Since being on maternity leave, I saw the Oprah rerun of Veganism. Oprah and some 378 staff members went vegan for 7 days. A lot of people mentioned having so much more energy and feeling just better overall. Because my nights are very crazy right now (neither kid is a good sleeper, the last 2 nights both have woken up multiple times), I know I need to eat well to help me feel better. And of course, once you decide to become a vegetarian, all of the literature is really targeted to becoming a vegan. So I have always had some guilt about just being a vegetarian. I am trying to think about it through though. I love almond milk, so that is a very easy change for me to make to sub in for regular milk. Cheese is the next issue. I probably should be limiting cheese anyway since I still have some baby weight to lose. The biggest issue with cheese is with family meals. Both the hubs as well as the daughter both love cheese, especially pizza. They would not be happy if I made a pizza with no cheese. Then there is ice cream. I LOVE ice cream, which I know I probably should be limiting that too if I want to lose weight, but it is my #1 weakness. I tried the banana soft serve and while it was very good, it did take some time to prepare compared to just dumping some ice cream in a bowl like I normally do. And since I was toting around a newborn/infant, ease is very important. I found a new blog not too long ago and she was doing the Crazy Sexy Diet 21 day challenge which is vegan and gluten free. So all these things I am seeing in just a matter of days.
I had one vegan day and I have to say that I felt great. Of course, the kids also napped well that day, so that might have helped out some. Since then, I have been trying to limit my dairy, with the exception of ice cream on some nights. I am wondering if I can kick the ice cream habit. I am not sure if vegan is completely possible for me at least right now, but I think I would feel better, it's healthier, and it would probably help me lose the rest of my baby weight.
So it has me thinking, how do you make the switch? Especially with meat eaters in the family? Any advice? Any reading recommendations or websites? Any products you recommend? Additional vitamins I should take? TIA!
What a neat post! Looking forward for more post from you. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhat worked for me was to stop trying to make the switch a gradual one, and just do it. My husband doesn't mind eating meatless meals most of the time, so I make our dinners vegan but he and my daughter still have meat and cheese at other times. Like you, I worried about giving up certain things, but once I made the decision not to eat them anymore I just got used to eating other things. After a couple weeks I had no desire to eat cheese or ice cream ever again. I think if you just go for it, you'll find it's easier than you think. As for vitamins, I think a B12 supplement is really important on top of a multivitamin for vegans.
ReplyDeleteLet us know what you end up doing!
I agree. I am a cold turkey (tofurkey?) kinda gal. My husband eats meat, but I cook so he gets vegan meals. Sometimes I or he will bake chicken to go along with what I cook, but I haven't cooked him chicken in months. He said that is fine. When we go out he gets his fix or he packs turkey sandwiches for lunch.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!