bananas, guac and oreos, oh my!

I mentioned in the past week that I have a long term goal to move more toward a vegan diet. So much information about this subject is cluttering my brain that I think I need to start writing about it to get organized. 

If you're about to close this tab on your browser, stop! I haven't gone off the deep end and into some dark bizarro land of twigs and berries and plots to blow up animal laboratories. I'm the same, boring old person you've been reading about all along :). I'm just trying to eat healthier, have done a lot of research about where our food comes from, and am concerned enough about what I've learned that I want to change my diet even more.

If you'd like to know how this journey of mine started, check out Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver. I listened to it on CD. Kingsolver reads it herself, beautifully. Her voice is like a lullaby. Listen to this book while you're driving in the car. It's a fascinating story and it will change your life. This is what started me on a path to change my diet, and led me to read more about diet, nutrition, and factory farming. In the last two years we've made big changes to how we eat and buy food. We joined a CSA, buy local and in season, and buy organic produce both for health and environmental reasons. I've done lots of reading and research on factory farming. We eat limited meat and buy meat and eggs from small local farms where the animals and environment are treated as they should be.

For a few reasons I've now decided to further reduce my consumption of animal products. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with eating animal products. It's perfectly natural. I've just decided to do a lot less of it for my health and because of the way most animal products are produced.
 

There's a problem. Everyone thinks I'm a loony when I say I'd like to go vegan. This includes my Blub and my family. Big problem. Eating is kind of a major part of life, and if the people around me are constantly judging what I eat and telling me I'm doing something wrong this is going to be very stressful. Rather than showing a willingness to learn about current research on vegan nutrition, they fall back on myths about it and are absolutely convinced that one cannot be healthy without eating animal products.

The funny thing is, if I decided to try a popular fad diet, everyone would think that was great. Never mind that most of those are likely to be ultimately unhealthy for our bodies, while well-planned vegetarian diets have strong research to back up their health benefits. There is such a stigma around the word "vegan". That word is associated with the social and political fringe of society. Vegans are stinky, mentally unstable, emaciated looking weirdos. I'll admit, some are. I'll even admit that I'm a weirdo too, but not in that way. Think about this: a banana is vegan. Chips and guacamole are vegan. Freaking Oreos are vegan, people! Yes, going vegan means eating new and different foods, but it isn't as out there as some make it out to be. In some parts of the world, vegetarian diets are very common.

So, what do I do? I've considered keeping the vegan switch a secret from my family and friends, but that doesn't seem very practical. I can just picture myself trying to hide slices of Easter ham in my lap this Sunday...

I've decided to continue moving more fully into a vegan diet without making it a big deal. As it becomes normal for me, others will get used to it and will see that it's not so strange after all.