After years of feeling like I should, but thinking I couldn’t, my husband and I watched What the Health on Netflix (in all honesty we thought this was a pretty bad documentary, but nonetheless got us thinking) which led us to going vegan for 30 days. Now that those 30 days are over, here are 7 Thoughts of a 30-Day Vegan:

“Shit. I’m that person”

As someone who has waitressed for 4 years, I fully understand the frustration that comes with customers who have a handful of menu questions. Sure, I may have passed a 300-question menu test, but that does not mean I retained those nitty-gritty ingredient and allergen questions that come up once in a blue moon. I pride myself in going to restaurants and making my server’s experience as painless as possible. Being vegan has made this quite difficult for me. Believe me; I go through every conceivable measure prior to interacting face-to-face with my server in attempts to not put them on the spot. Some people may be thinking: “That’s their job”, but you know what? It is not easy venturing into the chaotic kitchen to ask the scary head chef to list off which breads and pastas contain milk or egg while you have 6 other tables of people expecting you to satisfy their every need at that exact same moment. Therefore when someone says, “I’m hungry, let’s go to _______”, I immediately grab my phone to look up the menu online. If vegan options or allergens aren’t specified, I proceed to Google: “vegan options at _______” to see if anyone has blogged about it or if it’s on a handy-dandy website that has already gone through the process and posted the results (shoutout to Phoenix Vegan). If this also comes up short, I find the establishment on Facebook and send a message asking if they can provide any information on vegan options. Ultimately, as hard as I try not to be, I often end up as that person: the complicated one, the dreaded meal modifier. I can feel the server’s heart rate rise when it’s my turn to order (or is that my own heart rate?): “Does your veggie burger contain dairy? Does the bun contain milk or eggs or is it brushed with butter? If so, I’ll have a side of French fries, please. Do they happen to contain beef flavoring (like McDonald’s)? Oh okay, I’ll just take a vodka on the rocks, thanks.”

“Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate”

Preach, TSwift! Over the past 30 days, I have had a ton of support from friends and family members, but of course there is always at least one person who puts you down for trying something different. So it’s time for a little venting. I realize I am not the majority anymore. What I am doing is not what is considered “normal” at this point in history. It’s often viewed as strange or abnormal even. People do not understand why I am not eating cheese or a chocolate bar. I am well aware of the situation so it’d be great if people would keep their opinion of whether what I am eating is “real” or “American” or whatever to themselves. In return, I’ll keep my opinion of a non-vegan diet to myself and we can go on eating what makes us feel good about ourselves without someone else butting in. Cool? Cool.

“Vegan = Bad”

I don’t want to lump this section in with the haters because some people aren’t purposefully “hating”. They just naturally back away slowly when they hear the word “vegan”. Take this scenario for instance: there are two pastas on the table. One contains egg and the other does not. They are both “normal” grocery store pastas that “normal” people purchase most likely without looking at the ingredients at all. But the second someone hears “this pasta is vegan”, they go for the other pasta. As if just because this pasta happens to not contain egg, it is less desirable than the other pasta. In my mind I’m shouting: “it’s not ‘vegan pasta’! It’s just regular pasta that happens to be vegan!” It just irks me seeing people associate “vegan” with “less than”. Technically, it is “less than” as it has “less dead animals than” the other options. Again, this is something I don’t think anyone is realizing they’re doing, but it’s definitely been eye-opening to experience how people act once you say the word “vegan”.

“No, I am not craving meat”

As weird as it sounds, I don’t really miss eating dead animals. I’m having a blast trying new foods and recipes. I used to order tofu whenever it was offered anyway. People would ask if I was vegetarian and I’d respond, “No, I just like to order tofu when I get the opportunity because restaurants usually don’t have it”. I realize that chicken and pulled pork taste delicious. I enjoyed meat just one month ago. But you know what? I bet humans taste delicious too after they’re slaughtered, processed, and served with fava beans and a nice Chianti. Some people think cats taste good, some people think horses taste good, I would bet anything tastes good if prepared correctly. Not to mention tofu, tempeh, seitan, black beans, lentils, quinoa, spinach, sweet potatoes, almonds, peanut butter, oatmeal, and an endless list of other vegan foods taste delicious too and don’t come at the expense of a life so… it’s not like I’m sad and deprived over here.

“I’m not doing it for the animals… am I?”

I started this experiment for health purposes only. But even though I’m not exactly in it for animal rights purposes, it feels good knowing my diet doesn’t support the slaughter or mistreatment of animals. Because honestly, eating meat/dairy/eggs is a conscious decision to do just that. One thing I’ve learned that has really stuck in my mind is that dairy cows are pregnant for their entire lifetime to provide milk for us. That’s pretty fucked up and I haven’t even been pregnant before to understand that caliber of suckage. When I vacationed to Spain before this whole experiment, I was faced with plates of shrimp and fish that still had the head attached. They had eyes and faces! Which of course I knew before, but having it in my face made it so much more uncomfortable. In that moment, I was ready to be vegan. It’s hard to justify being vegan when meat is processed and prepared to appear nothing like what it actually is. If my burger had a cow head attached to it, I would be too queasy to eat at all. I know not everybody feels this way, but I know a lot of people would be turned off to eating meat if they saw the process (which I still refuse to watch). Plus it takes over 1,500 gallons of water and 16 pounds of grain to get 1 pound of beef. Like… it’s pretty inefficient. Just saying.

