As the year draws to a close, I’ve been thinking a lot about this space and what I can do in the new year to challenge myself (and hopefully you) in new ways. It probably doesn’t come across this way on the blog, but I often struggle with questions like – What am I doing to make a difference? What can I do to help people and animals? Am I growing on a personal level? Lately, these questions have gone mostly unanswered. Don’t get me wrong, I love sharing my recipes with you (and I know it makes a positive difference based on your feedback – thank you), so I have no plans to stop recipe development. It’s something I enjoy immensely more days than not. But there are other things I could be doing and I’ve felt this pull at my heart strings a lot in recent months. With only weeks to go until my cookbook manuscript is due, I’m feeling worn out and I’m sure this a big reason for the rut I feel like I’m stuck in. The good thing about a rut is that it usually prompts a change for the better (with time). Discomfort prompts motion.
In spirit of change, I’m starting a series on veganism this year – simple posts that can make the transition to a plant-based diet easier. I’m really excited about this. To be honest, it’s something I’ve wanted to do for over a year now, but I tend to suffer from the mindset that if I can’t do it exactly right or if I don’t know all the answers, then I shouldn’t do it at all. Well, this is a rather silly way to go through life, don’t you think? The truth is, I’m the only one holding myself back. I want to share whatever it is that I can offer and trust that it will be helpful for some of you. Even if you have no desire of going vegan or if you are already a vegan yourself, I still hope that this series will be inspiring and peak some curiosity about things you may want to know more about.
Here are some examples of questions I receive every week:
What can I replace yogurt with?
What’s a substitute for sour cream?
I have no idea what to do. Do you have a vegan 101 Series I can read through to get started?
What do you eat each day?
How do I get protein?
What the bleep is a flax egg????
What do I do if I have a craving for an old food?
Why do you soak beans and nuts? Will my husband fart less if I soak his nuts? (Yes someone wrote this once…I almost spit out my drink.)
I want to start TODAY…help me!
It occurred to me that it would be more helpful if I posted my experiences on the blog, rather than simply via email. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few years, it’s that a vegan diet isn’t about what you take away; it’s really about what you add in. I didn’t know this for a long time. For every food that I decided to forgo, I eventually added at least a handful of new, vibrant foods in its place. But first, I had to learn what it is I could add into my diet. This wasn’t easy for me in the beginning and I suspect it’s not for many. Three and a half years into it, I’m still very much learning.
To make this series a success, it’s important for me to have your feedback and input. I’d love to know some of the questions you are struggling with right now or perhaps things you struggled with in the past but triumphed over. Everyone loves a good success story, myself included. [Side note: I’m considering the return of reader success stories, perhaps in a Q & A format – would you enjoy this feature again on OSG?]
For those of you who are making some changes to your diet in 2013, I hope you’ll find this series timely and helpful in your journey. More on all of this very soon.
For more in this series, see:
Part 1: How To Make The Transition
Part 2: Replacing Dairy Milk
Part 3: Homemade Oat Milk
Part 4: Homemade Almond Milk
Part 5: Ten Tips for eating out as a vegan
I wish you a happy, fun, and safe New Year’s surrounded by the people you love! Happy New Year to you all. Thank you for reading Oh She Glows and bringing me into your home each week. I bid farewell to 2012 filled with gratitude.
Yay, this is wonderful! I’m very excited. Here are my curiosities:
1. How do you meet other vegans? I’ve been eating about 90% vegan for months and am making the switch to 100% for the new year (so, on Chicago time, in like 14 hours) and couldn’t be more excited or READY. However, I’m kinda flyin’ solo and would love to meet more vegans. Do you have ideas? Any way you can rally us together via your blog?
2. Is there some secret vegan website where people can get nooch for cheap?
3. I could likely dig through your archives and find an answer but I’m always curious how each vegan handles restaurants!
4. Success stories sound great. Each person should include 1-3 favorite recipes/go-to meals with their success story. I love hearing how other people eat.
5. I’ve recently been thinking about whether or not I would feel comfortable dating a meat-eater. I haven’t reached any consensus or final decision, and honestly dating is really low on my priority list right now, so it certainly isn’t a pressing issue. However, I’m just curious about your thoughts on the matter. If I don’t personally feel okay about meat-eating due to environmental, economic, and animal compassion issues (etc), what does that mean if I date someone who supports that industry? I don’t know. I just want to hear what you think.
That’s all I can think of at the moment. But this is wonderful. You are my favorite.
These are all wonderful questions – I’d love to hear responses on all of them!!! :)
I get my nooch at our big Fred Meyer grocery store (where you can also buy tires, underwear, or produce!) out of the bulk bins.
ALSO: the how-to stuff specifically regarding how to make vegan substitutions and cook vegan foods will be especially beneficial to send to my mother, who is a bit baffled by her vegan daughter.
