I broke my veganism today. :( I didn't sleep well last night, and this morning, I had this dull headache I was hoping would fade away after my coffee. It didn't, and it started to feel like it was going to develop into a migraine, so I took an Advil. I knew this was going to be my weak point in my three-week trial - it's just so frustrating that there are no confirmed animal-free pain relievers on the market!
I'm sure that even die-hard vegans occasionnally have to make exceptions - my cousin actually confirmed that a friend of hers who was vegan for a good portion of his life would still take Aleve just because there aren't alternatives on the market. Recognizing that, I'm still going to continue to be vegan except for the odd ibuprofen tablet. :-P
Last Friday was the Annual Business Managers Retreat at work. I had a plate full of fruit for breakfast since I couldn't help myself to the mounds of bagels that were set out. Come lunch time, I got in line to get my vegetarian/vegan chili. Then sadly passed the platters of sour cream and heaping mounds of shredded cheese. I grabbed a bag of Fritos, figuring those had to be safe and I could at least have something to add to my chili. I gazed longingly at the trays of cheese and crackers, but moved on the platter of cold veggies for dipping. I snagged a few cucumber slices, but I couldn't have any dip since it was almost certainly a ranch or sour cream base. There was randomly a couple of loaves of bread and a big jar of peanut butter, so I helped myself to a big peanut butter sandwich. The grand finale was the trays of cookies at the end of the table, which of course I had none of! What a test of willpower!
I was starving by the end of the retreat and looking forward to going home, having a glass of wine, and popping a frozen vegan pizza in the oven. Then I saw that there was an asterisk next to the "soy cheeze", indicating that it contained a milk derivative. Grr! Honestly, why would anyone buy a soy cheese pizza unless they're trying to avoid dairy?!? A quick trip to the grocery store and I finally had a vegan pizza for dinner for the night.
I haven't gone out to eat once since trying veganism! And I usually eat out fairly regularly. The only confirmed vegan options I've found are Thai places, and I'm not the biggest Asian fan. I know there are other restaurants out there where I'm sure I could find something, but it just hasn't seemed worth it to go out to eat. I'm not a big salad person either - which I think some people find surprising since I'm a vegetarian. :-P
In conclusion, it's hard being vegan! Certain situations can really be challenging to navigate and are really testing my willpower!
Yeah, a LOT of soy cheese alternatives will still have casein in them. I'm sorry to hear you had so little to eat, but that it why my friend decided he'd had enough with veganism after 10 years. He got sick and tired of eating literally the same things day in and day out. With the frequency at which he ate Subway, he should have owned stock in the chain. If you're feeling ambitious next weekend and feel like making an awesome breakfast, I could obtain the specifics for the soyrizo and tofu scramble that he made me one morning. It was absolutely AMAZING and if you have a Whole Foods down there somewhere, you should be able to find soyrizo (you've had it before, right?).
ReplyDeleteIt's been fine for the most part - I have a great cookbook and the grocery selection locally isn't half-bad. Those types of catered events can just be challenging...But I've encountered that just being a vegetarian, so I guess it's not much of a surprise. Sadly, we do not have a Whole Foods in town - I have to go to Indy for that. But they have chorizo at the local grocery stores. Francisco loves it, but I'm not the biggest fan.
ReplyDelete