EASY CHANGES

Everyone's been quite complimentary lately on the more obvious effects of eating plant based food, as opposed to animal based food. But when you tell someone it's due to a vegan diet, they tend to clam up, exclaim "I could NEVER do that" and run away. Bill and I are beginning to dislike the "vegan" term, because everyone expects us to be running out, granola in hand, to hug a tree...and yet we don't feel any more hippie than we were when we started - just healthier.

So:

Here's a top 10 list of the changes I would consider effortless, if you wanted to stop consuming as much animal protein as you currently do.

1. Switch to Almond Milk in coffee and cereal. Soy and Rice have a pungency that I dislike. Almond milk is sweet and smooth, and tasteless but is so much like milk that Harrison and I prefer it now.

2. Vegan Mozzarella. I can not believe cheese made the list, because it was what I feared most in giving up. There are a number of brands (and the nacho flavour is brutally bad) but the mozzarella has welcomed pizza back in the house!

3. Earth Balance instead of butter. This palm, canola and olive oil based substitute for butter is a simple switch for dairy butter.

4. PC Breaded "chicken" Strips . I avoided the meat based one like the plague for years. Ditto for chicken strips. These are FABULOUS and a perfect vehicle for hot sauce, BBQ or honey garlic yumminess. Kids and fussy adults alike can't tell the difference.

5. Skip the meat in the chili, and no cheddar on top.

6. Skip the meat in a whole wheat pasta dish. Pasta is comforting, usually tomato coated, can be packed with delicious flavour, and any veggies you like can be pureed into the sauce with NO reprecussions, because no one can tell.

7. Cashew cream. Tal Ronnen is a genius for bringing this creamy substitute to the world in his book "The Conscious Cook". Raw cashews, soaked overnight and then pureed until smooth make creamy soups and risottos a possibility again.

8. Lentils (when they are cooking) literally smell like chicken soup, and add that "home"y smell to the kitchen.

9. I recently subbed in two onion rings instead of chicken breast on my formerly favourite cajun chicken sandwich at Rock Bottom, our lunch hangout. Yes, they were fried, but the bun was whole wheat, and the lettuce, tomato and side salad made it feel decadent, even without the mammaries of a dead bird. I have little trouble asking for special orders at restaurants (right Vesna? :)?

10. Soy Ice Cream!!! There are some absolutely fabulous products in the supermarket depending on the flavours you like, but it is VERY HARD to not love the chocolate and peanut butter combinations when you feel like a splurge.

Aside from the decadent options listed here, it can not be stressed enough how eliminating animal products from the plate literally ensures you are going to get veggies. The colours, textures and flavours we are eating in the last 27 days trump any animal-based food - seriously, really, no kidding. It just broadens your palate, and the colours are so pleasing! You feel efficient in the use of energy, with no crashes of energy, and no spikes in cravings.