What do Vegans eat?: shopping trip!

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"I went vegan to make up for all the bug murder"

"what do vegans eat for lunch?"

It might seem like theres nothing to eat coming from a typical american situation eating lots of animal products at every meal. i wasn't born vegan, so i can relate to that frame of mind. its actually very easy once you know how to do it.

Every vegan is different, but i can safely say that healthy vegans eat a wider variety of foods than most people. our diets are not just limited to chicken, pork, beef, fish, and cheese as the focus of our meals, we vegans dont limit ourselves to five food choices. there are hundreds of vegetables to choose from.

the word vegan is a label that describes a person whom doesn't use or consume animal products.. no meat, milk, butter, cream, chicken broth, lard, fish sauce, eggs, cheese, yogurt, honey, whey, gelatin, casein, etc. AND vegans dont use animal based cosmetics or clothing, avoiding animal products like beeswax, leather, silk, wool, lanolin, etc. think backwards through production of each ingredient until you get to the source, if the source is animal the product is not vegan. vegans are expert label readers. there are people who dont eat meat or eggs or milk or any of that, but they use animal products like leather and silk and sometimes honey. these aren't vegans - they're strict vegetarians. the difference is: vegans dont USE or consume animal products. vegans dont buy makeup with beeswax in the ingredients. the term vegan encompasses a lifestyle choice, not just a diet.

just remember: vegans dont eat the vegetables your grandma cooked. nothing gets boiled to death. vegetables need more respect than that. they need to be seasoned and prepared just like any meat. take chicken for instance.

you wouldn't just boil a chicken and expect it to taste good would you?

you'd want to marinate it or grill it a certain way, or stir fry it with seasonings or bake it with aromatics.

i start every savory meal with the cast iron pan warming oil that i throw spices into, with a diced half onion. i usually let that cook down until the onion turns translucent, then i'll add thinly sliced garlic - like 6 cloves. true story. Then i'll look in the fridge and whip something up. based on what i have to work with.

this blog explains what THIS vegan eats, or at least what i can remember to photograph or write down on my ipod touch and update later. i live in a house with 4 vegans and 1 strict vegetarian (honey and leather). sometimes i'll photograph their meals too, they make some amazing things sometimes.

this blog was created after my favorite cousin, Crystal, asked me this question, offering me food while i was babysitting her 3 monkeys, "what does a vegan eat for lunch?" i think i answered peanut butter and jelly or something. or hummus and pita sandwiches. i was disappointed with my answers.

any one thing i could say in response to that question would be too exclusionary, i mean, i eat a wide variety of things, different things everyday. just about every food you could eat for lunch i could eat a vegan version of that meal.

i guess the answer could be, "what DONT i eat for lunch?" steak or hard boiled eggs are the only foods i can think of that dont have vegan equivalents. and even sunny side up eggs have been veganified lately, its a competitive, lucrative and rapidly expanding industry, the vegan fake meats market - or omnisub market (omnivorous substitutions)

theres even vegan ribblets that taste so much like real tender juicy ribs with bbq sauce that most vegans i know wont eat them! they make fake keilbasa sausages these days that are indistinguishable from the real thing according to my meat-eating peers. and on and on and on... though these foods are usually transitional or luxury options. they're way healthier than the real thing (lower fat, no cholesterol, less salt) but in the big picture not necessarily healthy - you could be filling your stomach with more nutrient dense vegetables.

everybody eats vegan food. obviously not everything contains animal products.

but the word vegan carries with it a stigma, and sometimes people act funny/embarrassed/offended when they find out they've enjoyed vegan food

the typical scenario goes like this: some family member decides to ostracize the vegan at a holiday meal by pointing out the food the vegan brought as somehow different or 'weird' from the rest, but its not. food is food! its just a word, a definition, a label just because you knew some vegan who failed at making brownies and gave one to you does not mean all vegan brownies taste like cardboard. and please PLEASE do not go vegan and get all excited about your first attempt at vegan baking and share bad food with people who are not vegan. if it doesn't taste good, its not because its vegan. its because you failed at baking!