My questions/concerns are mainly about cooking for one while living in a household full of carnivores, having convenient foods while being at college, and how in the WORLD to handle criticism/jokes at your diet? I’ve struggled with the last one, especially as of late, daily. I don’t mind answering questions for the curious or explaining my choices but the teasing and unrelentless jokes are starting to wear me thin. I can’t eat in peace anymore! At least ONCE a day I get teased even if it is something small. It’s beginning to wear me down and make me upset. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!
Sara,
I’m glad you brought this up! I feel ya!…I get hassled all the time, too. :( At least we are not alone.. I really don’t understand how anybody can judge a vegan lifestyle when it’s SO healthy and such a positive impact on the environment, animals, etc! When I make food that non-vegans find appealing, I want to respond with, “Sorry, you won’t like this — no animals were tortured in the making, and it isn’t lined with any cardiovascular disease causing cholesterol.” But, I know that’s not very nice. :)
So excited for this!!! Your ideas and recipes are already so wonderful that making a how-to guide on the blog will be so helpful! Can’t wait to keep reading!
This is such a great idea! I often find that we tend to veer away from what makes us change in the first place; for example, sometimes I need to remind myself of why I became vegan, and why it’s important to me to maintain my vegan lifestyle. In no way am I considering ending being vegan, but sometimes it’s beneficial to be reminded of why we do the things we do. I’d love to hear you speak on that – the reflection part of our actions.
A few questions for you: How do you ensure that you are sticking to the “basics” of a vegan lifestyle (veggies, grains, legumes, fruits, and other whole foods)? I live in a city where I have a plentiful amount of vegan take-out options, and some nights when I’m exhausted, it’s just too easy to order it. And then later in the week I realize I haven’t made myself a big salad in 6 days, when I use to eat at least one salad a day while living in the suburbs. I’m sure it is similar for you now living in Toronto. How do you/would you handle a situation like this? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Also – I echo another reader’s comment – how do you make meals work with you and your meat-eater husband? I am in the same situation and struggle with this. Thank you, Angela, and Happy New Year!
I am so excitedd about this. I have fallen off the vegan wagon recently and am rededicating in 2013. I love your recipes and can’t wait for your book. Thank you!!
You said you ask yourself what you are doing to make a difference. I’ve been drafting an email to you for months now that I haven’t dared to send. I wanted to tell you what a difference you make to one tiny person on the other side of the planet. Many days I struggle with a longstanding illness and it’s hard to find things to motivate or inspire me. Your blog brings me so much joy everyday. Your recipes have got me doing things when there is very little else I am able to do. Your photography is inspiring and brings me a lot of joy as well. And mostly your sunny and intelligent disposition that comes through in your writing makes me smile when I’m having a bleak day.
So, you just never know what kind of a difference you’re making on any given day unless sometimes someone tells you. So thank you!
I am so lucky to have you reading, thank you Natalie. That means the world to me!
Yay! That’s awesome Angela :) I’m looking forward to reading the series. I’m vegetarian working on becoming vegan, so this is right up my alley! Thank you for sharing your experience.
Stephanie
http://sharelovealways.blogspot.ca/
xoxo
Thank you so much for starting this new series! I have been flirting with being a vegetarian/vegan for the greater part of 2012 and I’m hoping this coming year will be the switch-over for good to a vegan lifestyle. My husband and children are holding me back a bit (myself included at times) but I want to do this for their health as well as my own. Whole plant-based lifestyle here we come! Any suggestions for easing my family along with me are greatly appreciated!
I’ve been reading the comments about how to handle veganism in social situations and I thought I would offer my own thoughts on the issue. People invariably ask why I follow a plant-based diet and I tell them it is because I feel good when I eat like this. When I eat meat or dairy in particular, I just don’t feel well. I believe that I have the right to eat so that I don’t feel like crap all the time, and I refuse to feel guilty about doing what I need to do to look after myself. If I am going to be in a situation where someone else is cooking for me, I simply explain that I will not feel well if I eat certain foods, and offer to bring a dish that I make that I can eat and share with everyone else. I don’t think I’ve ever had someone argue that I should eat what they make when I approach the issue from a personal health angle. As a bonus, I get to share nourishing, healthy food and show people that eating a plant-based diet really is about adding and not taking away, as Ange so adroitly and beautifully stated above.
Oh, you so rock. I’m really looking forward to this series. I think your blog was the biggest part of my health overhaul in 2012, and whenever anyone asks how I reached my healthy weight, I tell them it’s all about the plants. I’m happy, energetic, and a sought-after cook after switching to a mostly vegan whole foods diet. Thank you so much. Will be toasting to OSG tonight!!
Sarah, you are so sweet! Thank you. How about toasting to YOU tonight for all your amazing hard work? I can’t take credit, but I’m so glad to be a part of your journey.
