Thursday, January 1, 2015

A journey of a thousand miles....

...begins with a single step! Lao Tzu's famous saying is exactly how I'm feeling today. Day 1... and although it's not exactly a journey of a thousand miles, it definitely feels like it's going to be a thousand days!

Today felt like a bit of a battle. I had set myself up for success with a good whole grain breakfast cereal (Engine 2 "Rip's Big Bowl Banana Walnut"), and I was ready with a veggie burger for lunch. And then... well... then the burger bun I was going to put my veggie burger on turned out to have egg yolk in it. Yeah. WTF. I was actually really looking forward to the burger. I truly do like veggie burgers, well,  good veggie burgers. Some of them are a bit like cardboard, but even without this whole vegan-diet thing, I like 'em. With a bit of avocado (or as Australians say "ah-vo") and some tomato ("toe-mah-toe"), those veggies burgers cook up nice and tasty. However, today that stupid bun had egg yolk. So....(ear muffs, people) I ate it anyway. GULP. I know, I know... as OE chastised me "It's not good that you are compromising and it's only day 1," I was struck with the thought "Good Lord. Can't anybody even have a freaking BUN around here without there being some freaking ANIMAL in it?!"  So... I figured that next time I need to read the label before I get all psyched up for the meal.

I guess I should get used to reading labels more closely anyway. I usually read labels like a champ. OE truly doesn't like going grocery shopping with me. He knows that if I send him on an errand to go get the (insert pantry item here), he will come back 5 minutes later and I will still be standing in the yogurt aisle reading the labels. Well... NO MORE! I mean, no more yogurt anyway. I'll still be found reading labels, and probably right where he left me, too. But that's fine, because next time I won't be eating a freaking egg yolk bun.

One good thing that happened today was that my sister and I went for a walk. A good hour-plus walk does you some good, and it hurts your legs if you've been a sedentary wildebeest for the past month like I have. It's ok, though, because it made me feel good to have done something productive. I spent the rest of the day combing through vegan cookbooks and planning meals for the next 3 days. Yeah, that's all a whole day of planning got me... 3 days worth of meals. It takes a while to figure out what you've got in the house and what you're willing to eat. I couldn't find oat flour at the grocery store. And I think I may have the wrong kind of tofu, but I guess it's part of the learning process, right? I know I will learn a lot during the next 3 months and that's really all part of why I'm doing it in the first place. What sort of meals can I transform into vegan ones? What just doesn't work? And do they seriously think I believe them when they say in the vegan cookbooks "your friends will never know it's vegan!" Um.... no, I don't really believe you. They will  know because I'm sure as hell going to tell them.

So... that's today. To be honest, and I'm going to be, I didn't really want to write today. I was ashamed that I'd eaten that bun on "Day 1"and I was also a bit miffed at having to say "no" to loads of tasty looking foods today. I should be fine with it but when you want something, you want it. The grocery store is the devil. Temptations everywhere. Do true vegans just not see that stuff anymore?! I guess we'll see how it goes. Currently I sit here with yet another glass of Asti to toast the new year. And if Asti isn't vegan, well, then don't tell me, it's NEW YEARS! Wow, I nearly forgot! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

-VE

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