bad chefs drive me crazy. vegan cookies are not supposed to suck. if you need good recipes, seek out chefs who have been doing this for a while. like Isa Chandra Moskowitz and her latest dessert book "vegan cookies invade your cookie jar"

and people can be super rude to vegans. I've experienced it happen, where i'll be minding my own business and suddenly somebody will 'out' me without my consent, and the rude responses begin, "i could never do that" and "what the hell do you eat?" " i love ice cream too much" "but bacon tastes so good" and "wait, why dont you eat cheese? the cow wasn't killed"

... ugh. sure i could respond: yes you could, i eat lots of things, i love the taste of ice cream too - my favorite is soy decadence turtle trails, yes i know what bacon tastes like, i can buy fak'n bac'n and it tastes the same... but i dont want to have those conversations with people. they can read my blog and google those other answers later.

not to be a bitch or anything - but i've been vegan for a while and that conversation gets tiring. i know these people dont intend to be annoying ... "can you eat oatmeal?" "do you eat cake?", and "sooooo... you dont drink alcohol?" ... yes, i like oatmeal and i drink alcohol and eat cake.

in 2003, i got epithelial squamous cell carcinoma. three places of moderate cn2 and a bit of the more developed cn3. i had the precancerous cells surgically removed. my first checkup after that came back showing mild dysplasia, and then it went away by the time i had my next checkup. I had been interested in veganism before this time, but i didn't want the dysplasia to come back, so i decided i wanted to go fully vegan. (it took me a couple years of transition)

because

cancer can not survive in an alkaline environment in the body. in fact, plant based diets are recommended of cancer patients to shrink tumors and strengthen the immune system. i met a stranger the other week who was going through an alkaline treatment of her cancer. the nutrient density paired with the bodily pH modification allows the body's endocannabinoid system to work properly and shrink or remove any tumors. our systems do not function well when our pH is acidic. this is also why doctors recommend plant based diets - they are most efficient for bodily health. meat and dairy and eggs create acidic environments in our bodies.

this is also why vegan chefs are popular among celebrities, as the food we eat is very conducive to getting fit. we consume no cholesterol or heavy fats, so naturally the lean vegan body defines itself after about 5 -7 years with no exercise.

but to be clear - I'm not on a diet - I'm not concerned with weight or calories. I listen to my body and eat as much as I want to. I pig out. Vegans who follow food guides dont have to worry about weight anymore. the human body doesn't need excess fat. vegetarians often get very chubby because of all the cholesterol and high salt dairy products.

Veganism was especially popular in asia, with buddhist monks inventing meat analogues like seitan, isolated wheat protein. When my husband and I were in thailand, all we had to say was, vegetarian 'like monk' or "jay jing jing" and they would understand that we were vegans. (i learned enough thai to converse about food, but just in case I also purchased the Vegan Passport from The Vegan Society, which explains my diet in every language. I used it with success in korea as well. you can order it here http://www.vegansociety.com/ they have many links and resources as well on veganism. they invented the word vegan in the 40s)

TIME online magazine article on the history of veganism for world vegan day, november 1st. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1854996,00.html

eating vegan food feels amazing. its an energy boost, for a clearer head. i think it has to do with the increased amount of vegetables and fruits in the diet because that equals more nutrition per meal. makes one feel stronger. contains more fiber too. more bang for your buck. (and yes, it is also cheaper)

physiologically, the body does very well on a vegan diet because our bodies have no nutritional requirements for meat, eggs, or dairy.

animal products have actually been proven to harm our systems over time, whereas balanced vegan diets have proven beneficial to our bodily health.

We require the 9 essential amino acids to form all proteins in our body. these essential amino acids are: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Every plant contains ALL the 9 essential amino acids. protein deficiency does not happen. to date, there has never been a medically reported case of protein deficiency in a vegan or vegetarian. this was a popular myth created when the basic seven food groups from 1944 got replaced by the basic four food groups in 1956 by the department of agriculture. by this time, there were medical and nutritional studies appearing in scientific literature indicating that meat and dairy products were associated with degenerative diseases. to counteract this bad publicity, the basic 4 was released along with the protein myth, not backed by the medical community. when it changed back to the 7 groups and then the pyramid, the decrease in meat, eggs, and dairy cause a decrease in heart disease.