I love your blog, even though I’m a meat eater…. I can live without meat, and love high protein recipes from an alternative source. The reason I haven’t switched to Vegetarian or Vegan is because it would limit any social eating to bread. I have a garlic allergy and in general I am very sensitive to most alliums. Which makes vegetables in most restaurants very dangerous. I eat bread and pasta but I don’t consider them food, only accessories (since I have to eat them with plain olive oil). Can you recommend a delicious garlic/onion substitute for your vampire followers? For example your creamy avocado sauce looks sinful! OH, and I dislike tofu very much but must find a way to manage my anemia… sorry… I’m really a very good eater.
I would love to have some help with meal planning. I’ve never been good at it. I’d especially like quick meal ideas – there just aren’t enough hours in a day.
I also love reading success stories for a boost of inspiration.
I have gradually been moving over to a vegan diet and have decided that as from tomorrow I will be 100 percent vegan, so this series couldn’t come at a better time..I too have a problem eating out as all my friends are diehard carnivores and I also need some quick come backs for the idiots who say things like ‘well plants have feelings too’!! Happy New Year x
I absolutely cannot wait for you to start this series!
I have been eating vegan since August 2012, but I really miss yogurt. I tried to make soy yogurt and it was a mess! I have bought soy yogurt and it tastes terrible. ” The Healthiest Diet in the World” by the Goldbergs is mostly vegan, but does use yogurt.
I am ready to go out and buy some organic whole milk yogurt because I miss it so much, or make my own with my yogurt maker.
What are your suggestions for how to deal with yogurt withdrawal? Thanks so much for all your recipes and I look forward to the New Year and your New Ideas!
I recently found out that Trader Joe’s has a coconut-based yogurt that is supposed to be fantastic!
So Delicious and Trader Joe’s coconut milk yogurts are both fantastic!!
This sounds great! I’ve been a vegetarian for nearly a year now, and I’ve decided to mark tomorrow, Jan 1, as the final day of my very slow transition to being vegan, so this is very timely for me!
Something that I’ve noticed lately is that a lot of vegan websites and stories about veganism lean heavily on meat and dairy replacements (cheese, sausage, meatless crumbles, etc. etc. etc.), and I’d like to see that addressed, because it’s a question anyone who goes meatless has to face at some point.
Great idea!
I’m vegan now after being vegetarian for awhile. I grew up in an omnivore family, pretty much eating everything.
But I love animals, so I can’t imagine not living a vegan life-style at this point. I feel like I have to do it, no choice.
One thing I struggled with was how long it took me to transition!
I found out about factory farming and everything a couple years ago, and that’s when I decided to shift over to becoming vegan. It took me months and months and months to make the switch! I remember falling off my vegan diet often in the beginning, having an odd slice of non-vegan pizza when I really wanted it, or non-vegan ice-cream/chocolate (or non-vegan cheese and crackers when everyone else was having them, stuff like that)
I felt really dismayed, like, here I was horrified by this factory farming and stuff and yet I was having trouble resisting my favourite comfort foods on a bad day or whatever
Luckily I read online about other vegan people who had taken a while to transition, and they all said to just hang in there, that eventually you won’t have those cravings or times of giving in or all this
This turned out to be true for me too. After several months, I just didn’t really want to have non-vegan foods, and I wasn’t really tempted by them anymore.
Now it’s not an issue at all, really. My whole family is not vegan, and none of my friends are vegan. But even when I’m surrounded by non-vegan desserts and items (esp at get-togethers, restaurants, holiday dinners and so on) I just don’t feel like having what they’re having. I’ll wait, or drive somewhere where I can buy something vegan, or go home and make something delicious and vegan for myself at home from blog recipes like on here. And it’s fine
So for anyone who is transitioning, and falling off the wagon sometimes, I’d say be patient with yourself and don’t worry if you mess up initially. If you’re really committed to helping animals, you’ll mess up less and less as time goes on, and it will be totally fine:)
I think this is the way it goes for many of us…slowly but surely I lost the DESIRE to eat anything non-vegan, and now I really don’t care if people give me a hard time for I know it is the best choice I have ever made. Even though I would love for more people to become vegan, I don’t push it on anyone. I do try to make it well-known though, so that people aren’t embarrassed or upset if they haven’t prepared something suitable for me (because as much as you tell them “It’s completely okay!” they still feel really bad).
I try to carry vegan snacks with me often, but if I’m faced with a situation in which I may have to skip a meal due to lack of options, I try to remember that there is more than enough food in this world and a missed meal will not kill me…I WILL be able to eat again!
This idea of yours sounds like just what we need! We are recent adopters of a whole foods plant based diet! A wedding client of ours recommended your site to us! Thank you!
“I bid farewell to 2012 filled with gratitude.”
^ I do too. I learned a lot in 2012. [What a lovely way to express it by the way! Thanks!]
Anyway, yea, goodbye 2012! I hope 2013 will be awesome:D