Tag: Plant Based

Why do you call yourself Vegan-ish?

Joyful Dog Mom

HELLO EVERYONE!

My fiancé and I took food over to a small get together recently (COVID-19 APPROVED) and took vegan chili. Before we begin, the chili is SO GOOD. (I will add the recipe in the recipe tab in Plant Based Tab) But we were HAMMERED with questions on what we eat and why we would ever give up meat… I’m here to set your mind at ease.

  1. We gave up meat, which shouldn’t be an issue with anyone else. We made this choice for our bodies and for the environment. No, we do not drive a Prius or keep all of our plants alive but we do feel good about making a small difference in the world.
  2. Here are some statistics for being vegan for one day-
    1. Save 1,100 gallons of water
    2. 45 pounds of grain
    3. 30 feet of forested land
    4. 20 pounds of CO2 equivalent
    5. AND one animal a day
  3. Now, if you were vegan one day a week for a year… That’s A LOT of water, grain, land, CO2, and animals. We choose to eat this way daily and it works for us!
  4. It has honestly been an easier transition than we thought. We eat burger (vegan but protein packed), pasta, breakfast sausage (Kroger brand is so good), ice cream, even vegan beer. All of these meals are “normalized” American meals (I’ll be posting more about the actual meals we consume throughout the next few weeks).
  5. Now, the term Vegan-ish comes from me, my fiancé calls us “loose vegans”. At the end of the day, we are plant-based. We try to make every main meal vegan, everything we consume vegan BUT we are human. We travel, we go visit family and friends, we buy some things that aren’t vegan but we thought they were… WE ARE HUMAN. And by default, we aren’t perfect.
  6. If we are out and order a cocktail/wine/beer, it may not be vegan. If we buy veggie burgers and they contain egg or milk (by accident) we aren’t going to waste what we purchased. If our family or friends and they are providing us with a make-shift “vegan” meal and accidentally add butter – WE WILL EAT IT.
  7. We want to be kind to our bodies and kind to the environment and we LOVE all that veganism has opened us up to… especially tofu in the air fryer. BUT we are loose and that’s okay. We are cool with that!

If you have any questions about my journey, ask and make sure to follow my blog for more Vegan information and feedback!

XO- Love, Joy, Happiness

Veganism- ISH

Joyful Dog Mom

Good Morning All,

So, this morning I have decided to talk about the beginning of our Vegan journey.
I have always joked with my fiancé about becoming vegan and she was NEVER on board with anything I said… She LOVED meat and everything that comes with it (butter, milk, milk fat, etc…) I mean who doesn’t honestly?

Any who, I came home from a dinner with my job at the time where we were showered in steak, chicken, cake, mashed potatoes with extra butter (you name it); when I came home she had two documentaries pulled up 1. #TheGameChangers (a documentary that came out in 2018 which explains how meat decreases athletic ability almost immediately after consuming… Also goes into detail about what meat does to the male body but I’m not going into that topic). And 2. #WhatTheHealth (a documentary that talks about the meat industry and how it is basically taking over the United States… It’s disgusting and I would not recommend watching on an empty stomach). After those two documentaries, we were both nauseous and sold on veganism.

A few things I want to point out:
1. It has certainly not been as hard as we thought, there are SO MANY vegan options in our local Kroger and Publix, also plenty on amazon.com (which I will post later about all of the products we use and LOVE).
2. We have never felt a lack of energy or fullness – which is more than likely due to the natural energy we began consuming with being plant based.
3. We LOVE the weight aspect – my partner lost 18 pounds just from being plant based in the first 3 weeks and we haven’t gained any weight through the entire process (even when alcohol has been heavier than normal because you know… Covid-19).
4. We have actually SAVED money – our meals usually consist of fresh food that is filling and actually inexpensive (which we never thought was possible).

I LOVE IT – I find treats and small vegan wins every time I go grocery store shopping and no, plant-based cookies still aren’t the best option for your body over a salad but it’s okay to splurge every now and again!

I’m not writing this to make anyone VEGAN to save the planet or anything but those documentaries will open your eyes to a lot of unknown steps the meat industry takes for us consumers to eat food that’s not exactly natural… and that’s certainly not for me. I also find joy in saving water for our planet and a few animals along the way. It’s a win win for me!

Until next time, Love, Joy and Happiness to all!