These last few days have been really hard. Lots of "tests"...Turns out is is hard to not eat a North American Diet when one lives in north america:)
Hockey party with the guys at the fave bar was impossible to navigate without meat or cheese. And it was really tempting. All those fried smells, and "tasty" bites kept passing us on platters, and the veggie tray was way at the other end of the table. I just kept repeating the same mantra in my head... "my wine is vegan, my wine is vegan..." Having said that, we did plop a bunch of veggie chicken strips in the oven when we got home, dipped them in my favourite earth balance, hot sauce and dijon, and dove in. YUM, but it was a crisis narrowly averted only because we were being strong. If we were "out" with our challenge, we probably would have ordered a bin of nachos and salsa, or sweet potato fries but in this situation it would have drawn more attention than it would have been worth... so we sipped our drinks, and made up for it later that evening in rewards.
Breakfast nook. We have a great little place for breakfast where we go when Sunday morning breakfast just feels like too many dishes... I was really stressed there too. Not just "oh, I'd like an egg..." but seriously stressed. Bill had oatmeal, and I had hash browns with some spinach, tomato, mushroom and onion mixed in. It was hard to navigate this menu too - so I just asked the waitress to take the vegetable additions to omlettes, and leave the eggs out. Again, I was strong in resisting, but it was not the easy thing to do by a long shot.
Yesterday evening, Morton's (american) steakhouse for a seriously celebratory birthday party. Checked out the online menu beforehand - they have a beautiful tuna tartare which comes in a gorgeous stacked mold presentation. Asked them to sub chopped asparagus for the tuna, and prep it the same way. It was beautiful and delicious. Chopped salad minus bacon minus blue cheese minus egg was pretty good too, with a honey mustard vinagrette, hearts of palm, artichokes and avocados. Dinner was the funniest of all - just a head of broccoli and some grilled asparagus with a balsamic glaze, and a spicy soy sauce for the broccoli, but it was food, and it did feed us.
The worst part was the sense of longing and desperation for what was on everyone else's plate. Those steaks smelled so familiar, that I really wanted a bite or two.
By far, and even more than the steak, was the temptation of the fresh hollandaise sauce in a tureen. Egg yolks, butter and lemon. I wanted to down it like a shooter.
Sad moment when the waiter brought out the dinner specials, and on the plate was a lobster the size of our cat, obviously suffocating in the "air". Barely twitching, it was a reminder that animal based food is really eating an extinguished life. I considered what the other side of the plate must look like from there.
Bill and I are going at this challenge for different reasons, and will very likely continue with it for different reasons.
He loves the heath aspects, on his slighly older arteries, veins and heart. He loves that he hasn't "had to" go to the gym, and lost 10 pounds and 2 inches from his waist.
While I love my slimmer line, and both the money and time I can add by not doing the boot camps for exactly the same result, when tested I find the animal issues more bolstering.
What I missed about the steak was the "juicy"ness. AKA, the blood, and the flesh of a formerly living cow.
What I miss about the hollandaise was the eggy-ness. AKA, a chicken's unfertilized ova, and in the states, most certainly a product of a massive factory farm.
What I miss about the butter is the creamy-ness. AKA the product of a lactating animal which is not the same species as me, most certainly a product of a hormone enhanced milker, spared only from being "veal" by virtue of her sex... just makes you wonder which is worse? Death to the baby boy cows, or a lifetime of longing and drudgery for the baby girls, shoved into parenting as early as possible, separated from her first calf and then milked until she's not worth keeping any more...
EEEW...Yuck... I'm often met with the phrase "don't think of it like that", but why not? The industry seems to thrive on the separation of these products by marketing them in a way that is not as distasteful, but it is the same thing.
While everyone around the table was curious and mildly supportive, there was still an element of "look what we have, and you don't". So I took another sip of wine and really looked...
Between appetizers, "salads", entrees, sides, desserts and cake, I figure everyone took in about 3000 calories that evening, not counting martinis, and wine.
Around the table were about 2400 oz of "overweight", two rounds of breast cancer, one recovering triple by-pass, three orders of high blood pressure and one order of prostate cancer. 5 people around the table had lost a parent to heart attack or stroke.
Yesterday I was really longing for these animal products - like an animal must long to get out of the lockdown, to play, to eat food they choose, and to live a full life, naturally. I am so lucky to be able to exercise that choice, and I find that incredibly empowering. I like withdrawing my financial support of an industry that does not reflect values I hold important.
The reality is that most of us don't really CHOOSE how to eat. We inherit it, from our families - at least initially. Once we are old enough to choose, it is pretty easy to just go with the flow of what we've learned, and even to abdicate our choices mindlessly. If you were born in a North American family, and learned north american eating, a plant-based diet does not seem "natural". Neither does switching to a plant based diet when one still lives in those circumstances.
But we can, at the very least, recognize our choices when we step up to the plate.
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