Starting Out
Hello! Welcome to my new blog. I wanted to document my journey to veganism as a way to help me get through cravings, doubts, malnutrition and anything else that may come my way during this trip to my new cruelty-free life.
I have attempted to become a vegan many times in the past, but to no avail every time. I think the longest I've gone was a month, but I began working at Starbucks and couldn't avoid it. Theres milk in the white mocha and caramel sauce, there's honey in the chai, there are bagels that aren't even vegan, and nearly everything in the pastry case has some kind of butter or egg product on it! I couldn't handle it. And nearly nothing tastes the same without dairy or even regular cream in your coffee. The only thing I've ever had trouble getting rid of in my life is... cheese. I love cheese, I recently read somewhere that cheese is just as addictive as cocaine! That's crazy. Probably not true, but crazy. I love pizza and quesadillas, basically everything tastes better with cheese in my opinion. But I know what goes on with dairy, it's not like I'm ignorant, I just had trouble getting rid of it, like I'm sure everyone does. I haven't found the perfect cheese substitute yet, (Daiya tastes absolutely terrible) but I'm sure I'll find it. I'm pathetic, I know, but I'm working on it.
It was always hard because I never knew what to buy! How do I meal prep and still assure myself I won't get bored? How do I not overpay for food when I'm a college student? How do I avoid buying too much or too little? How do I even COOK????? I struggled with even getting to a grocery store because with my job I couldn't afford two Ubers to and from the grocery store, and what if I had bought too much and I couldn't carry it all in an Uber? It drove my anxiety up the frickin wall, I tell ya. I ate at Taco Bell and Chipotle more than I care to admit, and Lays Potato Chips were a godsend when I needed something salty. Now I'm moving back home to go to school while living with my parents, and I'm just wondering how that'll work. Two cooks in the kitchen never goes well in my house, but it would feel just wrong asking my parents to cook for me when I'm perfectly able and they likely wouldn't want to eat what I would eat anyway. I feel like I'm making all of this more of a big deal than it really is.
My plan is to cook all my meals one day a week and then store it in containers to heat up later. I've saved plenty of recipes on Pinterest, my Lord and Savior, and I have a lot of ideas. Like instead of taking a meal markout at work everyday, I could just bring in something to eat that isn't loaded with butter, meat, cheese, or eggs. On days I have school all day I could do the same thing, or just bring a bar to snack on between classes, something like that. Smoothie in the morning, reheat a meal for dinner, all that good stuff.
The only issue I'm having and panicking about is making sure I'm getting enough of everything I need for a day. I've looked at plenty of Vegan "Food Pyramids" and gotten a pretty good idea of what I need to eat for a day. 5 cups of grains and starchy vegetables, 3 cups of beans and lentils, 3 cups of green vegetables, 3 cups of (fortified?) dairy substitute, 2 cups of fruit, 2 cups of seeds and nuts, and 1 cup of other vegetables. How do I fit all of that in a DAY? And I know I need to take a B12 supplement, but what about a multivitamin as well? I know as a vegan you could eat all day long and really nothing is wrong with that but I have no idea how I can do all of that in a day and not have a super huge budget on food. I can't spend a lot, and I don't want to buy anything I won't use, and I don't want to get bored of anything because I won't know what else to make to replace it!! It seems all very calculated in my head and if I make the perfect diet plan, and get bored and remove something, that could require everything to change and that STRESSES ME OUT!!! I'm sure it gets easier the longer you do it but when you're first starting out it feel like its impossible.
(As a side-note, I've been a vegetarian for close to a year now. I rarely eat eggs, milk, or butter. It's all cheese for me. Something made me mad today, though. I was reading on Twitter that someone tweeted how you can't say you love animals and you want the abuse to end while you still eat meat and consume dairy products. I agree. Someone got mad and said that so, if you're broke, you can't advocate against animal cruelty, because you HAVE TO eat the meat and dairy products from fast food restaurants and that dairy and meat is cheap at grocery stores. Um... I haven't eaten meat, bought cheese, milk, eggs or butter, and only eat fast food pretty much, and I'm a broke college student. People need a better argument.)
So today I went to the grocery store and bought some food to get ready for my new vegan life. The last two days I've been completely vegan which I'm proud of, but just not in the best ways, which I'm not proud of. I bought Envirokids Panda Puffs which are vegan, and almond milk. Easy enough. I also bought blueberries, strawberries, bananas, spinach, and quinoa. I could make quinoa cereal or a smoothie, also easy enough. That's where all the good stuff ends. I bought Lays Potato Chips, almonds, non-dairy cherry garcia ice cream, veggie hot dogs, hot dog buns, vegan chorizo and black bean taquitos and Gardein chicken tenders. I did not buy a single thing to make something for lunch or dinner I feel so STUPID but I spent so much money at the grocery store on other things so I couldn't afford to buy anything else. And I'm moving back home in a week so I didn't want to buy too much. I even bought a make up brand today that isn't even cruelty free and I feel so dumb.
Its definitely a process getting to 100% vegan, but it's so hard. I don't want to miss out on key nutrients, I don't want to get bored, I don't want to cheat, I want to eat enough all day, I want to not quit this, I want to do it. It's just hard, but I know I can get there.
