The Vegan Experiment

 

Making Vegan Food...

It was early summer of 2021 and I felt like a garbage pile. I felt bleh. I assume that most people know that feeling. Every day felt the same. I had a feeling of wanting to do something exciting but not having that much motivation. I needed to shake things up. When I feel this way, I get very angsty. I act like a grump until I come up with some wild idea to chase. 

In a fit of anger, a self-delusion of self-betterment, I decided to try something radical. I turned to Sam, riding in the passenger seat of the truck and blurted, “I want to go Vegan.” Yeah, I know, huh? To my surprise, she agreed without hesitation.

To me, veganism was a personal challenge. I was not doing it for any social justice or crusade. I was not doing it because I believed the animal products were bad for the planet or unhealthy. I just wanted to see if I could do it; if I could control my appetite and achieve a personal goal. We set a length of six months for our experiment. Short enough to be achievable, long enough to be meaningful. 

We made a few rules; we were not going to substitute our favorite foods like burgers or cheese with “vegan” substitutes. That meant no bean burgers or Beyond Meat or Vegan Cheese. There was no point in changing our diets if we were just eating the same menu items that had been made in a lab instead of grown in a field. 

We decided that we would not share that we were vegan outside immediate friends and family. This avoided the stigma around vegans; we all know the people who make a fuss out of their food choices and can’t shut up about it. Neither Sam or I had any physical dietary restrictions, so we did not want hosts to have to go to extra lengths to accommodate our personal choices. For example, when presented with a meal, we would self serve the most vegan option. If that was impossible, we would eat meat and cheese without comment. This happened four times over the six months.

The first thing we noticed was that in just a few days without meat and cheese, we felt lighter. Seriously, there was a noticeable reduction in bloatedness and inflammation. We both lost ten pounds in the first couple weeks, despite eating normal portions of food. We were not dieting; we were simply replacing meat with beans and swapping eggs for potatoes and vegetables. Flatulence was constant, but a feeling of healthiness was obvious. 

The hardest part was building the right cooking habits so that there was always food around when we were hungry and most likely to break our challenge. It took a couple of exploratory grocery shopping trips and a bit of research, but once we had a menu it was easy. I am not a foodie; I can eat the same meal seven times in a row without complaint. Pepper, salt and ketchup and I am all set. 

After the first couple weeks of novelty, routine set in. There was nothing special about our diet except that we walked past the dairy and meat aisles. Being the summer tourist season, we naturally avoided restaurants anyway. After our weight loss in the first couple weeks, we both stabilized and didn’t vary at all for the next six months. Actually being vegan was both boring and exciting at the same time. Boring because it was not difficult or exhausting. Now that I have done it, it is clear that many people who wear their veganism on their sleeve are doing it for attention. We didn’t live in fear of being found out by our neighbors; it was just amusing that we could go about our daily lives without change and no one ever noticed that we didn’t eat burgers at the cookout or nachos at the concert. We still drank beer and ate chips. There is such a stigma around veganism when you live surrounded by ranchers and farmers. Veganism is for crazy tree-huggers and city slickers who have no tie to the natural land, except when it is your neighbors living off of food mostly grown in their garden.

By the last month, our habits were set. When we reached our vegan goal just before Christmas, Sam and I had already decided to keep some of our habits. We agreed that we loved meat but didn’t really miss dairy. We promptly filled our freezer with a slab of cow meat. Meat really does provide a protein energy that is noticeable only after going without it. Now, when I eat a steak or burger, I can feel the energy coursing through my veins. When I drink milk or eat large quantities of cheese, I feel all gurgly. Same goes for overly rich restaurant food. Veganism got us accustomed to simple tastes and flavors; most fancy food is undesirable to my tastes. 

This biggest success was the boost to the ego that we got from voluntarily trying something different and succeeding at it. I had needed something new to strive for and this challenge fit the bill. It was not terribly difficult and I would recommend it to anyone looking to shake things up. It was a noticeable change of habit that ended up having long term effects for the better on both mine and Sam’s diets and health. 

I am writing about this now because it has been a year since we concluded our vegan experiment. Christmas 2022 just passed. It is far enough in the distance that our neighbors won’t think us too weird. But it is recent enough that the lessons are still fresh. We eat meat a couple times a week and it is normal for us again. We rarely eat dairy. 

I woke up this morning with that same feeling of wanting to try something new. The holidays are over and I need a winter challenge. After the vegan experiment, I am confident I can achieve something, I just am not sure what it is yet. Maybe in a year, I will write about it if I succeed at it.