines have been cleaned it's nice, sharp and crisp... but after a few days it tastes really thick and...generally not very good.
I've yet to actually eat out, everyone went to Taybarns the other day, it was hard enough eating there as a vegetarian, so I'm not even going to bother as a vegan, unless I plan to eat salad - but then it kind of takes away the value for money aspect.
It's been Muller Rice, Milk on cereal and custard, I've been half way through eating them and then realised "AAAH! I'm eating cow juice!" sort-of-thing.
Although I do have a theory as to why - I recently got to the point where I'm not checking the back of everything, because I'm kinda getting to know what I can and can't eat and I'm just getting the soya milk out of the fridge on auto-pilot and not having to consciously remember not to use diary milk - and sometimes, I'll be half way through some musli and have to think weather I used soya or dairy because I don't actually 'remember'.
I guess that's a good sign though - I'm not always thinking about what I can and can't eat, I'm starting to just 'know' and get on with it.
Also - my hands are starting to go pretty dry, which is strange. One of my friends said that someone she knows is vegan, and he said that it made his hands go dry - to which I thought was pretty weird and couldn't really be down to not eating animal products, but my hands have also gone quite dry. Strange.
Other than that my health is pretty spot on, considering I've been going to bed at stupid o'clock most nights and drinking obscene amount of alcohol! I havn't really had a hang-over since being vegan, and have had alot less of the 'meh' morning feel.
Not really losing any more weight though, probably due to this and the fact that I descovered certain buiscuits are vegan.... and some Walker's crips. *Makes a mental note to cut those out*
Speaking of unhealthy food, I made onion bhajis the other night, they were pretty good, although I only had one onion to spare and they needed much more spices and seasoning than the recipe says. I did attempt to make a second batch a few days after, with more onion and spices... only to find out that we don't have a chip pan any more - so the mixture is in the fridge until we get a deep fat fryer.... hopefully we'll get one before it starts to grow fur.
I'm getting annoyed with places that don't sell vegan lager too - Beck's Veir, at one point, was taking over the world and now it seems that nowhere sells it anymore. Wetherspoons have loads of lagers, none of which are vegan. grrr, but in their defence shorts are pretty reasonably priced, so whiskey and coke it is.
Downside to Beck's Veir is, it seems that the lines need to be cleaned more than most lagers otherwise it tates like crap - after the lines have been cleaned it's nice, sharp and crisp... but after a few days it tastes really thick and...generally not very good.
I've yet to actually eat out, everyone went to Taybarns the other day, it was hard enough eating there as a vegetarian, so I'm not even going to bother as a vegan, unless I plan to eat salad - but then it kind of takes away the value for money aspect.
Friday 12 September 2008
Enter the Vegan
It's now around 2 weeks into my becoming vegan, and so far so good!
My cousin has been vegan for years now, and I always thought it was a little bit odd and a little bit 'too far' (compared to Vegetarians/Vegetarianism) - though now I've come to realise that was only down to ignorance. I first tried veganism probably about a year a go, and it lasted about 2 days, before I gave up and had cheese on toast, followed by a curry for tea!
Though after that, I did change my opinion of vegans, and even more so vegetarians - I realised that being Veggie was a complete waste of time, like deciding you're not going to drink alcohol, but still having spirits. Didn't really understand why someone would be vegetarian, but not vegan? But I still didn't have the will power to actually 'do' it.
This time around, I have to say I took it alot more seriously. Initially, dispite my dislike for it, I became a vegetarian, with the hope that I would lose a couple of lbs - and just happened to come across some stuff on Facebook about the cruelty with KFC, leading to PETA's website. I know PETA are about as respected as the cows they campaign about, but I thought I'd give them a fair chance to say what they're out to say.... and well, obviously it worked, or at least it stuck the idea of trying veganism again - and I signed the 'Veg Pledge', saying that I would 'explore' veganism for 30 days.
After that I did a fair lot of research, both on the effects of what is involved in the reering of animals for food, the salughter, preperation etc and also the pros and cons of cutting it from the diet, especially on the nutrition side. Endless websites, forums and groups later, I decided I was ready to make the change. I was no longer willing to put (any more, apart from cigarettes and alcohol) shit into my body they're engough, and at least they provide some enjoyment.
My first few days went pretty well actually, although I suppose I 'cheated' a little bit - as my cousin is an expert vegan so she gave me loads of hints on what to look out for, brands to get, where to get certain things from and a bunch of recipes to get me started with.
Alot of people say "but... what will you eat?!?" to which I've now started to say "well, nothing, that's the real downside to being vegan - there's no food which doesn't have animal products in it"... the amount of food out there is unbelievable, if you're just willing to go and have a look
Okay, granted, it's not for everyone - but right now i'm pretty much enjoying it, and havn't really craved any meat/dairy so far, the thought of it actually makes me feel slightly sick to the honest.
I generally feel alot better already, I've lost some weight, have more engergy and just feel better/healthier in myself.
Woohoo!
My cousin has been vegan for years now, and I always thought it was a little bit odd and a little bit 'too far' (compared to Vegetarians/Vegetarianism) - though now I've come to realise that was only down to ignorance. I first tried veganism probably about a year a go, and it lasted about 2 days, before I gave up and had cheese on toast, followed by a curry for tea!
Though after that, I did change my opinion of vegans, and even more so vegetarians - I realised that being Veggie was a complete waste of time, like deciding you're not going to drink alcohol, but still having spirits. Didn't really understand why someone would be vegetarian, but not vegan? But I still didn't have the will power to actually 'do' it.
This time around, I have to say I took it alot more seriously. Initially, dispite my dislike for it, I became a vegetarian, with the hope that I would lose a couple of lbs - and just happened to come across some stuff on Facebook about the cruelty with KFC, leading to PETA's website. I know PETA are about as respected as the cows they campaign about, but I thought I'd give them a fair chance to say what they're out to say.... and well, obviously it worked, or at least it stuck the idea of trying veganism again - and I signed the 'Veg Pledge', saying that I would 'explore' veganism for 30 days.
After that I did a fair lot of research, both on the effects of what is involved in the reering of animals for food, the salughter, preperation etc and also the pros and cons of cutting it from the diet, especially on the nutrition side. Endless websites, forums and groups later, I decided I was ready to make the change. I was no longer willing to put (any more, apart from cigarettes and alcohol) shit into my body they're engough, and at least they provide some enjoyment.
My first few days went pretty well actually, although I suppose I 'cheated' a little bit - as my cousin is an expert vegan so she gave me loads of hints on what to look out for, brands to get, where to get certain things from and a bunch of recipes to get me started with.
Alot of people say "but... what will you eat?!?" to which I've now started to say "well, nothing, that's the real downside to being vegan - there's no food which doesn't have animal products in it"... the amount of food out there is unbelievable, if you're just willing to go and have a look
Okay, granted, it's not for everyone - but right now i'm pretty much enjoying it, and havn't really craved any meat/dairy so far, the thought of it actually makes me feel slightly sick to the honest.
I generally feel alot better already, I've lost some weight, have more engergy and just feel better/healthier in myself.
Woohoo!
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