heart disease is the number 1 killer in america over all other drugs and accidents, and its directly linked to animal products as proven in the study published in october 1990 american journal of cardiology. the study concluded that people who adhere to a balanced vegan diet are quite literally heart attack proof. and to date, current treatment of heart disease is a vegan diet (happened to my uncle in law), which the american medical association and the physicians committee for responsible medicine both support as providing all nutritional requirements for pregnancy, infants, children, athletes, and the elderly. the goal in life is to not die from preventable disease.

so what should i be eating?

a healthy vegan diet includes whole grains and potatoes, legumes, green AND yellow vegetables (water soluble vs fat soluble vitamins), nuts and seeds, fruits, trace mineral foods like tubers, and sea veggies, and a b12 source (nowadays food is heavily sanitized, so b12 must be supplemented), but that is easy. these food guides are based off of research on vegans' blood and urine and diet analysis from past and ongoing studies. Michael Klaper, M.D. is one researcher who i recommend looking into if veganism is something you want know more about, nutrition-wise. the most important nutrients vegans need to be aware of consuming are vitamin b12 (which is a bacterial by-product), and omega fatty acids (3s, 6s, 9s, best sourced from flaxseeds, oils, walnuts, avocados, stuff like that)

lazy vegans should be mindful of calcium (thats why vegans are supposed to be eating legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and leafy greens like collards and kale and chard and spinach and all that. calcium is in a lot of common vegan foods, but a junk food vegan likely wont get all the nutrients needed daily. as oriental flavor Top Ramen and oreos may be vegan, if that were my lunch i'd pop a vitamin also.) exercise allows the body to absorb more calcium than supplementation.

vegans shouldn't have to worry about iron. theres as much iron in 100g of raisins as 100g of beefsteak. i always recommend cast iron cookware anyways

as a child i was an expert at beetle-burning with the magnifying lens. i used to do a ballerina twirl on the playground as i stepped on bees for sport. and i once swung a cat around my head by it's tail in front of my family and I was not punished. my family did not punish animal torture. they kind of laughed at it as a harmless 'no-no'. I had to learn on my own to respect animals. my family had no concept of biology or pain receptors. they raised me to think that animals are tools, toys, and food. but the fact is that animals have the same pain receptors we have to the accuracy of mimicking the exact same sensations for physical injuries. what we feel, all animals feel, exactly the same sensation. this is not assumption, or an exaggeration, this is science. we have the same system that relays physical pain. this is before the mental interpretation of pain.

when i realized this, i got into buddhism and vegetarianism. I later went to school for physiology. I wanted to do Biological illustration because i wanted to know more about how the body works . I used to look at Morbidreality.com for fun. For Christmas as a teenager i used to get Greys Anatomy and Physiology cliff notes. I was a total nerd, always obsessed with guts and anatomy. in college i worked in a neurophysiology research lab dissecting caterpillars to study their central nervous systems. i illustrated their dissection manual. I cleaned dead fruit flies from freezers. I played with frogs in the breeding tank. thought of liberating one, i didn't. I spliced plant DNA in a research facility next to a lab that feed mice strawberries exclusively. i did a dissection study on bees. and then,

it was a slow evolution, but as i learned more about animal biology, i began to love an respect the bugs (as silly as that may sound to you) to this day i wont purposefully harm or kill an animal. and modern scientific methods no longer have any need for animals. which is why i choose a plant genomics lab towards the end of my bio 'career'.

i went vegan sometime around then for a while, maybe to make up for all the bug murder, long enough to allow my body to wean completely from cows milk (which was very hard). As i was no longer reintroducing lactose, my body stopped producing lactase (as it should have when i was a child if my parents had weaned me naturally instead of feeding me cow breast milk into adulthood - which is really a weird thing to do...) so dairy products were no longer pleasurable or digestible for me (casomorphine addiction was cured). and good riddance! milk and cheese cause congestion, mucus, colds, constipation, white blood cell and cortisol spikes - the full immune response to the foreign proteins.

