Saturday, January 14, 2012

Trying To Be A Better Vegan

I'm a terrible vegan. No, I don't secretly eat meat when no one is watching or go out and buy mass quantities of fur and leather. What I mean by this is, simply put, I frickin hate salads.

If given a choice between a veggie burger with all the fixins and french fries or a nice healthy salad I'll choose the burger every time. I didn't come from a "meat & potatoes" family. In fact, in the late 80's my mom went on a crazy health food kick and served us veggie burger patties that can only be described as ground up lawn clippings and twigs (and pretty much tasted that way as well). Given that, you would think I'd have an aversion to anything resembling a veggie burger, but nope, they still have a place in my heart and unfortunately too often, in my belly.

Being vegan doesn't automatically mean you eat super healthy (although, yes it's generally a healthier way to eat). There are tons of processed vegan foods out there that aren't necessarily that good for you (um, hello - Oreos anyone?). After watching Forks Over Knives (if you haven't seen it already - DO IT NOW!) I realized that I need to start eating better and cutting out a lot of the processed shit I eat. Therefore I am challenging myself once again, this time to eat more whole organic foods. I know this is going to be tough for me as I'm the queen of the quick and easy meals that don't require much prep. But if we don't challenge ourselves every once in awhile what good is living, right?!

My goal is to try to make at least 5 or 6 meals a week that don't involve any sort of processed crap. And try to embrace the ever-dreaded salad. I ordered the Forks Over Knives book which has a ton of great recipes so as soon as I get it, I'll update my progress here on the blog with full and complete honesty. Even if I'm a complete and total fail whale.

Stay tuned...

7 comments:

  1. Processed foods ARE bad. That doesn't mean the only thing left to eat is a salad...

    Get creative. Find some more of your brilliant recipes :D

    PS I love salad. It saddens me every day that I can't have one. Irony? Probably not. Gonna go have a steak now...

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  2. My boyfriend looooves salads. I don't hate them, but they are never my first choice. :/ I could never be a vegan, but I definitely need to eat more healthy. I'll be looking forward to more healthy eating posts!

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  3. I know there is WAY more out there than salads :) They just seem to be the only option I can eat in a lot of places that aren't specifically vegan.

    I'm sorry you can't eat them Angry!

    Vanessa - I should have some more recipes soon!!

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  4. I love salads! But mine involve throwing tons of things on them!

    I can't wait for you to share some recipes, I'm always game for trying new things!

    And I'm also trying to avoid as many processed foods as possible, now with my KA I can make bread and pizza bases even more easily!

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  5. I am also not a big salad fan, but when I do have them I have to make them different...I can't just have lettuce with tomatoes and cucumbers and onions on top. I like to make salads more "meal-like" by adding nuts and fruit, and using different greens other than lettuce is good too! But the sure-fire way for me to eat more salads is finding (or making!) a super kickass dressing to drizzle on it :) I love dressing!!

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  6. ooooo and putting tempeh on salads is good too!!! Or some kind of marinated tofu cubes ;)

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  7. I'm still not on board with tempeh. I tried it once (the Trader Joe brand) and did not like it at all so now I'm afraid to try it again.

    But yeah, the lettuce, tomato, cucumber thing is so boring to me. I love the idea of nuts and fruit in a salad.

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