Newbie Vegan… The Story So Far.

When I started this blog, the Plant in PlantEatRepeat, was very much in reference to plants in my garden and the food that I grow and forage. And then I watched Cowspiracy. From that point onwards I started to think more about my diet, and the wider implications of it. And that’s when I decided that I had to be vegan or at the very least vegetarian.

It’s now been a couple of months, and consequently, I thought that I would write a blog post about the process so far and where I think it is heading.

When I thought about this, this big unfathomable idea about turning vegan, I thought about how much I was going to miss things. Cheese, that was the big thing. After that, cups of tea, the drink of choice in our house. And then, maybe, all those other things that you don’t realise contain animal products or you only have as a treat… mayonnaise, Nutella, the list went on.

In reality, when I actually thought about it, meat and fish did not factor on my list at all. Sure, mackerel is super nice, but I’ve been weening myself off that for years, and tuna was a super treat (and then only when the fish-loathing wife was out of town). Meat, well I’d done without that for a period of twelve or so years before, and I was sure I could do it again.

And now, a couple of months in, none of this matters. Meals are still exciting, and maybe more so because with the help of a couple of cookbooks and the world wide web. Consequently, I’m linked up to a whole host of extraordinarily exciting things to cook. Also, simple changes like swapping butter for coconut oil means that most of the things I was cooking before are now vegan too. The only lingering problem remains to be two meals a week that I have to eat out with work, but I even managed to drag my Texan boss into a vegan cafe last week, and more importantly, he didn’t hate it.

Another nice side-effect of the lack of meat and diary in my diet is that I am slowly getting leaner. My waist is getting smaller, and I’m still stuffing my face with all the vegan Nutella I can find. Naturally, I seem to be feeling better, and I’m also IBS free. I feel lighter, I feel more energetic and I feel fitter, even if I’m doing roughly the same amount of exercise as before.

My skin isn’t clearing up as much as some other blogs mention, but that’s fair enough. I also have PCOS and that’s probably contributing there. But overall, I’ll take lean and healthy over a spot-free face any day…

And I’m Not The Only One...

Since making the change, I’ve realised that a whole heap of people who I consider really super awesome and cool are already vegans. Serena and Venus Williams are badass. Also vegan. Alec Baldwin (aka Jack Donaghy). Vegan. Ronda Roussey… okay, well that was only temporary, but I’m not the kind of person to point that out to her.

In fact, since I made the switch there have been a couple of prominent articles showing that I’m not the only one, and that a vegan has even made it to the top of the world with one climbing Everest last month.

Ultimately, I don’t want to become that stereotypical vegan who can’t stop telling everyone how great it is, but that is really hard not to do. I feel good. I feel really good, and I just want to tell everyone that it’s not a big deal, but drop the meat and you might feel better. Or a life without cheese is no biggy. Or that it’s also nice to know nothing got hurt in order for me to eat my dinner…

I guess in writing this, I’m already shouting about it… but that’s far enough. Good news, after all, is worth sharing.