in the past when i have consumed dairy on accident, my throat itched, my stomach hurt, and later i got mud butt. this is a normal adult reaction to drinking the mammary secretions of another species. its actually a genetic mutation to be ABLE to digest milk in adulthood at all. thank white people for this mutation, through selective breeding, they've turned off the mechanism that stops lactase by not using it over generations ( i feel sorry for the first adults who began consuming mammalian milk - ha ha mud butt). but this is why white people tend to have more lactose tolerance than the rest of the human population. weird isn't it?

dairy does not prevent osteoporosis in medical studies. the calcium does not seem to absorb as well as vegetable sources, presumably from the strongly acidic sulphur bonds in cow's breast milk that create a pH imbalance in the blood, in the body, the osteoblasts help out by releasing calcium from the bones to neutralize the problem, and the end result is a net loss in calcium, creating more harm than good in our systems. there is as much absorbable calcium in a glass of milk as a cup of broccoli.

As a fair skinned female, prime target of osteoporosis later in life, my natural declination in lactase production had done me a favor... i didn't know it at the time. i went back to vegetarianism for a hot minute, but decided it sucked (made me feel gross, lethargic compared to veganism). so i found a couple jobs in the vegan restaurant industry to learn more about it. I started began my vegan education collecting cookbooks, went to potlucks, made some new friends. I learned to cook from those restaurants over the years. I've been waitress, supervisor, hostess, dishwasher, bartender, sandwich maker, barista, pizza chef, regular prep cook, vegan prep cook, a vegan line chef, a raw foods chef, and an operations manager at a vegan wrap wholesaler. it was a lot of fun. i highly recommend learning how to cook from working in various cafes and restaurants, its the best way to attain good cleanliness habits, tricks, recipes, and fast cooking techniques.

it is my ultimate intention to act consistently with my own personal belief system, to act in a manner that causes the least amount of suffering to other animals (human and non-human are the same to me).

killing other animals for the purpose of food is unnecessarily creating suffering in other beings. even to take milk from another mammal, we would have to first steal it from a baby and this causes suffering in both mother and child, and prevent the baby from drinking it's birthright - mother's milk.

i try not to step on ants, or ride my bike over bugs crawling across the road. it is the buddhist view that all life is precious, and deserves respect. that is my primary reason for veganism. all animals have a central nervous system after all. secondary would be health, third would be environmental (where meat takes thousands of gallons of water per lb to create - watering plants seasonally to produce vegetables to feed to an animal who requires daily water and food for many years before any meat can be retrieved - vegan food does not. we cut out the 'middle man' and consume the nutrients when they quality is highest.

veganism is such an integrated part of my lifestyle i dont really think or talk about it with non-vegans unless somebody else brings it up. and even then i usually try to avoid the conversation because people can act really strange, its always a situation where THEY bring it up too ! i dont think veganism is generally appropriate to talk about with non-vegans cause it can seem exclusionary and rude (if you want to have a drunken discussion about veganism with a vegan when you are not eating, i think most vegans would welcome the communication, just be careful to be respectful. i.e. dont suggest that their food choices are inferior to yours.

i have found that Carol J Adams' book 'Living among Meat Eaters' is full of good psychological tactics and advice for diffusing common negative situations, and finding ways to steer conversations in more positive directions.

I especially uphold a rule that i never talk about veganism while eating. just because people begin asking questions they really dont want answered while they're eating and generally its a good idea not to visualize those types of things while trying to digest. not everybody reacts like that, but just to be safe, i avoid the whole situation. nobody has to know i'm vegan, its a part of my private life that doesn't affect any other people. its really none of anybody else's business and its not a big deal.

i guess i'm a member of the secret society of vegans with that philosophy. maybe i should buy a tote bag.

it is best to purchase unprocessed vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds, fruits, and legumes and cook at home, in order to make the cheapest, most nutrient dense meals. thats what i try to do. in practice you will see me going to del taco and eating convenience foods, i have a job, and too many hobbies. and dont always have time to pack a pb&j.

anyway. i hope this answers your questions. feel free to post more questions in the comments section. i will answer them. i'm trying to post more pictures, recipes, and links ( as per your request <3 )

Bon Appetite

What do Vegans eat?

Saturday, April 18, 2009

shopping trip!

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"I went vegan to make up for all the bug murder"

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