In Sum

So, veganism.

It's been a week since I quit. Mom's grilled cheese tempted me away. Sometimes no matter the circumstance, close at hand is close at heart. If comfort is what you crave the best thing may be to simply go home. Or no, depending on where the bread's coming from I guess.

I didn't exactly make it the whole month, either. It wasn't really that big of a deal, one day I stopped eating meat and dairy and another one I started again. I guess even I could argue that the whole thing was pretty pointless, except I learned a few things, and I found in the week that has past that I have questions. I could argue both sides.

First of all, a diet that consists mostly of produce is expensive. Fake meat isn't cheap either, and you need to eat a lot of it. Nuts and beans will only get you so far. This is a part that I wasn't that great at. Another thing is that you have to be able to cook a lot. Not well necessarily, but you need to at least have the patience at the end of the day to do the prep and then cook the actual meal. Sometimes this works ok, sometimes not. On-the-go food is pretty hard to come by and a lot of on-the-go stuff for vegans is crap. I have to thank Sil's here for being the fastest way to a vegan dog and supplying me with quick junk that's probably still pretty healthy for me. I did not ask if the bun was vegan.

That's another thing I'm a little unresolved about; that there is so much stuff out there that contains egg, or dairy, that doesn't really necessarily have to be in there. I find this troubling. If indeed these things pose some future threat to humans in the long run, be it through existence of free radicals, or growth hormones, or just lots of fat, then WTF? Are they really a threat or no? What about all the claims about soy lately? Is there really a better way to eat?

In some ways, I did like the way this diet makes you think about what you're eating. I looked at nutrition facts all the time. It really narrows the amount of options you have, kind of simplifies decision making. I didn't mind that. I also can say with 100% confidence that eating this way made me feel great. A week and a few buckets of chili later I'm back to the regular problems with my guts. I actually think I may have discovered that I'm lactose intolerant, something that I have yet to come to terms with.

In some ways I kind of miss it. Since quitting, I've looked for ways in my day to eat vegan, the discipline just isn't there. Maybe it's something that I'll move back to. My mother showed me an article, shortly before I caved and ate the grilled cheese, about a woman who went vegan and took several years to do it. Obviously I did not do this, but I think that if I were to again, for real this time, that I would do it in this way.