“No further questions please”

Being vegan comes with a large load to carry: communicating what you are doing and why you are doing it in a way that supports the cause, but doesn’t come off as telling people they’re wrong for eating meat. As soon as “normal” people discover that I’m vegan, the questions begin: “Why? What do you eat? Where do you get your protein from? Don’t you just want to eat some steak/cheese/chicken?” Sometimes I feel like I have to memorize facts and statistics and grams of protein in every food that I eat in order to satisfy the questions that I am faced with. But why should I have to prove myself to anyone? Oh yeah, because I want people to stop thinking I’m crazy and spread the message of veganism. I might be the only vegan they know so if I’m snooty/angry/annoyed, then all the vegans they know are snooty/angry/annoyed! But it is nearly impossible to explain without the other person thinking, “Oh, so you think I’m an unhealthy person who hates animals and the environment?” when in all honesty: I don’t care what they do as long as they let me do what I want to do. Part of me wants to just avoid answering questions altogether. Just give a quick, polite answer and move on to any other topic imaginable, please. But another part of me wants to share my experience and show others that it is viable and maybe even inspire someone to give it a chance, too.

“I am HAPPY”

Alright, I’m not about to tell you that I have more energy than I’ve ever had in my entire life and I only need 5 hours of sleep now because of my newly acquired vegan superpowers. BUT. I do feel different. It’s more mental than physical I think (although my body is pretty rocking). Here are some things that I have had the pleasure of experiencing for the past 30 days of being vegan:

The challenge I enjoy the rush that comes with quickly researching different restaurants for vegan options before arriving. I planned on having more to write in this section, but honestly, it hasn’t been that difficult not eating meat.

The control There is a whole new level of thought dedicated to what I put into my body. When faced with the temptation of sweets or creamy sauces or butter-smothered biscuits, I have a reason better than “I shouldn’t” (because let’s be honest, that was always followed by stuffing my face with said temptation). Mindless eating is a thing of the past. This alone has improved my overall being.

Cooking Probably one of the best things about going vegan was not having to cut the fat off of chicken anymore (gag). I like to browse Pinterest for hours upon end finding new recipes and perfecting them. It’s a true win when my husband tells other people that what I make tastes good.

The community Body builders, Steve-O, random vegan advocates on Instagram, and MMA fighters only covers a small percentage of the vegan community. I feel connected to and accepted by complete strangers through this one common ground. This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Support Having my husband do this with me has been the most helpful thing I could’ve asked for. Honestly, we wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for him suggesting it because I wouldn’t do it alone and I wouldn’t think he’d want to so would never bother suggesting it. He continues to surprise me. It is much easier when I’m not the only weirdo at the table. Also, my mother-in-law tells me she’s proud of me, like, every time the vegan subject comes up which makes me feel pretty special.



The Verdict

The moment we’ve all been waiting for! After being vegan for 30 days, I have to say that I am not ready to go scarf down some steak and eggs. With the knowledge I’ve gained throughout this process about the effects of eating animal byproducts on health, the environment, and animals in conjunction with the way I feel mentally and physically, I do not want to stop being vegan. It’s weird because it’s not the whole not-eating-animals part that is holding me back; it’s having to hear “Well, we’re having steak so…” and “Sorry, nothing here is vegan” and all the crap I’m going to get from friends, family, and complete strangers even if they think it’s all in good fun. It’s been a nice cop-out to be able to say “we’re just trying it for 30 days to see how we feel”. People accept that. They think “oh, it’s just 30 days. They’ll be back to ‘normal’ in no time”. Now that the 30 days are over, I have to actually own up to it. If the only thing holding me back from what I want to do is how others are going to think of me, then I’m just going to have to pony up and face the music because that’s a pretty silly reason. I’m not saying that I am going to be vegan forever. But I’m also not saying that I’m not. I realize that that’s not really owning up to anything, but long story short: I am going to continue being vegan with no predetermined “end” date. I encourage everyone to give veganism a chance. Try it. Maybe one meal, maybe 30 days. Just see what happens because you might not blow up and you might just feel awesome. Perhaps you won’t, but in the very least you’ll gain a perspective you didn’t have before.

**Disclaimer: I am not practicing a fully vegan lifestyle, but have simply taken on a vegan diet. I realize that there are many aspects of veganism including vegan clothing, vegan tattoos, and various other outlets utilizing animal byproducts that I have yet to explore.

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