If you read this, thanks! And if you want to and can help, please do! Thanks! Love you!
I have attempted to become a vegan many times in the past, but to no avail every time. I think the longest I've gone was a month, but I began working at Starbucks and couldn't avoid it. Theres milk in the white mocha and caramel sauce, there's honey in the chai, there are bagels that aren't even vegan, and nearly everything in the pastry case has some kind of butter or egg product on it! I couldn't handle it. And nearly nothing tastes the same without dairy or even regular cream in your coffee. The only thing I've ever had trouble getting rid of in my life is... cheese. I love cheese, I recently read somewhere that cheese is just as addictive as cocaine! That's crazy. Probably not true, but crazy. I love pizza and quesadillas, basically everything tastes better with cheese in my opinion. But I know what goes on with dairy, it's not like I'm ignorant, I just had trouble getting rid of it, like I'm sure everyone does. I haven't found the perfect cheese substitute yet, (Daiya tastes absolutely terrible) but I'm sure I'll find it. I'm pathetic, I know, but I'm working on it.
It was always hard because I never knew what to buy! How do I meal prep and still assure myself I won't get bored? How do I not overpay for food when I'm a college student? How do I avoid buying too much or too little? How do I even COOK????? I struggled with even getting to a grocery store because with my job I couldn't afford two Ubers to and from the grocery store, and what if I had bought too much and I couldn't carry it all in an Uber? It drove my anxiety up the frickin wall, I tell ya. I ate at Taco Bell and Chipotle more than I care to admit, and Lays Potato Chips were a godsend when I needed something salty. Now I'm moving back home to go to school while living with my parents, and I'm just wondering how that'll work. Two cooks in the kitchen never goes well in my house, but it would feel just wrong asking my parents to cook for me when I'm perfectly able and they likely wouldn't want to eat what I would eat anyway. I feel like I'm making all of this more of a big deal than it really is.
My plan is to cook all my meals one day a week and then store it in containers to heat up later. I've saved plenty of recipes on Pinterest, my Lord and Savior, and I have a lot of ideas. Like instead of taking a meal markout at work everyday, I could just bring in something to eat that isn't loaded with butter, meat, cheese, or eggs. On days I have school all day I could do the same thing, or just bring a bar to snack on between classes, something like that. Smoothie in the morning, reheat a meal for dinner, all that good stuff.
The only issue I'm having and panicking about is making sure I'm getting enough of everything I need for a day. I've looked at plenty of Vegan "Food Pyramids" and gotten a pretty good idea of what I need to eat for a day. 5 cups of grains and starchy vegetables, 3 cups of beans and lentils, 3 cups of green vegetables, 3 cups of (fortified?) dairy substitute, 2 cups of fruit, 2 cups of seeds and nuts, and 1 cup of other vegetables. How do I fit all of that in a DAY? And I know I need to take a B12 supplement, but what about a multivitamin as well? I know as a vegan you could eat all day long and really nothing is wrong with that but I have no idea how I can do all of that in a day and not have a super huge budget on food. I can't spend a lot, and I don't want to buy anything I won't use, and I don't want to get bored of anything because I won't know what else to make to replace it!! It seems all very calculated in my head and if I make the perfect diet plan, and get bored and remove something, that could require everything to change and that STRESSES ME OUT!!! I'm sure it gets easier the longer you do it but when you're first starting out it feel like its impossible.
(As a side-note, I've been a vegetarian for close to a year now. I rarely eat eggs, milk, or butter. It's all cheese for me. Something made me mad today, though. I was reading on Twitter that someone tweeted how you can't say you love animals and you want the abuse to end while you still eat meat and consume dairy products. I agree. Someone got mad and said that so, if you're broke, you can't advocate against animal cruelty, because you HAVE TO eat the meat and dairy products from fast food restaurants and that dairy and meat is cheap at grocery stores. Um... I haven't eaten meat, bought cheese, milk, eggs or butter, and only eat fast food pretty much, and I'm a broke college student. People need a better argument.)
So today I went to the grocery store and bought some food to get ready for my new vegan life. The last two days I've been completely vegan which I'm proud of, but just not in the best ways, which I'm not proud of. I bought Envirokids Panda Puffs which are vegan, and almond milk. Easy enough. I also bought blueberries, strawberries, bananas, spinach, and quinoa. I could make quinoa cereal or a smoothie, also easy enough. That's where all the good stuff ends. I bought Lays Potato Chips, almonds, non-dairy cherry garcia ice cream, veggie hot dogs, hot dog buns, vegan chorizo and black bean taquitos and Gardein chicken tenders. I did not buy a single thing to make something for lunch or dinner I feel so STUPID but I spent so much money at the grocery store on other things so I couldn't afford to buy anything else. And I'm moving back home in a week so I didn't want to buy too much. I even bought a make up brand today that isn't even cruelty free and I feel so dumb.
Its definitely a process getting to 100% vegan, but it's so hard. I don't want to miss out on key nutrients, I don't want to get bored, I don't want to cheat, I want to eat enough all day, I want to not quit this, I want to do it. It's just hard, but I know I can get there.
If you read this, thanks! And if you want to and can help, please do! Thanks! Love you!
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